I have a 2005 Sebring convertible and I'm trying to reinstall the timing chain that has no marked links. I have the crank aligned with the mark on the case, but don't know where to put the marks on the upper sprockets. Do they need to be vertical? I put it on once with them aligned with cams. I rotated the crankshaft to insure no interference between pistons and valves. Put it back together and it fired a couple of times, but wouldn't start. To get the marks vertical, there will be tension on some of the cams when installing.

 

I'm adding a full history to what happened with this vehicle. It was taken apart for a new water pump. The kid working on it marked the upper timing sprockets to the cams with a paint stick, but didn't align the crank sprocket to the mark on the oil pump cover. When he pulled the chain off, both upper sprockets rotated about 30 degrees. When he couldn't reassemble easily (he didn't know about putting a 3/8 ratchet in the end of the cams help) he wound up turning the crank a number of times without the timing chain on. I have no idea why he did this and I'm not going to beat him up further by asking. He feels bad enough that he couldn't get it to run. So, now, I need to get an unmarked timing chain back on without knowing the correct position of the crank. I read that the crank alignment is only correct on 1 out of 6 revolutions of the engine.

 

It would help to know what engine this to get the correct information for you.
Often on "chain driven" gear train there are Links identified by either marks or color used to time the engine at reassembly.

 

It's the 2.7 liter V6 engine. I don't know if the chain is original, but it gold colored. If there are some small marks on the chain I might have missed, we will have to tear it down again to see. Don't mind doing it if I can learn how to get the crank aligned properly. Thanks.

 

A number of You Tube Videos on the topic, this one explains it well.