Changing the timing belt/water pump

[tom4bren]

As long as it's the right size, the marks shouldn't matter.

[deermagnet]

You need all three marks. There is zero margin for error. You can't be off by one tooth. It's a long belt looping around pulleys and it needs to be pulled tight to get all three marks exactly in the right spots. You also need the direction of travel arrows. Without the marks you could easily be off by one. In one of my Isuzu videos it even shows a little trick to get the crank mark lined up if you can't pull it tight enough to reach the right tooth. Without a mark you wouldn't know if you had the right tooth in that spot. When you release the tensioner you need to confirm the marks to be absolutely sure the belt did not jump and everything is perfect before sealing it up.

I guess you could transfer the marks to the new belt, but be sure to count the teeth twice, three times even. This is one of those things where 99.9% is not good enough.

Mark

[tom4bren]

I stand corrected.

[nfpgasmask]

You need all three marks. There is zero margin for error. You can't be off by one tooth. It's a long belt looping around pulleys and it needs to be pulled tight to get all three marks exactly in the right spots. You also need the direction of travel arrows. Without the marks you could easily be off by one. In one of my Isuzu videos it even shows a little trick to get the crank mark lined up if you can't pull it tight enough to reach the right tooth. Without a mark you wouldn't know if you had the right tooth in that spot. When you release the tensioner you need to confirm the marks to be absolutely sure the belt did not jump and everything is perfect before sealing it up.

I guess you could transfer the marks to the new belt, but be sure to count the teeth twice, three times even. This is one of those things where 99.9% is not good enough.

x2 on all that. IMO, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd ring Merlin and get an OEM belt shipped asap. I bet he can do overnight for you if you want to spend the money. My VX was down for 4 days when I did mine. Of course, I was taking my time and documenting everything, which added to the downtime, but this is just one of those things you don't want to eff up.

That said, I suppose you could count teeth and match the lines. Your call.

Bart