My 5SFE Timing Belt & Water Pump Experience

[gmercoleza]

Did TB and H2O for a friend over the weekend, here are a few notes from my experience:

* No need for special harmonic balancer (crank pulley) holding tool. Used 1/2 inch breaker bar and starter blip method to loosen, used oversized screwdriver pry bar and M60 bolt wedged into control arm to tighten. No problem hitting 80 ft. lbs. I have used a similar method on other vehicles, usually involves a bolt in the face of the crank pulley and a piece of wood wedged up into the motor mount bracket.

* Buy the $14 harbor freight gear puller set to pull the harmonic balancer (after removing the bolt per above). Note that the smallest bolts in the kit are still too large. You will need to go to Homey Depot and pick up two M60 x 1.0 x 50mm bolts along with washers. Someone in another thread said you needed 60mm bolts; neither HD nor NAPA had any this long, but the 50mm were just fine.

* I marked certain teeth on the sprockets and the old belt, duplicated the marks on the new belt (by counting teeth), and installed the new belt. After rotating the 1 7/8 turns specified in the manual, I tightened the tensioner pulley to 31 ft. lbs.

* Be sure to completely clean all H2O pump gasket material from the mating surface. I used a razor blade, followed by a green scotchgard pad. I then rinsed with clear water shot from a standard spray bottle. You want to make sure there are no crumbs or fibers anywhere in the mating surface. I installed the paper gasket as-is, with no prep sprays, chemicals, or RTV.

* Be sure to torque the H2O pump bolts exactly per spec. I think the spec was 82 in. lbs. This spec is so light that I'm pretty sure you'll over-tighten the bolts if you do them without a torque wrench. Harbor Freight is your friend.

Those are pretty much the highlights. Everything else is pretty straightforward and basic. All in all a relatively simple job that can be accomplished in an afternoon. I seriously took my time, took pics, etc. and it only took me a few hours.

[Chris Crash]

sounds like a good job well done!

[peshwa]

Originally Posted by gmercoleza

All in all a relatively simple job that can be accomplished in an afternoon. I seriously took my time, took pics, etc. and it only took me a few hours.

Can you post the pics of your process? I know there are DIY pics around but the more the merrier

[gmercoleza]

Camera is at home and I'm at work. I'll try and post up some pics.