98 Avalon timing belt and water pump project

[nelson-oh]

I have started to replace the timing belt and water pump on my 98 Avalon. The pump had a leak, at least that's what it looked like. Red fluid dripping out from under the timing belt cover.

I have read several post and articles are replacing the timing belt and water pump, and they have been very helpful.

I’m having difficulty taking off the PS pump belt. I have loosened 1 bolt that’s easy to see, but I can not figure out which bolt is the pivot bolt, and all the remaining bolts are very difficult to get to. I don’t need to remove the PS pump to do the timing belt, correct? Can I just force the pump some more to pivot it forward? Or should I loosen the pivot bolt? If so, any tricks/tools to it and exactly which bolt is it? Does anyone have a diagram or picture?

Also, I watched this video of someone replacing timing belt on a 2000 Lexus RX300, they had to take off the long studs before removing the water pump, will I have to do the same on my 98 Avalon?

Thanks for your help.

[nelson-oh]

OK, I managed to take off the belt. It was easy after I removed the top half of the timing belt cover, you could see the bolts and get to it easier. It seems I have to remove the stubs to take out the metal piece in front of the water pump, does anyone know what size the star shaped socket I need? I have to go buy it, plus the tool to hold the crankshaft pully in place to take the nut off. After that, I should be able to remove everything and be ready to take off the timing belt tensioner and remove the belt.

Am I missing anything?

[pmesfun]

Jack the motor up, and it should come out.

[nelson-oh]

I did see that on 1 of the video as well, I guess that's what you have to do if you break the bolt. I bought the reversed torx bit, I will try that first.

I could not find the tool that can hold the crankshaft pully. It should look like a Y with 2 little bumps on the tip to go into these 2 holes, is that right? I have 1, but it's not the right pitch. Does anyone know where I can buy it? I tried Sears and Advanced Auto. I don't know where to search I don't know what it's called. I guess Toyota dealer must have it, but they are probably expensive.

[pmesfun]

Don't do that, the stud will just shear off, it has blue locitite on it.

What are you trying to do, loosen the crankshaft pulley bolt?

[kevdude]

I agree, don't buy any special tools unless you absolutely need them. The HB bolt is easily removed with the "lock and bump" method. (Yes, I have a patent on that name, don't even try to use it! Hah hah...) Anyway, you just need to use a wrench or socket and breaker bar braced against a hard object, like the pavement, and then just "bump" the starter over. It will break loose every time!

[nelson-oh]

PMESFUN: I read your post which you did almost the whole engine in the other thread, it was very helpful. Thanks.

So you would not try to lossen the stud, just jack up the engine instead? How many engine mounts I need to lossen or take off? I think just the 1 in the front, correct?

Yes, I'm trying to take off the crankshaft pully so I can remove the timing belt.

[pmesfun]

You're welcome.

I didn't loosen the front mount because I had a extended oil filter in the way at the time, but yes that gold bolt of top the mount.

I used the starter bump method also. 1/2" breaker bar and braced it against the control arm. Then I lowered the car so it was tight and couldn't move. 3 blips and it was loose. Be careful though.

[nelson-oh]

Thanks for all the ideas, I got everything off. The bump and start worked well, and lifting the engine gave enough room to take off the bracket. Now all is clear. I will be out of town next week, gives me time to get the parts from aircabinman, and install everything when I get back.

Again, thanks for the pointers.

One more question: When I put the HB back on, do I need to tighten the bolt a lot? If so, how do I hold the pully?

[bob2]

Originally Posted by nelson-oh

One more question: When I put the HB back on, do I need to tighten the bolt a lot? If so, how do I hold the pully?

Places like harbor freight now offer affordable electric impact drivers. One of these, coupled with some bolt locking compound, will do it 4 ya

[nelson-oh]

Well, came back home and found a puddle of PS fluid under the car. Forgot to reconnect the PS fluid hose before leaving and it was dripping for a week.

Someone was nice enough to send me a very detailed write up of the whole process when he did his car, it was great. Rod, if you are reading this, you should post what you wrote up, I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate how you documented it.

Making some progress, but facing a few problems:
1) I marked the old timing belt before taking it off, after align everything up. This is not a OEM belt, so it must have been replaced once. I compared it to the new belt I got from aircabinman, which has 3 markings on the belt. Markings on the old belt do not match the new belt, I counted 75 tooth between the HB to the RH cam marking on the new belt, but the old belt had 77 tooth. Does this make sense? Is it even possible? Did I mark something wrong?
2) The water pump is not coming out. It seems I have to remove the cover, which means I have to remove the cam pulley. Is that easier than removing these 2 long studs? I have the tool for these studs, but not to hold the pulley. Plus, not sure if I want to mess with the pulleys as I'm concerned with alighning the pulley afterwards. I should read all the information a few more times.

[bob2]

wellll i dunno about the water pump, but the pulleys will have a cotter key to align them.

[pmesfun]

^+1


Yes removing those studs will be much easier. Those cam pulley bolts are pretty tight.

On alignment, just align the the cams with the marks on the timing cover. The crank dot lines up with the dot on the oil pump.







This is a stud extractor. Is this what you have?
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDkQ8gIwAw#

[nelson-oh]

A big "Thanks" to everyone for your help. I finally got it done. In the end, I removed the cam pulley, could not find a stud removing tool, it was easier to buy the chain wranch. Once the pulleys were removed, I took off the black back cover and the water pump was out.

Also figured out why the number of tooth was wrong, it was not, I was holding the new belt in the wrong direction. The new belt did not have any mark showing which side should be facing out, glad i marked the old belt, or I could have put the new belt on the wrong way (at least tried to). The old belt could very well be the original, I can see any surface marking on the belt will be rubbed off quickly.

The water pump was completly shot, the plastic blade inside was broken into 2 pcs, and pump pulley seal was all twisted. Glad my trouble shooting was correct.

I did not replace the cam and crankshaft seal, even with all these pulleys removed, I didn't have time to figure out exactly how to do it, and really wanted to get this project done after 2 weeks. They all looked to be in good shape without any trace of oil leak.

I did do a dry run as suggested by someone who was nice enough to send me a detailed document of how he did it. I ran the engine after the timing belt was put on, for about 15 sec. I want to make sure I'm reasonably confident the installation was correct. I'm sure it's not something a pro would recommend, but I felt this may help quickly id a problem if it was not done right. Just have to make sure you don't have any wranch still on a bolt somewhere.

Total time spent on the project - 18 hours (if I do this again, I bet I can get it done in 6). Total cost for parts and tools - $290. If anyone wants these seals that came in the kit, please let me know. You can have them for free if you pay the postage. Call it "paying forward".