Timing belt/water pump/front oil seal replaced...

[entirelyturbo]

Yes, finally, all the people I pestered you about this for, I finally did it!

And would you believe I think I kept timing perfectly?!?

It was the tensioner that was giving me a bump in the road (I forgot to compress it), and there's a funny story to go along with that...

I put my body weight on the tensioner to compress it, no good. So, since I didn't have a vise big enough, I innovated and tried to jack up heavy stuff with it. First a weight bench with about 150lbs weight on it, compressed just a tiny bit...

After a few other futile attempts, I resorted to silliness: I jacked up the rear end of my grandfather's 3600lb `97 Mitsu Diamante!!! When the wheels were almost off the ground, the thing compressed to where I could stick something in it, namely a paper clip. Needless to say the paper clip was yanked into a shape I didn't know it was capable of making.

So I got a new tensioner for a measly $75, after I have already bought a $71 water pump, a $50 timing belt, a $11 thermostat, and other odds and ends, and through much trial and tribulation, I finally got the belt on, although I had to redo it several times to get the marks to line up... oh and they don't have to line up exactly right, but pretty damn close! If the tooth on the belt shares the two marks in common its probably right.

Pump was not terribly difficult, just a bit of a tight space unless you take off the left cam pulley and stuff which I didn't, you will need to bonk the pump with something to get it loose...

Front oil seal, just go to an Autozone and get a wheel puller to get the crank pulley off, it won't come off any other way, TRUST ME!!! And I got the seal out with a flathead screwdriver, but I was lucky.

If anyone who is going to do this soon has any ??? shoot, I have the hand scars to answer them!

[Mark Ward]

Congrats!
Mark

[morgie]

what did you removed to reach to there ? Fans ? Radiator ?

[Legacy777]

all you really need to remove is the fans. No need to remove radiator.

[entirelyturbo]

If you're replacing the water pump, you're gonna hafta drain the radiator, so you might as well take it out, it takes 5 minutes. You'll appreciate the extra room. Besides if you're gonna take the crank pulley off, you'll need a wheel puller as I said, and you can't get it in there with the radiator in place...

[Legacy777]

There are other ways of making the crank pulley come off.....[evil laughter]muwahhahahaha.......[/evil laughter]

Sorry......I'm a loon

[entirelyturbo]

Clarification: Josh and I found out we weren't talking about the same pulley. He's talking about the drivebelt pulley, which should come off in your hand, if not a good old flathead screwdriver should get it off. I am talking about the timing belt gear, the "toothed pulley", that has to come off with a wheel puller...

I guess it should be called a gear, but the dumb-ass Haynes calls it a pulley, so I picked up that lingo...

[ScottyS]

I agree with the radiator removal --- it frees up a lot of space and only takes a few minutes.

I had to do the water pump about a year ago --- the old one turned out to be fine, but 3 bolts had loosened (previous owner's mechanics?) and were allowing some leakage. Did the front seal and checked the belt (I had done that about a year prior) while I was there.

The tensioner is fun, huh? I did the same thing --- got the back of the car almost off the ground using the stock jack to compress the tensioner against a flat spot of the "frame" near the rear bumper. Part of the equation is to compress the plunger and wait a few minutes....crank down some more and wait....crank some more....I did it that way with a bench-vise the first time.

Scotty

[morgie]

What is all that stuff about the tensionner ?

when removing it, all it's compression is lost ?

is it possible to remove it without having to doo all that Clowneries to get it back compressed ?

is it possible to not remove it at all ?

[Legacy777]

The tensioner must be removed, and if it's not holding pressure your belt is going to either jump a tooth or flex/stretch and you're not going to get proper timing between the heads, and it's going to cause motor to run like poop.

I personally am wondering if that may be some of the issues with mine. Worn tensioner, not keeping things as taught as they need to be.

[morgie]

how can i tell if my tentionner is ok or worn-out ?

[entirelyturbo]

My friend's old BMW 318is had a bad chain tensioner and a T100 at work makes the same sound the Bimmer did, so I would assume that if your gasoline car sounds like a diesel , then your tensioner's compression has probably crapped. It does that because, as Josh described, that relieves some of the tension in the belt, leaving a little slack in it which can alter your timing.

If you don't know when it was last done, it might be worth replacing the tensioner. But if you plan to re-use it, learn from my mistake! Do not put huge amounts of pressure on it at once. Put it in a vise and compress it very slowly and then put a pin in it. If you force hundreds of pounds of weight on it at once, hydraulic pressure inside it will go crazy and ruin it.