TIMING BELT, continued
If you added oil, check for any leaks. You likely won't find any yet, but if you do, now is the best time to correct them.
The B belt is on, so anything I write about from here is about the main timing belt and its components.
It's time to tighten the crankshaft pulley gears. Keep in mind that the timing cover fits over the pulley gears, but not the pulley…so you’ll be putting the pulley in last…and that pulley attaches with four bolts. So no need to panic about this part of the operation.
On the left-side of the flywheel this time, you jam your screwdriver into a tooth on the flywheel, just as you did to loosen. This holds the engine still while you tighten the center crank bolt. Check your manual for torque specs. Once you've accomplished this, replace the dust cover on the bottom of the transmission, bidding 'adieu' to that dark world down there.
The tensioner unit should go on first, and the spring, spacer and retaining hex-head nut over it. Finger tighten the hex-head. Set the tension on the spring: the crooked end of the spring goes on the center piece of the tensioner, and the straight piece hooks under the water pump nub-ula made for it. A pair of pliers worked just fine for me to put the top part of the spring in place. I’m running out of photos to draw on, so this is the only one I’ve got for this illustration. God save your slothful ass if your engine still looks like this. [A 2.0 engine is shown]
scan0044.jpg EDIT: I found a better picture
scan0046.jpg
Push the tensioner wheel all the way to the left and lightly tighten the lower bolt/nut...enough so it stays over there. If you’re installing new belts, a new nut/bolt likely came with the kit.
Check one more time to assure the timing marks are right on the spot. If you did not remove the radiator, you’re having to look down at an angle, so you have to be extra careful. Conducting this operation through the radiator opening is way better for all reasons, I assure you…because I later had to re-set the belt while the radiator was in. Let me tell you why:
Next “heads-up”: the pulleys are going to have a wonderful time moving and not cooperating. They have a twisted sense of humor and they don’t respond to mere cussing or threats. Had I thought about it at the time, I’d have left the ratchet on the crank bolt and held it in place with my leg. But you’ll just need to try this out and see what works for you. THE IMPORTANT THING is to get the belt on the crank gears securely…you can flop the left-hand side of the belt up on the tensioner…and pull real tight around the oil pump gear (while not letting the crankshaft move). This may take a few attempts to get it right, but once you have good tension between the crank and the oil pump, pull up tight from the oil pump gear to the cam gear. Really tight, and you do, indeed, sort of slip it on the gear rather than place it up there. You’ll see: the trick is to keep these three gears tensioned this way, while all three stay on their marks. Once you get over the cam gear and the teeth are seated good, then you assure the belt is on the tensioner good. Flat side against the tensioner wheel. Check your timing marks, making sure they haven’t slipped. Loosen the lower tensioner nut/bolt and see if it affects the belt positioning.
Be absolutely certain about this phase of the job and your truck will run really happy. Just for over-kill, here are a couple photos again for the timing marks.
scan0038.jpg
scan0036.jpg
And, finally, make sure that the B belt side of things is where it's supposed to be, too.
If you’re good on all this, tighten the hex bolt first, then the lower tensioner nut to the torque specifications. I gave mine just a tiny bit more finger-pressure tension before tightening.
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A sort of "Buddy System" is at work, here, and Redneckmoparman promised to review my information and check it for errors. So before I go any further we await the okay to procede. This way, everyone can be sure about the information we're sharing.
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