How To: Timing Belt On 2nd Gen Lx
Alright I had to change my timing belt the other day, so I figured I'd post a how-to on it.
Let's start with the tools needed:
:arrow: Basic socket tool set
:arrow: Crow Bar
:arrow: Breaker Bar (or Similar)
:arrow: Gloves If You Got A Hot Date Tonight
:arrow: New Timing Belt
:arrow: New Timing Belt Tensioner (Timing Belt Kit) (optional)
:arrow: Nice Cold Drink
Okay first thing is first: I (Joe, 94scortlx) am in no way responsible of any mishaps during removal and installation. If you screw up that's on you. This was my first time doing a timing belt and I thought I'd help the less fortunate out.
The reason i had to replace mine is cuz my belt looked like this...
Yeah, that's what happens when the original timing belt is on for 125 thousand miles i guess.
Now, we will be working on the left side of the engine compartment, because that's where the front of the engine is. But first, remove the negative on your battery, and also remove all 4 spark plugs.
Step one: Place something into the notch of the Serpentine belt tensioner. Pull back as to loose the tensioner and remove the belt from up top of the alternator.
What you see is a socket extension inserted into another. I slipped a metal heating pipe over it for a longer extension and easier support.
Next step: Remove the nut holding that tensioner in, it's a 13mm bolt. Remove the tensioner from the vehicle.
NOTE: There is caked on rubber on that rubber spinner, if you see this, gently scrape that off to reduce belt wear. It's better practice to just replace this tensioner, along with the serpentine belt while you're down there.
Now we want to jack the vehicle up, because we're going to remove an engine mount. Place the jack under you're oil pan, with a piece of wood and jack up enough to hold the engine in place, plus about a 1/4 of an inch. Don't forget your jack stands.
Now that we have the vehicle supported, remove the engine mount. It's just two bolts. You will need a deep socket 15mm i believe. Lift up that bracket connected to the roller and place it out of your way.
Then remove the Front Engine Cover, the black casing, on the front of the engine. It's Just 2 10mm nuts.
After you remove the tensioner, engine mount, and cover it should look like this:
Alright! Now we have to remove the crankshaft. This was the hardest part for me, and you will see why. So get on the floor with a 19mm socket and try and remove that bolt (Crankshaft has the serpentine belt going around it, along with teeth on the backside of it.) When i tried it, the bolt wouldn't come loose and it just kept spinning, so this is where the crowbar comes in. Wrap the end with some electrical tape as not to damage anything. Have someone jam it down there and try and remove the bolt. After the bolts out, take your crowbar, and try and pry the cam off. When it's off You should see this:
Note: See the missing tooth on the left? (Yes it's supposed to be like that) 4-1/2 teeth to the right is the aligntment point for the camshaft crank. It's a little notch see that? Remember those positions for later.(we are actually looking at this from the backside so when u put it on, the missing tooth will be to your right instead.
Ok now, we are ready to take that old belt off. Go back up top with a 13mm socket, and slightly loosen the tensioner (under the camshaft) Loosen it enough to be able to move it (which you wont be able to with your hands, and if you do...you've got to do a whole lot more than just replace you're timing belt.) Ok now that it's loose try and remove your timing belt, crowbar the tensioner if you are that weak.
Ok now spin ur tensioner roller, and with your fingers see if you feel any peaks on the roller. If you do, stop now, make sure you have your timing belt kit. If you don't you need to go buy one. Let's say you do feel that non-smoothness on the roller. Remove that bolt completely and examine it. Mine looked like this:
Now unlike the serpentine belt tensioner, you can't just scrape this off, because this is a metal roller, and it needs to be completely smooth. I replaced just the roller and the bolt, because my spring was still strong. If you leave it like this, it will eat your new belt and cause you to re-do the entire thing over again! :evil: Ahem, anyway, put the new tensioner roller on, but dont tighten it completely.
Take a look at the back of my belt, from just one day with the bad tensioner:
You can see the back side of the belt is all scratched up and the teeth we're cracking.
