Crackership

Doing a timing belt and I'm on the way back together. I replaced the oil pump drive sleeve and the front main seal as well.

I just got done tightening down the crank bolt and removed the flywheel lock. And I can't get the engine to turn over by hand/with a socket on the crank bolt. It won't turn at all. It feels like I've still got the lock in place, but I don't.

I pulled the spark plugs just to be sure there wasn't some amazing compression all of a sudden and, of course, that didn't help...

Any ideas??

I have no idea what I could have done to cause this.

Crackership

Alright... so I went back out and put the flywheel lock back in, and loosened the crank bolt and then I pulled out the flywheel lock and the crank turns over like butter.

What could I have done to make it so the crank doesn't turn with the crank bolt torqued??

Crackership

And it gets weirder. I took it all apart again and then installed the crank sprockets, pulleys and bolt and torqued it with the rear timing cover out of the way to see if I could see any thing causing the problem.. But no, it turns like butter....

So, I figure, I don't know what's suddenly different, but whatever.. gift horse in the mouth and all..

So, I pull it apart again, install the rear timing cover and go to put it back together and realize that the timing belt gear on the crank touches the rear timing cover when it's installed... that can't be right, can it?

Techno Duck

What direction do you have the timing belt gear facing? The flange should be facing forward.

Crackership

Huh. I have it on with the flange inward, like Van says in this video at 8:11:
However, at the exact moment that Van says that, there's a word bubble popping up over the video correcting the mistake. I didn't notice that until this very moment as I was grabbing the link to post here. So that's probably the problem.

I've got to go eat some turkey with the family, but once I'm done I'll turn the gear around and put it all back together. I'm sure that'll solve the problem.

Thanks for making me take another look!

Crackership

Yep, turned the gear around and it all worked like it's supposed to.

Van

Yeah... sorry about that!