1999 SAAB 9-5 Timing Belt Marks

Hey whats up ,sorry to say if the belt came loose while the engine was running then u will have bent exhaust valves only,but as per timing it can be a bit tricky for someone without the correct tools ,all cam sprockets have numbers from back of eng start from #1 to # 4 at the front of car align groves from sprockets to grove on backing plate make sure all 3 tensioners r loose ,the crank sprocket at bottom have a big grove notch on it align that with the oil pump cover grove at the bottom ,if the belt is new then it should have some white line markings ,the double white line goes at the bottom crank sprocket also check belt arrow for rotation of belt ,arrows should point to front headlamps direction ,after fitting belt now comes the hard part 1st tensioner to tighten is the 1 with the 13mm nut fitted ,u will need a allen type key to adjust tensioner before tightening the tensioner as 2 grove that have to be aligned then tighten 13mm nut ,after that tighten the 2 idle tensioner u will need to rotate center area to tension to puttension on belt, then tighten torx bolt pay attention to sprocket grove markings see that they dont move that tensioner set cam 1&2 after all that tighten the bottom #3 idle tensioner that tensioner sets #3&4 same manner as #2 tensioner if cam sprocket marks still inplace ,u can now rotate the engine remember the eng must be rotated 2 times to bring engine back to correct timing marks if all marks r still in place then u have done a good job ,if not then start all over ,

Ok your #1 piston position is to the back near firewall cyl nearest to cam sprocket it will be at TDC with crank pulley glove pointing down to ground .did u pressure test the cylinders ,not compression test ,but pressure tested ,this test will let u know if the valves r closing & holding pressure even before u try to refit timing belt & u r not wasting your time with a engine that has bent valves.,this eng will even bend the valve while setting the timing & u let the cam lash back hard & valve hit piston top ,so if the person tried starting it with cam out of timing then u may have bent valves ,i work alot with these engine to tell u stop trying to reset timing & pressure test cyl's first .oh i reread your post about cam sprocket been tight ,& that is a sign of valves been bent badly exhaust valve because that cam is the exhaust side cam ,& if u remember from my first post telling u that it would be your exhaust valve that would be bent .so there u r pull both heads & replace valve.tell me if i am wrong if u get it started just by refitting timing belt ,good luck guys.

Did u rotate cam to lock both valve on that cyl, make sure pistons r half way down in cylinder first before u rotate cams. Let me know if u did that before if not do pressure test again.

O by the way make sure #3 CAM DOWEL PIN is pointing down before u fit cam pulley all other cam dowels most point up.