Now when the belt is off we want to position the tensioner as far back as possible to make installation of the new belt a piece of cake. Use your crowbar and pry the tensioner back, while it's back there, tighten the bolt now for the tensioner (this is why we slightly loosen the bolt, instead of removing it)
Ok now, slide the belt on the bottom first, dont wrap it around the top yet. Put the crankshaft back on with the bolt. Turn it with a socket until that notch is straight up and down and the missing tooth should be 4-1/2 teeth to your right now. Okay great, Now go back up top to your camshaft and turn that with a socket as well (13mm i believe) until the notch in one of the circles is pointing straight up as well.
Make sure those are lined up, and now you can put your belt on! Should be easy since the tensioner is slid most of the way back now, in place. Remember that the belt goes on the right side of the tensioner when looking from passenger fender (AHEM JOSH). Once you have your belt positioned, loosen your tensioner, and it should snap onto the belt. Now because this is not an auto tensioner like the serpentine belt has, we need to pry it forward and tighten it.
As you can see, i pryed it forward with the engine mount back on, because the engine will move a lot if you don't do this. Also it will help in the testing part in a little. That is the old tensioner on my car though, i made the mistake of not replacing it the first time i did it, and the second time around i was able to create the lovely How-to for you guys.
With the new tensioner roller, (and you can tell) it looks like this installed:
Okay, now we want to test this baby out! Don't put the cover back on unless you are confident in yourself. Put your serpentine belt tensioner on, the engine mount doesn't need to be on just to start the car. Put the spark plugs back in, wires, and negative on the battery. Start it up, and let it get to idle. If you leave to old tensioner on, you will see it start to jump, and it's not a pretty sight. Once it gets to idle:
VOILA! You just did your timing belt, congratulate yourself. Now that you're done testing remove the tensioner again, put your engine front cover on, put the mount and tensioners back on, take you're jack outta there and go test drive it! If you have any questions, just PM me. The total amount was 21.99 for the belt, and 31.99 for the kit. Total without taxes $ 54.98, as opposed to the over $300 for a mechanic to do. It should take you anywhere from 2-4 hours to complete.
Alright I had to change my timing belt the other day, so I figured I'd post a how-to on it.
Let's start with the tools needed:
:arrow: Basic socket tool set
:arrow: Crow Bar
:arrow: Breaker Bar (or Similar)
:arrow: Gloves If You Got A Hot Date Tonight
:arrow: New Timing Belt
:arrow: New Timing Belt Tensioner (Timing Belt Kit) (optional)
:arrow: Nice Cold Drink
Okay first thing is first: I (Joe, 94scortlx) am in no way responsible of any mishaps during removal and installation. If you screw up that's on you. This was my first time doing a timing belt and I thought I'd help the less fortunate out.
The reason i had to replace mine is cuz my belt looked like this...
Yeah, that's what happens when the original timing belt is on for 125 thousand miles i guess.
Now, we will be working on the left side of the engine compartment, because that's where the front of the engine is. But first, remove the negative on your battery, and also remove all 4 spark plugs.
Step one: Place something into the notch of the Serpentine belt tensioner. Pull back as to loose the tensioner and remove the belt from up top of the alternator.
What you see is a socket extension inserted into another. I slipped a metal heating pipe over it for a longer extension and easier support.
Next step: Remove the nut holding that tensioner in, it's a 13mm bolt. Remove the tensioner from the vehicle.
NOTE: There is caked on rubber on that rubber spinner, if you see this, gently scrape that off to reduce belt wear. It's better practice to just replace this tensioner, along with the serpentine belt while you're down there.
Now we want to jack the vehicle up, because we're going to remove an engine mount. Place the jack under you're oil pan, with a piece of wood and jack up enough to hold the engine in place, plus about a 1/4 of an inch. Don't forget your jack stands.
Now that we have the vehicle supported, remove the engine mount. It's just two bolts. You will need a deep socket 15mm i believe. Lift up that bracket connected to the roller and place it out of your way.
Then remove the Front Engine Cover, the black casing, on the front of the engine. It's Just 2 10mm nuts.
