Yikes! Sometimes it's a good thing to have to tear down an engine..... you can find things you don't expect...... like the rest of the story on the wandering timing cover bolt. When I pulled off the cover, I found this mess:



You can see where the timing belt has been rubbing against the passenger side of the water pump and against a bolt head, shaving the belt edge. Since I bought that belt on a Sunday from AutoZone, my first thought was that it was too wide...... nope. Then I checked the tensioner face alignment and found it angled slightly upward - which leads the belt toward the rear. This was another result of the bolt jamming and breaking the belt..... a lot of force.

I can't tell if the oil pump body or tensioner is bent, but at least one of them sure is. I did remove the bolt and checked it when I replaced the belt.... it's straight..... so, it's reasonable to assume that the oil pump housing is bent where the tensioner is mounted.

To be safe, I think I'll replace the oil pump and tensioner.

Wow! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> Lots of lessons learned on this one.

Frank