Timing belt question - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

m50 · 06-20-2011, 05:08 AM

I finally got started on changing the timing belt on my 92 Camry 4cyl. auto. this weekend and when I took the tensioner idler off I noticed the bolt was locked down so that the idler could not move therefore the belt had no tension on it. How do you loosen the bolt so that the spring can hold tension on the belt without it backing out? The water pump had locked up and tore the crap out of the belt so that I will have to put everthing back in time, is this very simple? I have read intructions on here but didn't see where it was mentioned about how to put engine in time when you are starting from scratch.
thanks RB

***Mister_Perkins*** · 06-20-2011, 08:22 AM

DIY: GEN3 Timing Belt + Waterpump + Oil Seal Change - Part 1 << Part 1
DIY: GEN3 Timing Belt + Waterpump + Oil Seal Change - Part 2 << Part 2
Easy way to get Gen 3 (3.0-3.5) 5sfe Timing perfect << Getting the timing perfect

The 5s-fe have a manual tensioner ... Which means that its supposed to stay in one spot. Once you set the time, you tighten the bolt on the tensioner and it stay in the same spot until the next timing change, then you loosen the nut, compress the spring, tighten the nut and remove the belt.

I think that you are thinking of a Hydraulic tensioner, where its always self adjusting.

Check out the links at the top of this post for links on how to do the timing

Also, make sure to bookmark this page:

Camry FAQ ------> READ FIRST -----> Comprehensive List of Gen 3/4 INFO and DIY

hill8570 · 06-20-2011, 11:11 AM

When setting from scratch, you line the crank pully mark up with 0 on the timing cover, and the hole on the cam pully up with the triangular (not the circular) mark on the engine (the mark is roughly 20 degrees CCW from dead vertical). You do all this with the tensioner pully locked down in non-tension position, so you've got some slack on the belt. Once you've got all that lined up, then you loosen the tensioner bolt, let it take up the slack, then tighten the tensioner bolt back up again. If you're having a bad day, it might take a few tries to get that all to play nice. After you've got the belt tensioned and the bolt tightended, rotate the crankshaft bolt (clockwise) a few revs to double-check that the marks still line up.

Most of this is covered in those DIYs that Mister P referenced, but it's a lot to swallow first time around.

m50 · 06-21-2011, 05:03 AM

Thanks guys for the help, this will make it easier to get this job done.
thanks RB