Camshaft moved when I was putting my timing belt on

My camshaft pulleys moved when putting My timing belt back on the crankshaft didn't just the cams can I just turn them back to Tdc with the belt off?

 

Yes , theres a little trick to getting things lined up when putting the belt back on. I think you start with cams lined up and crank a little to the left so when belt goes on its aligned. Either way with the belt on the marks on all gears should be on.

 

So move my crankshaft like a single tooth to the left of tdc?

 

yes... dont pull the pin on the tensioner just yet unless you have the resetting tool to reset it. Turn the motor over by hand (ratchet and socket) 2 times to verify that everything comes back to the correct settings. It is a pretty straight forward job.

 

Just to summarize - With no belt installed:

1. Turn the crank so the mark on the timing wheel is as close to the mark on the block as you can get it. It should point straight up.

2. Turn the pulley on one of the camshafts so the timing mark on it is aligned with the marks on the block. It should point straight up.

3. Do the same for the other camshaft pulley.

4. Now you can attach the timing belt.

 

You don't want to turn the crank really with the belt off.. *edit* especially if you have an interference motor.
So always locate tdc #1 with the belt on and set the crank set to 0 before you make any adjustments to the cams and there is no guessing or confusion.

This is the way I do it if the engine is already running (meaning you know where tdc 1 is with belt on), and the cams are slightly off:

With the belt on, turn the crank to the 0 mark.
Now check the cams to make sure they are pointing at their respective marks.
If they are not pointing at the marks (or close to it even if they are off a few teeth), then turn the crank one full revolution and they should be close to lined up now.
Once that happens and the crank is at 0 w/cams pointing near marks, you are at TDC #1, so you can now remove the timing belt tensioner.
You can now slide the belt off the cam gear, usually you have to turn the cams back a hair to get the belt off (creating a little slack).
Now turn the cams to line them up properly to the marks (correcting them being off a few teeth).
Slide the belt back on with *ALL* of the slack on the side that the tensioner is on (doing this step wrong is usually how they end up off a few teeth).
You can slowly turn the crank to make sure they all line up again in 2 turns, they should line up or something was skipped.
When they line up again perfect, reinstall the tensioner and give it a couple more turns just to be sure.

 

Whaaat? A full turn is 360 degrees. IOW, back where you started.

 

The crank turns twice for every one turn of the camshaft.. so that is the proper way to do it. if you have an interference motor, then you would not want to just turn the crank whole revolutions without the belt on. Alot of the vvti motors are interference, or if your head has been decked enough that happens.
You are right in that if you had a non interference engine and know exactly what you were doing, then it would be ok.
The way I stated is what is in the manual, and its easier to not mess the job up.

 

It's a 4 stroke motor, 2 of those strokes will put the piston at the top of it's travel but only 1 of them puts it at the top of its travel at the same time it's igniting. You need both the piton in the right place and the valves in the right place at the same time in order to get a running motor.

When you're 180 out you have valves open when the engine needs to be compressing, you have valves closed and spark when it needs to be exhausting.