I am having trouble reinstalling the timing belt. I replaced it with a new one a few months ago when I replaced a bad head gasket, and had no problem lining up the camshafts, crankshafts, and the marks on the belt. Recently the car developed an oil leak around one of the camshafts, so I had to take it all apart again. I swear I had all of the marks lined up when I reassembled it, but something wasn't right when I tried to start it. I took the belt off and tried to line everything up again, but it wouldn't line up. I assumed it wouldn't line up because I had bent some valves. Last night I finished replacing the 8 bent intake valves, lapping all 16 valves, and the long process of reassembling. When it came time to put the timing belt on, I still couldn't get the 3 pullys to line up. I put the mark on both camshafts at 12 o'clock, then when I try to position the crankshaft, there is a lot of resistance preventing it from going the final 10 degrees to the 12 o'clock position.
It can't be the valves. I just replaced half and lapped all of them. If they were bent or the wrong valves, I would not have been able to lap them properly.
I even took the camshaft pully's to the mechanic at the dealer and confirmed that I was supposed to line up the small dash marks stamped into front of the pully right next to the teeth (as opposed to the arrow stamped onto one of the 5 spokes on each pully).
The pully's have pins in them, so it should not be possible for them to be on the shaft wrong.
If anyone can help or suggest something else that I may have overlooked, I would really appreciate it.