300tdi timing belt question

Hi All ,
I'm doing my first ever timing belt change but fear I may have complicated things . I brought the timing mark on the cam gear round to the pointer on the casing , the woodruff key was at the 12 o'clock position and I inserted the pin in the flywheel . When I tried to insert the pin in the fuel pump it didn't want to go in although when I shone a light in the hole it seemed to line up ok . So I pushed the pin harder and it went in a bit more although it was tight . It was only when I took the belt off that I thought about putting a straight edge on the timing mark , and going by that it looks like I should have brought the cogs round a fraction more . My question is this : is there anything I can do at this point to fine tune the alignment or should I just leave it as is ? Any advice would be much appreciated .

Did you loosen the three bolts on the pump pulley? New belt fitting sequence is basically:
1 No1 cylinder at TDC and timing pin fitted to bell housing.
2 Camshaft aligned
3 Pump pin inserted, three pulley bolts loosened and pulley set to mid position in slot.
4 Install belt, tensioner & idler.
5 Check alignment marks still ok
6 Tension belt.
7 Check alignment marks still ok
8 Tighten three bolts on pump pulley
9 Remove pump timing pin
10 Remove bell housing pin.
11 Rotate engine 2 complete turns clockwise and stop at No1 TDC, fit bell housing pin
12 Check cam timing mark is correct
13 Check pin goes in pump
14 if all ok remove all pins and reassemble
There is a good chance that the pump may be fractionally out, if it is loosen the three bolts slightly, use a spanner on the centre nut of the pump to move the pump so the pump pin fits again then retighten the three bolts then start again from step 9.

Also plenty of vids on YouTube

Thanks for that Kwakerman , I've only gone to step 3 so far , the reason being I'm concerned about the accuracy of the position of the cam gear timing mark . I reckon I should have turned it a tiny bit more before taking the belt off .

Just turn it by hand until it does align before you put belt on, The pitch of the teeth on the belt and pulley means that there is no fine adjustment of the cam position, so it may appear slightly misaligned, if you get it one tooth out it is fairly obvious it is wrong.

So just a slight adjustment to the pump and a tiny move of the cam gear will put it back on track . It must be a great engine because it ran very smoothly despite half of the outer part of the old type tensioner lying in bits in the bottom of the cover ! I'm planning to fit the new type kit .

Yes you can fine tune the pump and cam positions with the belt off.

Kwakerman , just when you thought you were done with this I managed to make it worse ! Having watched the trailerfitter's video on youtube I loosened the three bolts , put a 22 socket on the center bolt and moved it a bit this way and that but the pin wasn't for going in , so I pushed the rachet a little more to the left ... TWANG ! and the pulley jumped round to the 9 o'clock position . The pin would go in then no problem , but that couldn't be right so I brought it back up and tried it to the right ... TWANG ! and it shot to the 3 o'clock position ! Once again the pin would now go in but that's hardly of any use . Any idea what might be happening ?

The twang is normal don't worry about that.

you need to be careful when you fit belt to pump pulley that there is enough movement to adjust pump ,you often find pump pulley need moving round a tooth,wedging the belt to cam and crank pulley helps to keep belt in place whilst you slackenn belt to do it

Hello I no this is old thread I’m about just under a tooth out so just to be clear once Pins are in can I just move it up to meet cam mark by hand then belt back on etc ???? @Kwakerman @jamesmartin

Benjaminallen92 said:

Hello I no this is old thread I’m about just under a tooth out so just to be clear once Pins are in can I just move it up to meet cam mark by hand then belt back on etc ???? @Kwakerman @jamesmartin

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yes,dont forget to have injection pump so it still has adjustment in the slots

jamesmartin said:

yes,dont forget to have injection pump so it still has adjustment in the slots

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As in undo the three on front to pully and set it about half way so it can move either way or I’m I wrong ?

Benjaminallen92 said:

As in undo the three on front to pully and set it about half way so it can move either way or I’m I wrong ?

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Exactly that.

dieseldog69 said:

Exactly that.

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So just to clarify before I go at this I’m one tooth out in timing so I’m putting pins back in Belt off move the cam pully by hand to line it back up with mark set fuel pump fully half way that about right then thanks

yes