Timing Belt Change - The Worst Job Ive Ever Done
3/23/2024
~160K Mileage
2 steps forward, 1 step back....
That's how I sum up this job.
I did my research, got the special service tools, it all seemed very straight forward. Well it kicked my ass.
It started out great. I bought the kit, laid out all the parts, and started taking off components. It was going pretty smooth until I went to take off the harmonic balancer. My puller wouldn't fit because the radiator was in the way so I took the first step back and removed the grille, unbolted the radiator, and slid it out.
Slowly getting the covers off
Super helpful Flashlight my Wife got me for Christmas
Once I had the balancer off I was able to remove the rollers. The idler roller seemed fine however the tensioner roller did have a little play in it so I felt good about replacing both with new components. Then came time what would be the biggest nightmare of the job....the tensioner.
In videos and reddit posts they say you can reach the rear bolt by snaking up beside the oil pan. I don't know if it was the tools I was using or just bad luck but I spent about a half hour trying and making zero progress before I just decided to remove the AC compressor to be able to reach it, yet another step back.
Once the compressor and bracket were removed I hit yet another issue with the tensioner. Even though the torque specs say its 20ftlbs I'm pretty sure mine were at 200. I couldn't budge them. I used every tool and extractor I had in my tool box but I had to eventually take a trip to the store to but a very specify 12mm extractor which eventually worked, but chewed up the bolts pretty good. Luckily, the local dealer had some bolts so I scooped up those too.
After the tensioner nightmare I thought I would tackle the cam and crank seals. Crank seal was no issue but the cam seal.....I quickly realized they were not going to happen. I could not budge the bolts. The good news is after inspecting I didn't see any oil leaking and the crank seal was in good shape so I didn't feel too bad about leaving them.
After quickly swapping the water pump and thermostat, cleaning all the gunk up with some degreaser and brake cleaner, I called it a day. I was pretty wore out, and the brake cleaner fumes were getting to me, so I decided to leave it to the next morning.
Quick note on the thermostat, I actually found it in upside down. I installed it with the jiggle valve at 6 o'clock and it actually warms up significantly faster and, I might be crazy, but the heater seems much better.
I started the next day by installing the timing belt and was immediately annoyed. There was no way I could get the timing belt installed by hand, it was incredibly tight. I have a panel tool kit so I grabbed the stiffest one to pry the belt into place. The panel tool worked really well but I was met with my second challenge, the cams were shifting while installing the belt. This meant that I would have to remove the belt, realign everything, and pry the belt back on. Unfortunately I had to do this process 3 times to get it to line up correctly. I rotated the motor to confirm that after 2 rotations it would line up again and was relived when it was exactly the way the service manual said it would be.
It took several tries to get the cams to line up
Finally....perfect alignment
THe trim panel tool I used to install the timing belt
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel I moved at a lightning pace assembling everything and torqueing to spec. Due to the road grime some parts were pretty gross so I cleaned/pressure washed what I could during assembly.
Once everything was back together, I topped off the radiator, grabbed my keys and crossed my fingers. Thankfully, she fired right up.
I burped all the air out of the cooling system, confirmed everything was working and sounding correct, and called it job complete.
Would I do it again? No...maybe, depends on the labor cost. I am cheap after all.
Post Timing Belt Swap.mp4