By site alone, one should be able to see alignment, however is this serpentine or v-belt... V-belts can be aligned with a square and are tolerant being out of perfect alignment, whereas serpentine belts are much less tolerant also with the addition of pulleys riding on the back side of the belt without grooves, they are more apt to flip off. Many factors can cause belt alignment issues, crank bearing thrust wear, accessories (p/s, alt, air pump) worn or out of align, tensioner / idler wear, etc, but if you talking stock engine with factory accessories, brackets, etc - give it a look, if your flipping belt/s, take them off, check for end play on pulleys, idlers, etc, serpentine tensioners and idlers are a replacement items available at most parts outlets...
on the crank pully there is a mark that must line up with a mark on the egine block, the cam shaft pullys there are holes that will line up with holes in the engine block, use pins to make sure they line up, once all marks are lined up then just put on the chain and set the tensioner
i just recently did this repair. You have to line the camshafts up with a straight edge then line the crank up with the notch on the harmonic balancer. Then put the belt on but put the belt on the cam gears last. Make sure you have the tensioner to the most retracted position. If any more questions contact me via e-mail. wildsurf32@yahoo.com.
The only way to know which style tensioner you have is to remove the crank pulley and timing cover and look.
Just did this on my XJS, remove the ditributor (mark where the rotor is pointing). Unbolt the two bolts holding the old tensioner in place. Pull the old tensioner out. Pull the piston out of the new tensioner and coat with motor oil. install the new tensioner with the arrow pointing upward, make sure the slot for the tensioner blade is in the same position as it was when you pulled out the old one. Bolt the new tensioner in place, torque bolts to 21lbs. Reinstall the distributor. Crank the engine a few times before putting the coil wire back on to prime the new tensioner with oil pressure. That's it, done.
The tensioner needs to be locked down in the loose position (spring stretched out) All the key ways will be at 12:00 (straight up) The crank is set exact by taking the transmission bellhousing rubber plug out and lining up the hash mark for T (top dead center). The camshafts are set exact by putting allen wrenches down through the #1 caps and into the holes in the cams. Today, I had to remove the belt from the crank gear and move it one tooth in order to get all the slack where the tensioner is so that when the tensioner is released, the crank will stay on top dead center. To make sure you have T (top dead center-TDC) on the crank, you could remove the spark plug for #1 or #4 and put in a long skinny tool to watch the piston get to the highest point.
just a ratchet to fit onto the tensioner. crank the tensioner counter clockwise and it'll slack the belt.
Remove the valve cover and line up the timing marks on the crank and both cam gears. Now remove the crankshaft pulley and the timing cover. Insert a pin through each cam just behind the gears to hold them in position for reinstallation. Loosen the belt tensioner bolt and remove the belt. Now reinstall the new belt. I usually remove the pin from the exhaust cam and turn the crank counterclockwise to pull the slack to the tensioner side. Now tighten the tensioner bolt and turn the engine over a few times then line up the timing marks again. That will ensure proper belt alignment and cam timing.
When you are trying to align the timing marks on a Holden Rodeo 2.6, just get the crank and cam marks aligned, no need to worry about the others. Make sure the belt is tight on the right side between the cam and crank sprockets when they are on their marks. After that simply apply the tensioner.
If the timing belt broke you probably got some bent valves. but as for puting the timing belt back on, there are marks on the outer edge of the cam and a indention on the valve cover behind it. line those up and on the crank gear blade there is a small v. line that up with the triangle on the engine- around the 10 o'clock position. then you will have to commpress the tensioner and use a small Allen wrench to hold it compressed. then install the timing belt and put the tensioner back and pull the pin. spin it over by hand and make sure the marks line back up
there should be a dot or line cut in each gear. the cam gear mark should be at the six o'clock position (all the way down) and the crank mark at the 12 o'clock(all the way up). line them up and you should have it made. spin the crank just to be sure the marks mesh correctly
With all of your covers off and the two (2) overhead sprockets exposed, make sure that your belt is facing the correct way , there are arrows on the belt and they should be facing away from the engine, then the timing marks will be in the right position. match the timimg belt marks to the timing marks on the overhead cam sprokets (note: put white out on the sprocket marks to make them more visable.) then loosen the tensioner which is to the left of the crank spocket, use an Allen wrench to swival the tensioner cam to allow more slack of the belt as you slip it over the crank sproket, make sure the marks match up. It may take a few tries turning the crank sprocket not all of the srockets. when tightining the belt tensioner make sure the Allen wrench hole is at 5:20 clock position and tighten the tensioner nut to secure the tensioner. That should be all that you need to do. before you put all of the covers back on start the car and turn off. If ithe car did not sound as if it got spark and did not start then A: your belt is not in line with the timing marks, even with only one mark off it will not start, check your marks lineup again. Make sure the ARROWS on the belt are pointing out towards the fender. if all is as it should be then replace your covers and your done. Good Luck.
When you install the new chain, it will have 3 links with silver sides, these go on the cam and crank gears on the lobe that has a dot on it. Make sure both cam gear dots point up and the crank dot points down, this puts you at TDC (top dead center) of the number piston. When I did my timing chain, I found that I had to turn the crank pulley counter clockwise to apply tension to the tensioner and to get the chain guide at the front installed. Hopefully you purchased a timing chain kit that includes a new tensioner and guides as this job is painful enough that you do not want to have to do it again because of a worn/bad reused part. Good Luck