After you remove the tensioner, engine mount, and cover it should look like this:
Alright! Now we have to remove the crankshaft. This was the hardest part for me, and you will see why. So get on the floor with a 19mm socket and try and remove that bolt (Crankshaft has the serpentine belt going around it, along with teeth on the backside of it.) When i tried it, the bolt wouldn't come loose and it just kept spinning, so this is where the crowbar comes in. Wrap the end with some electrical tape as not to damage anything. Have someone jam it down there and try and remove the bolt. After the bolts out, take your crowbar, and try and pry the cam off. When it's off You should see this:
Note: See the missing tooth on the left? (Yes it's supposed to be like that) 4-1/2 teeth to the right is the aligntment point for the camshaft crank. It's a little notch see that? Remember those positions for later.(we are actually looking at this from the backside so when u put it on, the missing tooth will be to your right instead.
Ok now, we are ready to take that old belt off. Go back up top with a 13mm socket, and slightly loosen the tensioner (under the camshaft) Loosen it enough to be able to move it (which you wont be able to with your hands, and if you do...you've got to do a whole lot more than just replace you're timing belt.) Ok now that it's loose try and remove your timing belt, crowbar the tensioner if you are that weak.
Ok now spin ur tensioner roller, and with your fingers see if you feel any peaks on the roller. If you do, stop now, make sure you have your timing belt kit. If you don't you need to go buy one. Let's say you do feel that non-smoothness on the roller. Remove that bolt completely and examine it. Mine looked like this:
Now unlike the serpentine belt tensioner, you can't just scrape this off, because this is a metal roller, and it needs to be completely smooth. I replaced just the roller and the bolt, because my spring was still strong. If you leave it like this, it will eat your new belt and cause you to re-do the entire thing over again! :evil: Ahem, anyway, put the new tensioner roller on, but dont tighten it completely.
Take a look at the back of my belt, from just one day with the bad tensioner:
You can see the back side of the belt is all scratched up and the teeth we're cracking.
Now when the belt is off we want to position the tensioner as far back as possible to make installation of the new belt a piece of cake. Use your crowbar and pry the tensioner back, while it's back there, tighten the bolt now for the tensioner (this is why we slightly loosen the bolt, instead of removing it)
Ok now, slide the belt on the bottom first, dont wrap it around the top yet. Put the crankshaft back on with the bolt. Turn it with a socket until that notch is straight up and down and the missing tooth should be 4-1/2 teeth to your right now. Okay great, Now go back up top to your camshaft and turn that with a socket as well (13mm i believe) until the notch in one of the circles is pointing straight up as well.
Make sure those are lined up, and now you can put your belt on! Should be easy since the tensioner is slid most of the way back now, in place. Remember that the belt goes on the right side of the tensioner when looking from passenger fender (AHEM JOSH). Once you have your belt positioned, loosen your tensioner, and it should snap onto the belt. Now because this is not an auto tensioner like the serpentine belt has, we need to pry it forward and tighten it.
As you can see, i pryed it forward with the engine mount back on, because the engine will move a lot if you don't do this. Also it will help in the testing part in a little. That is the old tensioner on my car though, i made the mistake of not replacing it the first time i did it, and the second time around i was able to create the lovely How-to for you guys.
With the new tensioner roller, (and you can tell) it looks like this installed:
Okay, now we want to test this baby out! Don't put the cover back on unless you are confident in yourself. Put your serpentine belt tensioner on, the engine mount doesn't need to be on just to start the car. Put the spark plugs back in, wires, and negative on the battery. Start it up, and let it get to idle. If you leave to old tensioner on, you will see it start to jump, and it's not a pretty sight. Once it gets to idle:
VOILA! You just did your timing belt, congratulate yourself. Now that you're done testing remove the tensioner again, put your engine front cover on, put the mount and tensioners back on, take you're jack outta there and go test drive it! If you have any questions, just PM me. The total amount was 21.99 for the belt, and 31.99 for the kit. Total without taxes $ 54.98, as opposed to the over $300 for a mechanic to do. It should take you anywhere from 2-4 hours to complete.