Crankshaft

Hi
I am trying to turn my crankshaft to line up the holes on crank and
camshaft but it wont move in any direction. Do you have to have the
timeing belt on or off to turn the cranshaft pully, many thanks

 

Try putting the car in third gear and then nudge it forward or backward to
turn the engine over a bit at a time (with the ignition off of course).
The crankshaft pulley moves the belt, not vice versa. If it is a petrol
engine you could also take the plugs out to remove the compression pressure
which would make turning much easier. Don't move the shafts too far out of
line though or parts of the engine will touch other parts that they are not
supposed to. This is why a broken cam belt can cause so much damage.
Make sure that this is not the reason why you can't move it now.

 

The cambelt has not snapped but a washer had jammed between the crankshaft
and the housing thinking that the timeing belt might of jumped. The
engined was turned on then stoped on its own.What damage could of been
caused..
Many thanks for any help given

 

You could have major problems if, as you say, the engine ran. If the belt
did not actually jump any teeth then you should be OK, but if it did then
you may well have had an expensive collision of pistons and valves. The
experts on here will tell you more but I suspect that the only way you can
be sure (assuming the belt did move) is to open it up and look.