Ok, so the truck isn't a 4x4 but forums are scarce so I thought I'd ask here...

edit. Forgot to say this is the 2.3l inline 4 cylinder engine... I think it's a 4z something.


I bought an '89 Isuzu pup almost new back in '89 and drove it until I thought the wheels were about to fall off then went to trade it in on a new Toyota. They were only going to give me $1000 in trade for it (in '94) so my Dad offered to buy it from me for the same $1000 because he wanted a little truck to haul stuff in.

Long story short, he's run that little truck up to 390,000 miles and it's still running although we don't think it has much left in it. Things are breaking from metal fatigue on the truck and the floorboards and wearing thin on it.

He just changed the valve seals because it has been burning some oil on startup and screwed up the timing when he did it. He got the timing set back right with #1 at tdc, but when I went over to put a light on it for him I couldn't find the timing marks on the block. Whatever the piece is that has the marks on it has either fallen off or was taken off and not put back on as near as i can tell.

I found the mark on the front pulley, but there just isn't anything at all on the block to line it up with so I couldn't time it for him.

Anyone have a pic of at least where the marks are on the truck?

I am going to send him to the upullit Tuesday to try to get the missing part but I couldn't even figure out where it was supposed to mount.

Anyways, if any of you can take a pictures of the marks or knows where a pictures is I'd be very gratefull...

Just FYI, it's timed off of #4. Also, check and make sure that the balancer hasn't slipped. They're kinda notorious for doing that. IIRC, the timing mark should match up with the keyway.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Are you saying the cam timing is set off #4 or the ignition timing is?

He had a manual for the engine and used it to reset the timing so hopefully that's right.

I even looked in the manual before I tried to set the timing to see if it had a good picture of the timing marks but it didn't. I put the timing light on the spark plug wire closest to the front of the engine and started the engine and hit it with the light to see where the mark was, but there were no degree marks anywhere near that either. It really looks like the degree marks are just not there like they fell off or were forgotten during some job on the motor.

Both:

The cam timing is set off #4.
When all timing marks are aligned, #4 is TDC.
Therefore, if you haven't turned the engine over,
when you put the distributor in, it should be pointing to
#4.



Let me guess... a Haynes or Chiltons manual, right?

Yep. I think it was a Haynes. Complete junk.

So no one has a pic of a 2.3 motor showing where the timing degree marks are?

The timing marks are on the plastic lower timing cover.
I believe it's on the driver side of the master pulley about 1 o'clock.
The index is usually white, but the paint tends to wear off.

Timing stub is on the passengers side of the pulley about 11 o'clock.

Since it's a 2.3 don't worry about a slipped pulley either. I don't run a timing cover on my truck so I base TDC at 12 o'clock.
6* BTDC is roughly 1/8th of mark movement to the left(BTDC). From there you can fine tune it more advanced or retard.

This works for me and if your belt is lined up properly it should work for you aswell.

Are you sure about that? IIRC, they're the same pulley. Or at least that's what the parts guy told me when I had to replace mine a while back.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Yes, atleast from what I've came across... All the 2.3's I've dealt with have solid unit pulleys and the 2.6's are the rubber dampner type.

They could be interchangable tho...

If you go on parts.com, they list the same pulley for the 2.3/2.6 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> No distinguishing between the 2.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />