96 Sc300 Timing Belt

[27nupe94]

I went forward in my attempt to change my timing belt. I have a followed the instructions given in a repair manual exactly. Upon my removal of the upper timing belt covers I found that the belt has not broken. So my no start condition had nothing to do with my timing belt.

Oh well since I have removed everything I decided to move forward and change the belt anyway. However I am stuck at the part where I need to remove the crank shaft pulley bolt and need some definitive advice. My instructions state that I need line up the crank shaft pulley mark & cam marks to the respective marks on the timing belt covers BEFORE I remove the CS Bolt. My problem: no matter how many times I turn the crank shaft over (clockwise only) the 3 timing marks never line up with the corresponding marks on the belt covers. The cam shaft marks are synchronized and will both line up at the same time but then CS pulley mark will then be off.

Can you or anybody tell me what I may be doing wrong? Do all 3 marks have to line up to change the belt properly? Again the belt is not broken, and it has tension on it. It has not skipped any teeth either, during my inspection I knocked off a couple of teeth, but not many. The cam shafts still turn in unison.

See my pictures at the link below. After turning the crankshaft numerous times this is as close as I can get the 3 marks to line up. Any insight would be very much appreciated.

Pic 002 & 003 are where the marks ended up on my first attempt to line up with the CS pulley yellow notch.

Pic 004 & 005 are where the marks ended up when I turned a few more times and tried to line up with the second mark (the white one). It was closer but the cam shaft marks still did not line up with the belt cover notches.

Pic 007 & 008 show where the crankshaft pulley notch ends up when I turn it far enough to have the cam shaft marks & notches line up properly.

HELP! I don't know where to go from here. I love this car and don't want to take a shortcut and destroy my valves.

SC300 Timing Belt pics