[vrmouseyd15b]

to check your timing belt alignment, you have to first line up the top dead center mark on your harmonic balancer with the arrows on the timing cover. Then you can remove the valve cover to get at your cam gear. There should be two cuts on the cam gear itself that will line up with the top section of the head. I believe on the stock cam gear there should also be an up arrow. Everytime I get into this, I end up buying a new valve cover gasket set with the spark plug seals. Its just under 20 bucks, and a great insurance policy.

I guess it could be possible bet your timing belt has stretched over time,you might be a half tooth off.

also, were you sure that you had the jumper in the connector under the passenger seat kick panel that would make the check engine light come on and have you in a position to be able to adjust your timing without the computer getting in the middle and screwing it all around on you?

top dead center mark on the harmonic balancer is the one mark by itself. the three marks that are closer together are for ignition timing those will be the ones you want to point at when you are looking with the timing light. timing light clip goes on the plug closest to the timing belt. make sure if your timing light clip has an arrow that indicates if it should point at the plug.