Timing belt change.

Today I clicked over 90k and the T-belt light came on.

Mr-T said it is an hours work so not a killer (how numb have I become...) but if I can save £100 then...
Going to have a stab at changing it myself. Anything special I might need?
On the 120 access is pretty good, might have to remove one rad pipe to make things easy but about 6 bolts, plastic cover off. Mr-T said there are no idlers to change unless they need it but not part of a service item.

From all the youtube vids I've watched (both of them ) it seems pretty straight forward.

The one was simply marking the pullies and marking sure the marks are still in place when done. Did not bother with the casting marks. An ok practice or should I line it up with the Mr-T ones?

Always good practice to use proper timing marks, can be good to mark them for clarity.
When done make sure you rotate the engine by hand two full turns and check marks again to be sure.
Lucky if you dont need any pulley locking tools etc.

Paul said:

Always good practice to use proper timing marks, can be good to mark them for clarity.

Click to expand...

that was said in the vids as well. Thanks

Paul said:

Lucky if you dont need any pulley locking tools etc.

Click to expand...

Does not look like it. From the diagram and the cover, the cover is the same width as the belt so can't see that there would be anything in the way.

Timing belts are all about little marks.

Mark the pulleys where they stand, mark the old belt to where it stands on the pulleys.
Then copy the same marks on the new belt.

As stated above crank it around by hand a few times and everything should line up again.

Timing belt engines are usually non interference engines, so if they break everything comes to a halt, but nothing goes hickup.
Now don't go and take my word for it, if the light goes bright change the belt and preferably the idlers.

Sorry, but rebuilt quite a few motors where belts have snapped and there was plenty of interference.
It is possible to mark the pulleys and belt where it lies, but it is good practice to use and align the proper marks, who knows....... the one on there might be installed wrong and allows for error as on some engines as the pulley may rotate slightly once tension is released or applied.

changed two now on 1KTZE engines, very straightforward, i also changed idler and tensioner to be sure.
and wound engine round twice by hand with breakbar on the main pulley to check marks lined up after
i moved the factory marks in position, then remarked them with fresh paint prior to removing old belt

not a difficult job, but still scary turning the ignition key after doing it!

might be a daft question but assuming the line is slightly out, can I wind the engine back to match or is it forwards only?

i thought this was due at 100k on a 120? I'm approaching 87k on mine, and about (july) to embark on a 3k tour of the alps. If it's due at 90 'll get it done before I go, if not I'll wait till the light comes on!

It is 100 (can't seem to find it in the book though) but apparently the light comes on at 90 as a warning. So said Mr-T when I spoke to him.

Crispin said:

It is 100 (can't seem to find it in the book though) but apparently the light comes on at 90 as a warning. So said Mr-T when I spoke to him.

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thanks. did you change the water pump as well? iirc it's common practice to renew the water pump when you do the belt. bear in mind that's not me talking, it's the garage i use who recommend it.

he did not say I should

I've also heard you should but it's due a coolant change sooner (@100k) so will check when I do that. That'll have to wait though until the loan comes through for 11L of the pink stuff...

As for the pump, can I go with the "if it aint broke...." theory?

Forget the marks & all that Jazz

Expose the existing belt, then with the engine on tick over use a steady hand & a Stanley knife to slit the existing belt in half, hold your breath while doing this Once done, turn off the engine & cut the front half of the old/existing belt clean off then slide the new belt on cut the rest of the old belt of to facilitate pushing the new belt fully into its new home And the jobs a good'un

I'll try that on something less expensive

OT:
Reminds me of the quickest fanbelt change:
[youtube:1k6zyzey]BQhfcdQf1QA[/youtube:1k6zyzey]

Or you could try this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQhfcdQf1QA

EDIT: must be faster in future

Crispin said:

That'll have to wait though until the loan comes through for 11L of the pink stuff...

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i take it you're talking about the long life coolant. how much does that cost to change ? i was in west coat off road talking to paul about servicing last week. i was asking about changing the coolant, he said he wouldn't bother if it was still strong enough.

it's always a tough decision servicing, do you do it all at once and spend a fortune, or do a bit at a time when you can afford.

tbh as a rule i change the oil and grease everthing every 6 months on my 4x4's, other oils every 2 yrs, change cam belts when due, and tend to wait on everything else. my 120 is due a coolant and and brake fluid change, somthing i've never bothered wiht in the past.

sae 70, that sounds an excellent way to change a cambelt btw

I can't remember the price of the coolant. It was not cheap though. From time to time there is an option of getting 25L of the stuff at a decent cost. If you wanted.....

As already stated crispin

Line pulleys to marks that are origonal.

Swap belt.

You can rotate engine backwards but make sure the belt has tension on it the right way as it could End up not being right.

Easy job when do before.

Crispin,

I did the timing belt on mine a while before I stuffed it. No big deal and no lining up of tinming marks or anything like that required. A nice precaution yes but not necessary. The new and old belts will line up exactly tooth for tooth and as long as nothing moves it's a piece of cake. It's a bit of a faff and if you've fat hands and/or knuckles it'll be awkward. Technically simple though.

- Remove the cover
- you'll see the tensioner low down. It's a spring loaded job ( and for a small piece of kit the spring loading is surprisingly high so compressing it is harder than it looks) and in theory you can compress it slightly and align 2 small holes in the spring loaded plunger bit it to keep it compressed (by inserting a small pin/ nail/ allen key in the holes) and therefore to remove the tension from the belt. It my case this plunger was a bit stuck (age I suspect and it to a squash in a bench vice to loosen it up when I had it out) and it was simpler just to unbolt it and remove the whole tensioner, compress the plunger by hand (ie. for hand read in a vice), stick a little allen key in the holes to keep it squashed and then bolt it back on.
- The belt will simply slide off.
- Slide on the new belt, check it's nice and neat and snugly fitted all round and using your third hand remove the allen key ( easier said that done in the limited room and already ruined knuckles) from the plunger and the tensioner will move back to where it should be and tension it all up. A bit of imagination required here to allow you to put some slack on the pulley plunger bit so you can remove the holding pin and allow the plunger to push the pulley back into place nice and gently. A simple lever is all that's required.

- Unless the engine has moved, and let's face it, unless you're a real dork it can't/ won't, the teeth and belt will all fit on no bother at all.

- The hardest bit is the faffing about in the limited space between the engine front and the rads.

- I was learning and operating 'blind' using only some experience and cop on. If I had to do another one an hour easy to do. If you don't mind a few scraped knuckles and arms then go for it.

It's nice when you start all up again and it all runs nicely.

If you are planning a coolant change then that will help as you can remove the rad leaving a lot more room to work in.

Crispin said:

Today I clicked over 90k and the T-belt light came on.

Mr-T said it is an hours work so not a killer (how numb have I become...) but if I can save £100 then...

Click to expand...

.
I think I would just give Mr. T the £100.
Scraped, cheese sliced knuckles on the rad, caught fingers in the tensioner, grubby hands again,

Job done.

Graham

Simples. Not sure what you guys were worried about...

hardest part was getting the bash plate off and on to turn the engine over...

The tensioner though was not budging, was simpler to take it off, clamp in a vice / G-clamp and put a pin in. No chance of moving it by hand.
Was a simple thing though.

As NC said, better done by people with skinny forearms - mine had a large number of fan blade marks....