Timing belt/ water pump question

[joebob452]

Hi all,

I bought a used Avalon w/ 115k miles on it and am changing the timing belt. Bought tensioner, tensioner bearing, idler bearing, water pump and belt from the dealer. Had a heck of a time taking off the two brackets on the back of the plenum(upper intake) so I could get to the spark plugs.

When I looked at the water pump the Hanes manual says to take both Camshaft sprockets off so that the metal shield, that covers part of the water pump, can be taken off. The left cam sprocket is burried so I can't get my impact wrench anywhere near it. I tried using a big strap wrench to keep it from turning, but it is on so tight it won't work.

So my questions are these:

1) my old car was a Corola with 300k on it and I never changed the pump on it. (Bought it w/20k on it) Everytime I went to change the timing belt, the pulley had no play and didn't make any noise. So should I even worry about going through all the trouble of changing the water pump on my Avalon?

2) I know on most cars after you take the valve cover off there is a spot at the end of the camshaft to grab it with a big open ended wrench. Is there a special tool that fits into the limited space in front of the cam shaft that will be able to hold it, or do I have to take the valve cover off?

3) The car didn't come with a remote or a spare key. I bought a factory remote, but the instructions I got from an internet site didn't work at all. Any instructions for programming a remote or a new transponder key would be appreciated.

thanks ahead of time for any help,

Joe

[toyomoho]

The general rule was to replace the pump on the second belt change. The pump does not self destruct that often.

The issue is IF you are having a shop do the job why not have them replace the pump when they are changing the belt and have everything apart already.

If doing your own work might wait to the next belt change. If the pump start to fail it generally leaks coolant or has bearing noise.

I made up a pulley holding tool. A flat long bar with holes. Two bolts go through the holes to extend into the holes in the pulley and engage it while the other end of the bar is held. The bar positioned to one side of the pulley to allow access to the pulley bolt. You can make something similar up out of wood.

FYI, the Avalon is an upscale Camry with V6 option, same engine. Review or post to the same year Camry forums.

A TN or Google search should turn up something on programming the remote. To make a spare key you need the master key.

[tr7driver]

I'd replace the water pump. My daughter's Honda just turned 160K. Its 20K away from the next recommended timing belt change but the water pump has started leaking. The car is 15 years old and in fairly good shape, but she needs to get another 2 years (20K miles) out of it to finish college. So, it looks like I'll be paying a mechanic 250 miles away $650+ for a water pump/timing belt on the car. I didn't save anything by not doing it the first time.