doglegleft2k3

I have a 1997 audi 2.8L and replaced the timing belt via the "mark belt and cam method" with a sharpie. when I took the old belt off the left cam rotated forward. Furthermore, to align the marks on the belt I rotated the cam back counter clock wise to its original position and put the belt on. All the marks line up on both cams. Is this ok or should I have rotated the cam clock wise until the marks got back around?

maineman

You didn't mention the crank position,did you mark that as well?
What you did should work but if you don't use the correct tools you can't tension the belt correctly as you haven't loosened the cam gears.What you did(turning the cam backwards) should be ok.
If you want to continue down the path your on then you should get the belt on as best you can with the tensioner and then rotate the engine clockwise by hand via the crank bolt several times .If you take the spark plugs out it will turn easier .If it turns by hand easily then ,get the mark on the crank to line up TDC and look to see if the holes in the center of the left and right cams are towards each other.I believe the large holes should be pointed in.If not then turn the motor until the mark on the crank comes around again.If the holes at the cams are not pointed at each other then your timing will not be correct.
With the correct tools it is easy.
Read the timing belt replacement in the tech section to help you out.
Good luck

doglegleft2k3

Thank you very much. So let me see if I have this correct. When I turn the the crank by hand a few times, stop turning when the crank is at TDC, the 4 holes in the diamond plates (on the cams) should all be lined up horizonally with the 2 large holes in the middle? To answer your question, I did mark the crank also but am not sure if the marks on the belt are matched up with the marks on the crank. I will check, I was under the impression that the cams were the only thing I was worried about.

maineman

Yes that is correct .Here's a link that will show some images of what your looking for. The images show the proper tools also.
good luck
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4261136

hubturn

Gutsy move doing it without the crankshaft holding pin and the cam holding bar. Here's the gotcha maineman was talking about and I agree totally. If the belt doesn't line up just perfectly and tightly with the cam gears, you will have some amount of slop in the timing belt between the two cam gears and the water pump pully that the tensioner pully will NOT be able to adjust out. That is why you break the cam gears free from their shafts, so that they can rotate and allow any slop to be removed before you tighten them back up. The right cam (left as looking from the front) sits on the peak of a cam lobe when at Top Dead Center and I bet that is the one that rotated. If you marked it, no problem just rotate it back. Scared the crap out of me too when it happend. This opportunity for slop in the timing belt makes me wonder if some of the problems we read about with no heat/overheat/low temp gage may be a water pump that is not always turning.