Im trying to time my 02 wrx and I counted teeth according  to the guide written by MEATY on nasoic but my timing marks for the cams seem to be the opposite position of inbetween/ on teeth. Can someone link a good diagram? For example right top (passenger) says it should be an inbetween on the belt but it is actually supposed to be a tooth. Thanks in advance!!!!

From the 02-03 factory manual

On my engine the position it is saying on the belt for both top cams are switched. Passenger is tooth on the belt 

Driver is tooth on the cam sprocket. 

This was making me confused trying to count out teeth but i think i got it.  

11 hours ago, nvu said:

From the 02-03 factory manual

After marking out my belt and setting tension the passenger cams line back up each time but drivers side seems off half tooth? Belt was set according to 51teeth to driver 54.5 to passenger.  

wonder if the heads were decked or some odd size gasket was used?

1 hour ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

wonder if the heads were decked or some odd size gasket was used?

Was one owner car and he never had the head gaskets done. I looked it up and it said it could be tensioner slack and when i started it up it idled fine. I am now facing a much deeper issue as the car will idle completely fine but at 1500 rpm it develops a slight tapping and then at 2k it turns into a knock. It doesnt sound solid and there are no flakes on the dipstick (ran a magnet on it to try and help anything stick) almost sounds like piston slap. I have it running in the driveway now and it has gone much longer than any other ej ive ever owned when they went. Is the collapsing guides an issue on the 2.0 as it was on older engines?

Might be a weak tensioner, it shouldn't move at all when the engine is running.  Half a tooth off on one side isn't a big problem.

yep, not saying it's 100% but, BOTH of your symptoms could be aweak/blown-out tensioner.

 

there's a youtube video of a knock sound caused by a weak tensioner.