Timing Belt DIY
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:18 pm
Hello All - it's been a long time since I last posted on here so thought I would mark my return by sharing a large selection of photos from my recent DIY timing belt change to show people considering the job what is involved. I'm sure this has been covered on here before, but hopefully some of my pictures will help explain the job in more detail. The job itself was very straightforward and with the car in the service position there is plenty of room to do the work. I personally used the proper 'sliding bolts' to put the car in to the service position to begin with, but ended up removing these bolts afterwards to give some extra room for repairing water pump threads and removal / installation of crank and cam seals. For me the job went smoothly apart from the minor setback of 3 of the water pump bolts shearing upon removal which had to be drilled out and re-threaded.
I am not going to add a step by step guide to the job as I would expect you would have a copy of the workshop manual before carrying out this job, but a few tips would be as follows:
If you are struggling to disconnect the upper and lower radiator quick connect hose coupler (like I did) then simply ignore these and disconnect these hoses at the next joint inboard which has a hose clamp.
To get the crank locking tool in position you need to remove the passenger side steel boost hose. Access is difficult for this job but you do not need to remove the anti-roll bar which will save some time.
If (like me) you get one or more water pump bolts shearing, the process I used to remove the remaining part of the bolts was to Dremel the protruding parts of the bolts flat to the block - being careful not to grind the block in any way, then I re-fitted the old water pump and used a sharp centre punch to mark the middle of the damaged bolt ends. I then drilled these out with a 3mm then 5mm cobalt tipped drill bit then re-tapped the holes with a M6X1 tap. For one of the holes I had to use a helicoil, but the basic principle was the same. To do this you need to move the front carrier much further away from the engine to give access for the drill, but it is very easy to do, just use some rope to secure it in place.
To remove the cam and crank seals (highly recommended as access is easy when doing the timing belt and most likely they will all be leaking to some degree) I simply drilled a 3mm hole in the front of each seal then used a self tapper / mole grip / pry-bar to remove the seals. To install the seals I simply used a large socket for the cam seals and tapped them in as far as they could go and for the crank seal I could not find a suitably large socket for the job so had to gently manually tap the seal in flush to the housing with a nylon hammer and screwdriver handle etc. I have removed and fitted dozens of seals over the years using similar techniques and never had a problem in case you think this sounds a little haphazard!
To gain access to the crank seal you need to remove the lower timing 'cog'. The bolt here is a single use stretch bolt and has to be replaced, it is also supertight - I used a 3/4" socket with a 4ft extension bar to remove and install the bolt and would recommend the same to you! The tightening torque for this bolt is 200Nm + 180°
The above points stand out as the things I had to do 'outside of the box' but probably there were others too. The actual setting up of the timing could not be simpler and the cam locking tools work very well. I had the full set of tools which allows the correct setting of tension on the belt, and would advise you to get all of these tools as well. I can add a list of the tools later if anyone is interested. You will also require a 'low torque' torque wrench that works anti-clockwise.
Anyway, here are the pics. I have not added descriptions or comments yet but may do so later. I added a few pics at the end of my cars new wheel and brake colour scheme - previously the wheels were silver and the calipers yellow, bit I decided for a change to black wheels and blue calipers. Any questions just ask!
I am not going to add a step by step guide to the job as I would expect you would have a copy of the workshop manual before carrying out this job, but a few tips would be as follows:
If you are struggling to disconnect the upper and lower radiator quick connect hose coupler (like I did) then simply ignore these and disconnect these hoses at the next joint inboard which has a hose clamp.
To get the crank locking tool in position you need to remove the passenger side steel boost hose. Access is difficult for this job but you do not need to remove the anti-roll bar which will save some time.
If (like me) you get one or more water pump bolts shearing, the process I used to remove the remaining part of the bolts was to Dremel the protruding parts of the bolts flat to the block - being careful not to grind the block in any way, then I re-fitted the old water pump and used a sharp centre punch to mark the middle of the damaged bolt ends. I then drilled these out with a 3mm then 5mm cobalt tipped drill bit then re-tapped the holes with a M6X1 tap. For one of the holes I had to use a helicoil, but the basic principle was the same. To do this you need to move the front carrier much further away from the engine to give access for the drill, but it is very easy to do, just use some rope to secure it in place.
To remove the cam and crank seals (highly recommended as access is easy when doing the timing belt and most likely they will all be leaking to some degree) I simply drilled a 3mm hole in the front of each seal then used a self tapper / mole grip / pry-bar to remove the seals. To install the seals I simply used a large socket for the cam seals and tapped them in as far as they could go and for the crank seal I could not find a suitably large socket for the job so had to gently manually tap the seal in flush to the housing with a nylon hammer and screwdriver handle etc. I have removed and fitted dozens of seals over the years using similar techniques and never had a problem in case you think this sounds a little haphazard!
To gain access to the crank seal you need to remove the lower timing 'cog'. The bolt here is a single use stretch bolt and has to be replaced, it is also supertight - I used a 3/4" socket with a 4ft extension bar to remove and install the bolt and would recommend the same to you! The tightening torque for this bolt is 200Nm + 180°
The above points stand out as the things I had to do 'outside of the box' but probably there were others too. The actual setting up of the timing could not be simpler and the cam locking tools work very well. I had the full set of tools which allows the correct setting of tension on the belt, and would advise you to get all of these tools as well. I can add a list of the tools later if anyone is interested. You will also require a 'low torque' torque wrench that works anti-clockwise.
Anyway, here are the pics. I have not added descriptions or comments yet but may do so later. I added a few pics at the end of my cars new wheel and brake colour scheme - previously the wheels were silver and the calipers yellow, bit I decided for a change to black wheels and blue calipers. Any questions just ask!
