its not jumping a tooth, its trying to ride off toward the drivers side while the car is running. it is rubbing the crap out of the timing cover and smoking like crazy. belt is worn now and i need a new one. any ideas on what is causing this? id like to address the problem before i pay $50 for a new belt and ruin it the same way. i wonder if it is TOO tight... oh! and btw, u guys have helped me TREMENDOUSLY in getting my civ back together. did i mention i cranked it and timed it today? heck yes.....

 

There needs to be a guide on both sides of the gear on the crank. On some models the outside one is built into the gear, on others it is a separate piece that looks like a big washer (the ones with a guide flange on the gear have a washer on the inside). The washer should curve away from the belt.

 

ok. i'll check that out when i put the new belt on. btw, i have installed aftermarket adjustable cam gears. could they be causing the issue?

 

anybody? the research ive done on this makes it seem like theres no sure fire cure. im worried! sooo close to getting my beloved car back on the road, and something flippin stupid like this is cramping my style. can i swear?

 

The guide is on the crank gear, which I guess you keep the stock one. If that's OK I'd put the stock cam gears back on and see if it still does it. Conceivably if the gears aren't straight they could run the belt off. Are these a reputable brand or something off of ebay?

When setting the belt tension don't push on the tensioner, it will be to tight. Just let the spring do it. My experience with too much tension on a SOHC is it'll run OK but make a lot of a whirring noise from the belt teeth.

 

ebay gears, of course. they were the only purple ones i could find (sigh). i did put some "stank" on the tensioner bolt tho. wonder if its too tight. guess i'll just have to try a few things out. thanks for all the support.

 

The tensioner bolt can't be too tight. It doesn't adjust the tension of the belt, it just holds the tensioner in place to keep the tension that you set.

It sounds to me like you don't know how to tension your belts properly (since it seems that you thought the tensioner bolt actually adjusts the tension). I would check the tension. It's probably too loose.

 

yea you pull the tensioner off and put it in a vice and compress it then put like a real small alen wrench in the whole so it will stay compressed. bolt up on car tight as possible then pull alen wrench out.

 

actually i followed my owners manual step by step. im worried i may have applied excess linear torque bending the bolt and causing the tensioner to unevenly apply tension to the belt, causing one side to be "tighter", thus making the belt "walk". following manufacturers directions im good @, diagnosing problems im not.

 

have you tried to put the stock cam gears back on and see if that fixes ur problem?