UK Car Repair: restarting my astra diesel 1.7 tdl ?, vise grips, electrical tape

Question
i try to restart the car atfer changing the the large coolant pipe. but to do this i had to take off the camshaft sprocket to get to the thermostat housing . i put all the parts back and try too restart the car . can you help please?  

Answer
If you made the correct adjustments to the timing after reinstalling the gear it should start no problem. Diesel automobiles a very touchy on timing arrangements. If you do not have a book get one, and if you do, read out the timing procedure and make sure you have it right. That’s about all you can do. In the future, should you need to remove only one sprocket to repair something, use a pair of vise grips and electrical tape to maintain your timing. Clamp the vise grips onto the pulley lip and belt to hold it position when you remove it. Then, wrap a layer of electrical tape around the vise grip handles to prevent them from popping off. That will ensure that this will not be a problem again. Just to recap, reset the valve timing and see where that gets you. If your still in a hole, take it to a garage and let them retime it.

Regards,

John