so I've just brought an 2011 200bhp xc90 and it was due a cambelt change, i found the job quite easy but have panicked my self abit when id taken off the cambelt i seen a very small mist of oil coming from behind the cam pulley whilst i was there anyway and i thought id need to take off the back cover to undo the 2 top water pump bolts. I had the marking all lined up and proceeded to undo the 4 bolts on the pulley, it did move it a bit but not much once off i didn't see any markings of a fitting position either on the pulley other than a pointless little cut out and the camshaft end has nothing, but i knew which position/holes it went back on at but i didn't mark it in the center if you understand. i cleaned around the seal and refitted the back cover and pulley. luckily it had the head bolt markings on the pulley of the bolts i removed so i fitted the bolt exactly back in them positions and once tightened i turned the pulley back on the cover mark. fitted the belt etc and carried out 2 full rotations all marking bang on. started the car and it runs fine. I've been driving around now its all good but because i just worry I've seen that there's a locking pin hole behind the vacuum pump for you to lock the cam i would of said is that tdc ? so my question is if id even off set that pulley a fraction how sensitive are these engines to ping a fault. if the cam seal starts misting any time soon im taking it all off and pinning the cams this time. its a lesson learnt! i know someone with vida and scanned it no faults at all which im buzzing about as is it has 200k on the clock. I've ordered a Haynes manual now lol thanks..

If I understand correctly, you are referring to the fact that the cam pulleys have a small amount of advance/retard adjustment, but there is no marking indicating the correct position?

What you have done sounds fine to me, and it is probably the best way to get the pulley as close to the original position as possible without special tools.

If you had them way off the engine might run poorly, or just differently. If you haven't noticed anything then it's fine 👌

jamesinc changed the title to Did I set cam timing correctly? .