3.0L Mitsubishi timing belt change

Hi all. I'm new to the forums here so this is my first post.

I have been helping my brother replace the head gaskets on his Dodge Stealth and I have a couple of questions. First, when we removed the timing belt both the cam gears moved about a quarter turn from the positions that we marked. We are planning on just lining them back up with the marks we made before taking the belt off. Is there a way to check that we have it right, after we re-assemble the engine? I'd hate to fire it up for the first time and bend valves or worse.

Second, and probably the more important question is this. The reason we dove into this project is because of the large cloud of white smoke and leaking water from under the engine. After we removed both gaskets we really didn't see any obvious signs that they had "blown". What else might cause these symptoms indicate? How can we check for them? Sure, it would've been best to really nail the problem down in the beginning but we were just itching to get in there and look around.

Thanks alot for the help.

Adam

If you haven't replaced the waterpump, do so immediately. They have a lifespan of ABOUT 100K and that is an interference motor.

You DO have a book, right. Binder clips from Staples are worth their weight in Gold.

Make sure the belt tensioner is bolted down in the proper posoition on the slotted holes. You should be able to remove and install the pin in the piston once the belt is on- the tensioner should not extend at all.

Before you button up the engine, with the plugs out, and the new timing belt in place, turn the engine over by hand--if it comes to a stop while turning it over slowly, you have a valve contacting a piston, and the timing is off. Start again. Retime the engine. Repeat the above. Those engines are known for eating their water pumps. Did you ever overheat the engine and warp one of the heads? Have a machine shop check them for flatness. Small money for piece of mind. Good luck.

Just to throw something out there...

Sounds like he's working on the SOHC 3.0 to me. Those are pretty easy to time correctly compared to the DOHC.