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Hi everyone,

I am a noobie to the forum. I am attempting to do the timing belt change using the DIY on the site. With the timing belt off, my crankshaft pulley was rotated about 15-20 degrees of TDC (couter-clockwise). Is it safe to rotate the crankshaft back to TDC, will the pistons hit the valves? I am stuck and am not sure what to do. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Noobie

 
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At this point, unfortunately you might already have bent valves, it's hard to say. But assuming you do not...It is only safe to rotate in the reverse direction of what it accidentally rotated and by exactly the same amount.

Be very careful, If you turn the crank through even a single 360 rotation you will 100% get bent valves.

 
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Just so that I understand correctly, are you saying I can rotate the crank (clock-wise) back to TDC?

 
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Good luck with it. Timing belt isn't a novice type of job...

Hopefully someone can help you out

 
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if you want to be extremely safe about it, you could remove the spark plugs AND remove the camshaft, that way none of the valves will be open and you can turn the crankshaft all you want

removing the spark plugs is not 100% nessessary but it will make turning the crank alot easier because there will not be any compression

how did it get turned in the first place?

 
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Timing belt change is critical and shouldn't be attempted by a non-expert even though the temptation to save hundreds by doing it yourself is understandable. How did your crankshaft move?

 
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If you are sure the crank moved 15-20 counter clockwise then yes, it is safe to rotate it 15-20 clockwise back to its original positions. If there was damage done by the initial rotation, you will most likely be no worse off by moving it back exactly to where itwas.

The best you can hope for right now is that there was no damage done when it accidentally moved. Move it back, put it together, and hope it runs fine.

If this happened in a shop that was decent and competent, they would remove the head and inspect every single valve before moving anything.

And, yes, as mentioned earlier take the spark plugs out. It makes turning the crank easier without over-shooting where you are trying to go.