Hi!

I replaced timing belt and idlers in Subaru Impreza 1996 (ej20), removed pin from belt tensioner to tighten belt and after that rotated crankshaft pulley few times by hand. I was looking to see timing marks in pulleys and white lines in belt  to get aligned again but it didn't happen so I turned crankshaft maybe 20 more times. They still didn't align so I asked someone with more experience about the situation. His opinion was the marks should align so I figured that belt slipped when tensioner pin was removed causing this confusion.

So this evening I reinstalled belt paying attention that marks were ok in sprockets and belt and rotated crankshafk few times. Same result: when camshafts and crankshaft hashmarks were up the white lines in timing belt weren't. I'm starting to think they even shouln't realign but please verify if that's the case and if they should align what to check next as I'm running out of ideas with this. Thanks for help =)



 

Don't worry about the marks on the belt lining up after rotation.  The marks are just there for the install.  

 

Just make sure the crank and cam pulley marks are pointing "up" every couple rotations as they did when you installed the belt.

Most excellent, thank you for help! =)

You have to spin it like 168 times or something like that to make the marks on the belt line up again. Don't worry about those. As long as the marks all still point to the right place on the covers then its good to go.