3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
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I'm just wrapping up a head gasket job, when I was setting the timing on the belt, and couldn't get the timing belt tensioner bolt tightened down to 31 ft lbs. It was just spinning.
I took the belt and tensioner off, and had a helicoil thread come off on the bolt. So it looks like it's been stripped before.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to repair this? I've never actually done a helicoil job myself. Can you helicoil a hole thats already been helicoiled?
__________________ 2000 Lexus ES300 Millenium Edition1MZ-FE 64,000 Km 1993 Camry V6 LE3VZ-FE 164,000 Km SOLD but still in the family 1990 Camry LE2VZ-FE 202,000 Km 1987 Camry LE3S-FE 435,000 Km 1971 Corolla 2-door Coupe2T-C 260,000 miles
Helicoils suck, I have never had good luck with them. Even when they work initially, after awhile they come loose and fail. You could try putting the helicoil back in with loctite, but there is no guarantee it won't come loose again, dangerous.
I don't know how much material is there to work with, but you need to put in something similar to a timesert. I have a drill press and a tap and die set, so I make my own. For example in your case, I would take a bolt I have that is somewhat larger and drill a hole in it, then run the tap through it so it accepts the original bolt. Then drill into housing, and tap that to accept my home made gadget. That is the only way to repair it correctly short of replacing the entire housing itself. I'm not sure if auto parts stores sell such repair kits, but they might.
__________________ 2000 Lexus ES300 Millenium Edition1MZ-FE 64,000 Km 1993 Camry V6 LE3VZ-FE 164,000 Km SOLD but still in the family 1990 Camry LE2VZ-FE 202,000 Km 1987 Camry LE3S-FE 435,000 Km 1971 Corolla 2-door Coupe2T-C 260,000 miles
There is always the possibility of drilling and tapping for a "one size up" bolt.
Yep, but you'd have to drill a larger hole in the tensioner, or fabricate a different bolt that holds in the tensioner. Either way, not an easy fix.
__________________ 2000 Lexus ES300 Millenium Edition1MZ-FE 64,000 Km 1993 Camry V6 LE3VZ-FE 164,000 Km SOLD but still in the family 1990 Camry LE2VZ-FE 202,000 Km 1987 Camry LE3S-FE 435,000 Km 1971 Corolla 2-door Coupe2T-C 260,000 miles
__________________ 2000 Lexus ES300 Millenium Edition1MZ-FE 64,000 Km 1993 Camry V6 LE3VZ-FE 164,000 Km SOLD but still in the family 1990 Camry LE2VZ-FE 202,000 Km 1987 Camry LE3S-FE 435,000 Km 1971 Corolla 2-door Coupe2T-C 260,000 miles
Yep, but you'd have to drill a larger hole in the tensioner, or fabricate a different bolt that holds in the tensioner. Either way, not an easy fix.
On our offroad toys, we bumped the bolts that held brackets to the head from 8MM oem to 10MM. All we did was tap for the larger bolt and drill a larger hole in the brackets. It stopped bolt breakage and bracket failures, so I bet it would do the job on the tensioner. A bit of work, but a nice permanent fix.
^^ the only problem with bigger bolt is that it's supposed to go right through the middle of tensioner, so it probably won't fit unless he changes tensioner to something else. impossible this way
I'd try putting the helicoil back in using some LockTite stuff for now.
The idea of tapping the head hole bigger for "adapter bolt" is great. may take some time tough to fabricate one up.
__________________ '02 Solara SLE V6 1MZ-FE/A541E Coupe .: Denso/NGK : Akebono SP : Philips 9011 HIR (low+high) : Toshiba HIR2 9012 (fogs) : Magnefine :. @ 131k
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On our offroad toys, we bumped the bolts that held brackets to the head from 8MM oem to 10MM. All we did was tap for the larger bolt and drill a larger hole in the brackets. It stopped bolt breakage and bracket failures, so I bet it would do the job on the tensioner. A bit of work, but a nice permanent fix.
That actually sounds like a good solution, 2mm is about the perfect amount of material to remove to allow for new threads, but not have to worry about too much material taken off.
__________________ 2000 Lexus ES300 Millenium Edition1MZ-FE 64,000 Km 1993 Camry V6 LE3VZ-FE 164,000 Km SOLD but still in the family 1990 Camry LE2VZ-FE 202,000 Km 1987 Camry LE3S-FE 435,000 Km 1971 Corolla 2-door Coupe2T-C 260,000 miles
the only problem with bigger bolt is that it's supposed to go right through the middle of tensioner, so it probably won't fit unless he changes tensioner to something else. impossible this way
I'd try putting the helicoil back in using some LockTite stuff for now.
The idea of tapping the head hole bigger for "adapter bolt" is great. may take some time tough to fabricate one up.
The bolt hole in the tensioner would also have to be drilled out.
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I didn't know if the tensioner was on a bracket or not.
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