Timing Belt Time

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Jsarc
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Timing Belt Time

Postby Jsarc » Thu Sep 01, 2016 10:53 am

Just checking to see if anyone could suggest a good manual to use to perform the timing belt replacement. I'm sure someone has put together a step by step procedure over the years, and I would be thankful if anyone could send me a link to it.
I currently have a Chilton and Haynes manual on order, but figured any extra information along with what smj99smj has already given me could not hurt.
Thanks you for your time


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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:37 pm

There are vids on YouTube:

Part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMaBZXgSkA

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYzjmpgUtc

Here's a couple of notes and tips from my experience:

The marks on the rear timing belt cover do not exactly match up with the marks on the cam gears. They look about a tooth off; they are all like this. The mark on the crank sprocket should be in the 5:00 position. The important thing is that you match up the lines on the timing belt with the marks on the belt; if those are matched up, the engine is in time, mechanically speaking. Most new belts will have an arrow on it, which should point to the front of the vehicle. They will often have one "dashed" line and two "solid" lines. The dashed line matches up with the timing mark on the right bank time gear (which will be on your left if you are looking at the engine head-on). The two solid lines will match up with the marks on the left bank cam sprocket and crank sprocket, respectively. To get the tension tight, do as follows:

Install the new timing belts around the sprockets and tensioner. Loosen the tensioner nut and let the spring tension take up the slack. Turn the right bank cam sprocket about three teeth in the counter-clockwise direction, letting the tensioner continue taking up slack. Torque the tensioner nut to 35 ft/lbs. Turn the right bank cam sprocket about three teeth in the clockwise position. Using your thumb and forefinger, twist the timing belt at the center point between the two cam sprockets; it should turn 90 degrees. If you can turn it 90 degrees, it is too loose and you must re-adjust. If you can't turn it 90 degrees, it is too tight and will likely make a loud, whine noise when you get it running. Again, adjust the tension, as necessary. Most of the time you won't. If you want, you can install the lower timing belt cover and crank pulley (tighten crank bolt) and start the engine to make sure it runs okay. It will be fine with the upper cover off and you can run it for a little bit without worrying about it overheating without coolant, but I wouldn't let if run for more than 30 seconds. Make sure you pay attention to the timing belt cover bolts, as they are not all the same length.

Jsarc
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Postby Jsarc » Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:22 pm

Well I finished up with the timing belt job. So far everything has gone pretty good. The only issue I'm having is tightening the crank bolt to the 98 ft lbs. This has an automatic transmission. Any tips on how to allow torquing without turning the crank. Thank you for your time

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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Mon Sep 19, 2016 10:25 pm

I always just used my 1/2" air impact gun to tighten it. I doubt you are going to find a ring gear stopper for this engine. In the old days, they would cut one of the V-belts and install it in one of the crank pulley grooves and use a holding fixture around the cut belt, where it would tension down without damaging the pulley and could be used to hold the pulley in place while you torque the crank bolt. They also make a tool that threads into the spark plug hole and will lock the piston in place, but I used one of these on a Toyota engine and it damaged the threads of the spark plug hole. Another way it to feed rope into the spark plug hole (as much as you can). When you turn the engine, the piston will compress the rope in the cylinder until it locks the engine in place; that's another "back in the day" trick.

Jsarc
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Postby Jsarc » Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:17 pm

Thank you again for all the help. I ended up getting the crank bolt torqed. I used the old timing belt to wedge between the p.s pump pulley belt along with a 3/8 socket extension between one of the slots in the p.s pump pulley. Everything is torqed to spec, and no leaks. The only thing that was a little confusing was the different methods of setting the tensioner. I used the feeler gauge method and then tried your method. I didn't see much difference between them, so hopefully all is good.

volox
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Postby volox » Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:21 am

I'm about to embark on the same adventure but I have one question...

For some reason the Chilton's instructions for the installation say to loosen the camshaft bolts in order to achieve proper tension on the timing belt... anyone know why? And what is more curious is that there is never a step for tightening them back down, so I'm a bit confused about where in the steps with the feeler gauge the camshaft is supposed to be loose vs. tightened?


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