Hey guys, sorry for so many questions on this..
1995 2.3 SOHC 4x2 XLT

I put the crank on TC, pulled the cover, and found that all marks are misaligned (this is consistently my luck ). It all lines up correctly with a minor turn on the crank. I believe the crank was installed incorrectly possibly, and the resistance when turning the engine attests to this.

How can I be sure without splitting the block open, is this minor and should I trust the 2 aligned sprockets and just make a mental note of where the crank lands, or should I go about this another way? I believe the crank pulley comes off during this job, so maybe the previous person screwed up, or is the crank pulley keyed making this a bit more serious of an issue?

TIA for any advice

 

Update: viewing from spark plug hole, piston still goes up once timing marks on camshaft oil pump pass their alignment marks. Highest point of piston appears to land on TC marks, as would be expected if crank sprocket/pulley is keyed.

Can I trust timing marks on cam and oil pump are correct? Or do I have to worry that someone may have pulled this engine apart before and installed those sprockets incorrectly (maybe those are keyed too hopefully)? The truck has honestly been running just fine. Really not sure how to approach this one. Pics posted in OP indicate where everything is when cylinder 1 is at max height (TDC).

 

All the timing gears are keyed on the 2.3l SOHC Lima engines, so no way to assemble incorrectly

Belt looks quite old and cracked

And could be tensioner is allowing too much slack

Each larger gear looks to be 1 tooth off

 

It's interesting that this must have been done before since the truck only has 80k on the odometer. Oh well! I assume I can just turn these to align them correctly during the new belt install? And would it perhaps be smart to replace my valve cover gasket while I've got that intake manifold off? There's a ton of gunk around it, looks like it leaked for a while but I'm not losing oil. Trying to make sure this truck has minimal likelihood of failure since I'm taking it on a roadtrip Thanks!

 

Okay, I’ve got the new belt on. Curious though, the oil pump timing doesn’t matter right? I screwed up and didn’t get it aligned right because it kept moving on me. But from what I understand this just drives the oil pump nothing more.

 

In 1995 it will matter because you should have a Cam Position Sensor(CPS), and that reads the AUX gear instead or Cam gear, so it needs to be timed correctly
CPS is on the back side of AUX gear

Trick is to have no slack on the drivers side of belt, from crank to AUX to Cam gears, when you time it, then tensioner takes up slack on passenger side of belt

 

Okay, how can I pry the tension pulley without the timing belt to get it back off safely? Thank You!

 

There is a tool for that, seen here:
Or you can pull off the bracket on driver side and use a socket and bolt as seen in this short video:

 

Thank you! I’m all set.

 

Good work