I have been trolling the forums for awhile, but I am extremely grateful for all the people who have made this forum a success by providing a wealth of information for us DIY'ers.
With that said, I have a1996 Toyota Corolla 4AFE 1.6 where the timing belt hasn't been changed in 10 Years (125K KM since the last one). This weekend decided to start on changing the Timing Belt, water pump, and seals. It has been one harrowing experience to date. After fighting with the PITA crankshaft pulley bolt for 2 days, finally got it loose with the starter bump method. But I am stuck at this time with the following three things.
The first thing is that I have gotten the three bolts on the RH Engine Mount out (while supporting the Engine form the bottom with a wood block), but I can't seem to get the engine mount and insulator to separate. I tried dropping the engine until it was barely touching the wood block, but I can't seem to get enough space between the two to get the old belt out or the new one in. I tried to pry the insulator up, but there is not enough slack to get the belt out. Am I missing something or is there another step that I am not aware of. I was contemplating in taking the whole insulator out, but because of the A/C lines I can't get my impact on the bolt or any socket for that matter.
The second thing is that I am unable to take the A/C drive belt out. The A/C idler pulley bolt is so badly rusted that none of the sockets or wrenches fit on it anymore. Due to the tight space I am unable to get any sort of bolt extraction tool in it. I am afraid that bolt get stripped or worse break off. Any thoughts how to tackle this bolt?
The crankshaft pulley is so badly corroded that the notches on the pulley are no longer there for me to find the timing. Can I set to TDC by lining up the crack / cam keys, or do have to find TDC before I take the pulley out. Also, due to the severe corrosion (attached link to photo), would I need to swap the pulley out? Toyota wants $500 for a new one.
Just finished my first ever timing bet on my 93 1.8 corolla. 2 solid days of figuring shit out, haha.
So, engine mount can be entirely removed. The bolts holding it to the frame can be accessed by moving the AC lines side to side. Gots to put some pressure, but it'll be fine. Extension and ratchet with a jack handle on the end will do.
For setting the timing, use the distributor rotor to identify where the current TDC is. Rotor should be pointing to cylinder #1's place when cylinder #1 is at TDC, and the cam sprocket hole should be lined up with the indentation on the head when looking through the hole. Then remove the pulley with it still set at TDC, get that timing cover off and mark the cranksprocket and the crankcase correspondingly. There was a dot on the crankcase and a grove on the cranksprocket for mine that set you up for holding TDC with the pulley removed.
Hope this helps.
Oh, and when you go to tighten the crank pulley bolt back on, wedge a iron bar or long screwdriver through the cam sprocket and against the head. Flywheel option gets thumbs down
Also, crankpulleys can be bought for about $200 or less at a parts store. Dorman makes em. My old pulley had an almost 1/4" wobble and the new one reduced it dramatically to less than 1/8".
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll be home later tonight from work and take your advice Keone777 in getting the mount out. I'll post back my results and pictures as I progress through the Timing Belt change.
Any thoughts on how to take the dam A/C idler bolt?
Coroll96, thatnks for you feedback as well. I am going to put the pulley back in and really search for the damn notch on the pulley, this time with my glasses on :-P
Oh, and when you go to tighten the crank pulley bolt back on, wedge a iron bar or long screwdriver through the cam sprocket and against the head.
No, do *not* do that. You would be using your timing belt to hold the crankshaft stationary, and stretching the hell out of that belt. It is precisely what it should not be subjected to. If you stretch it like that it is likely to snap later on.
If you have a manual transmission, just put it in 4th gear and have someone hold the brakes while you tighten the crankshaft bolt. I think Toyota uses a tool that can be bolted onto the crankshaft pulley to hold it stationary. Perhaps you could fabricate something similar.
As for the engine mount, it takes quite a bit of force to pry it up enough. Check out the DIY sticky, I made a write-up for timing belt change and there is a pic of a tool that can be used for that.
Thanks everyone for the replies. It's 11:22PM and have made some progress. I got out the 3 bolts holding the Engine Mount Insulator. And just as indicated, the A/C lines moved just enough to get the bolts out. Once the bolts were out, I tried to remove the insulator all together, but without sucess. Regardless, with the Engine Insulator unbolted I have enough clearance now to get the TB out and the new one in.
As for the the A/C idler pulley, I have just spend the last 5 hours trying to get the darn thing out. After repeated attempts to get the bolt out, I just stripped it to nice round head . Drove down to Home Depot ( as it was the only thing open late) to find anything to help me get the bolt loose. Talking to the Home Depot guy, he handed me an Irwin Bolt Grip. The gentleman assured me that it would take any bolt out. Went back home torched the sucker with an acetylene torch for a few seconds and put the Irwin socket on and tapped it in all the way. Got my 22mm wrench and started to break it open, and by god the sucker cam off in a few seconds. I was stunned. After a few minutes the bolt came out and the idler pulley was out. The problem then was I couldn't get the socket out, but after much persuasion it was out. Needless to say, the Irwin socket set is a MUST HAVE for anybody living in Canada or North East US where rust is a major issue.
