My daughter's 97 corolla died on her yesterday. She was on the highway, and accelerating to try to get around someone to get to an off ramp. She said she lost power, and the car died as she pulled over. It wouldn't restart and she had to have it towed home. The starter cranks, but that's it. I removed the distributer cap and saw that the distributer doesn't turn when cranking the engine. I'll remove the timing belt cover next to check it, but I've read mixed messages on the forum. Some threads say that replacing the belt is a major job, others say it is pretty simple. Although I have some mechanical skills, at my age I'm not too interested in any major car projects, especially out in the cold weather. So, can I get some opinions on whether this is weekend warrior type of job, or should I have it towed to the mechanic? Thanks for any info.
If the distributor doesn't turn it's probably the timing belt. Changing it is a little bit of a pain, as you have to remove one of the motor mounts to get the belt off/on, but you could certainly get it changed in a weekend.
Get a manual and look over the procedure, since your belt is already broken, your car is no longer in time. That complicates the issue. You may want to leave this one to a garage, or study up a lot before the procedure. Remember other items should also be changed during this procedure like, water pump, thermostate,tentioner, belt,cam and crank seals at the least. You can find kits for some of these items all in one package. Gates comes to mind..
Timing belt tensioner and its spring should definitely be changed. If the tensioner seizes the timing belt will snap immediately. But the other stuff depends on how many miles the car has, and is done mostly to save time so you will not have to tear things down again. If the oil seals are not leaking I would leave them be. Mine are fine '95 Rolla with 170k miles.
Water pump would be a good idea if it is over 120k miles. But if it is not leaking and the weather is bad, it can be postponed.
The motor-mount just needs to be separated to slip the t-belt through. No need to remove it completely. Support the engine from underneath at the oil sump.
Setting the timing should not be that much of a deal. There is a notch on top of the exhaust cam bearing cap, just behind the camshaft timing sprocket. One of the spokes in the sprocket has a hole in it. That hole should be aligned with the notch, so that you can see the notch through the hole in the spoke. At that time the no. 1 cylinder (the one at timing belt end of the engine) should be at Top Dead Center. Now the engine is in time.
Put on the belt, put some tension on the belt by rotating the crankshaft clockwise a tiny bit (just enough to move the camshaft), so that the tensioner settles on the rear side of the t-belt. and tighten the tensioner. Rotate the crankshaft 2 revolutions, check the hole-notch alignment. If incorrect, loosen the tensioner, move the belt a tooth or so to bring things in time and repeat the tightening procedure.
Thanks for the advice. The car has about 215,000 miles on it, so I'll definitely replace the tensioner and water pump. I hope to take the covers off tomorrow or the following day just to make sure it's the belt.
A word of warning, the plastic covers will not come off until you remove the valve cover. You might be able to loosen and bend the plastic a bit but it might crack, especially if the weather is cold.
With the mileage on your car it will definitely need all the things tacosteelersman mentioned, plus valve cover gasket and spark plug well seals.
It is a "major" job since it requires more than just a few hand tools and 20 minutes of time. The hardest part of the job is removing the harmonic balancer. If you have a GOOD air impact wrench it will be easy.
does the corolla have a free wheeling engine? if not, there is a good chance the engine is toast!
It would be a waste of time to work on it if thats the case.
With the mileage on your car it will definitely need all the things tacosteelersman mentioned, plus valve cover gasket and spark plug well seals.
It is a "major" job since it requires more than just a few hand tools and 20 minutes of time. The hardest part of the job is removing the harmonic balancer. If you have a GOOD air impact wrench it will be easy.
Because the bolt that holds it in place is tightened *very* hard. Then there is the problem of holding the crankshaft stationary. With manual transmission one can just put it in 4th gear and have an assistant push the brakes. On auto-trans one has to wedge a large screwdriver or something like that, in the teeth of the flywheel. Personally I try to avoid wedging stuff in the flywheel as things might get bent, broken and fall inside where they should not. Pieces of a screwdriver are not good to have flying around the flywheel
As for "major" and "minor" job, it takes at least a day to do for a home-mechanic. Especially if water pump is being done as well. You will have to wipe off splashed coolant, clean mating surfaces etc, this takes time. I did not want to risk snapping the coolant drain plug so I did not drain the block. Wiping off coolant seemed much easier than fighting the drain plug.
Last edited by ganda1f; 02-18-2011 at 02:21 AM.
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jus need a manual...it can be done in the weekend. A good electric impact can remove the ceankshaft pulley bolt. I would replace the water pump. Also make sure you loosen the water pump pulley bolts first before you remove the belts.
If you decide not to diy, a shop may charge no less than $500, is it a 1.6 or 1.8?
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