For the timing, no luck there. I barely found the notches on the crank and set it to TDC, but the distributor is not lining up with with 1 cylinder. I am suspecting the timing belt has jumped, but I made the marks from where things are now and tomorrow going to take the pulley and valve covers out and try to finish this sucker off.
Also, the DIY thread was right. There is no way you can get the water pump pulley out unless you miraculous have some serious offset wrenches.
Sorry for the long winded responses, but wanted to post where I am right now.
Use your "flame wrench" more often on those nasty stuck fasteners. Also get 6 point sockets if you dont already have them. Another tip is sometimes you can hammer on a cheap imperial socket on a rounded fastener to get it off.
Thanks for the advice. I had never thought about using an imperial socket on a metric bolt to get it open. Will definitely be keeping that in mind for next time.
This TB/WP thing is just dragging on with rusted bolts. Figures since none of these bolts have been open in 10 years. Got the valve covers off, and the top and middle timing cover bolts off, but the one on the bottom is another story. Both have been rusted to crap, with one of the bolt head was not even there. Used the Irwin again, and the darn thing came off no problem. To tired to continue today, but will have half a day off form to to finish the thing. I have also posted some pics for anybody interested. The links are below. https://picasaweb.google.com/mrmkiqb...76852216303010 (Valve Cover)
https://picasaweb.google.com/mrmkiqb...76992721317090 (Crank Pulley Rusted with Timing Mark)
A couple of questions for everyone,
· What should I use to clean up all the oil and grime form the timing belt area? I have heard some people using brake cleaner and others some variant of an engine degreaser? Which is the one recommended?
· Second, would the above method also work for the actual pulleys? Got tons of liquid wrench drip down on to the pulleys and wanted to have them cleaned up before installing them.
· For the water pump install, is it recommended to use any sort of Permetex Gasket conditioner or light weight RTV with the cork gaskets?
Also from looking, it appers that the oil pan is leaking or the crankshift seal as there is tones of oil in the area. Until I clean it won’t know for sure, but anybody know what additional steps would be required to do the oil pan again? I couldn’t find an fyi for an oil pan remove and install.
Cheers,
For the water pump install, is it recommended to use any sort of Permetex Gasket conditioner or light weight RTV with the cork gaskets?
Cork gaskets? There is just a rubber O-ring where the water pump bolts to the block. The old O-ring will be hard as rock and you will have to dig it out from the groove. Be careful not to damage the surface. Install a new O-ring.
The gasket between the elbow and the head is metal covered with rubber.
The only place to use RTV is on the valve cover gasket. Use only *very* little. Otherwise it will just squeeze out and fall into the oil under the valve cover. You *really* don't want drops of RTV getting into your oil passages.
Only place to put a little bigger dabs of RTV is on the sharp corners where the exhaust camshaft goes out to the sprocket and to the distributor.
The pan is probably NOT the culprit. On any car with over 100k miles the seals get hard as a rock. You should have seen that with the valve cover removal. Replace the crank seal.
I've found Berrymans carb cleaner to be the best for removing grease/oil/varnish. Clean things well before replacing the crank seal. You should probably do the cam seal too while you're at it.
Thanks. Your were bang on the money. The crank almost seemed to be made of concrete. Got the cam and crank seals out last night just waiting to get the new ones from Toyota today. Hopefully, putting it back together will be alot easier then taking it apart :-P
Thanks for the cleaning tip withe the carb cleaner. I am assuming brake cleaner is not acceptable.
Brake cleaner is acceptable but..... there are some REALLY bad ones that hardly clean at all (Usually VOC is on the label, or the 1st ingredient is methanol) It does work GREAT for removing any oily deposits from brake pads/shoes/disks and drums though.
When you install those seals make sure you put oil on the seal lips and the crank/cam before you EASILY slide it in place. Make sure there are no grooves in the sealing surface of the steel.
[QUOTE=ganda1f;3598166]No, do *not* do that. You would be using your timing belt to hold the crankshaft stationary, and stretching the hell out of that belt. It is precisely what it should not be subjected to. If you stretch it like that it is likely to snap later on.
If you have a manual transmission, just put it in 4th gear and have someone hold the brakes while you tighten the crankshaft bolt. I think Toyota uses a tool that can be bolted onto the crankshaft pulley to hold it stationary. Perhaps you could fabricate something similar.
/QUOTE]
Yeah, I guess I figured the timing belt could handle. I hope it holds up. It's running solid now. Would be easy to go in a and change now that I've done it once. Next time, buy standard as usual!
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Troubles with Timing Belt change..Need Help
. Drove down to Home Depot ( as it was the only thing open late) to find anything to help me get the bolt loose. Talking to the Home Depot guy, he handed me an Irwin Bolt Grip. The gentleman assured me that it would take any bolt out. Went back home torched the sucker with an acetylene torch for a few seconds and put the Irwin socket on and tapped it in all the way. Got my 22mm wrench and started to break it open, and by god the sucker cam off in a few seconds. I was stunned. After a few minutes the bolt came out and the idler pulley was out. The problem then was I couldn't get the socket out, but after much persuasion it was out. Needless to say, the Irwin socket set is a MUST HAVE for anybody living in Canada or North East US where rust is a major issue. 
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