Timing Belt & Ps Pump Done -- Yippee!

FredParoutaud · September 7, 2004

Hi All,

Finished replacing the timing belt and ps pump on our 96 es300 this weekend. Did NOT do the water pump, which may seem stupid (it does to me) but I simply ran out of time as the ps pump was trickier than I thought. You need monkey hands for that puppy!

Car runs great, and even better, the ps pump leak is gone, which is nice to know because I wasn't sure that's where the leak was coming from -- but pretty sure.

Couple of questions:

- the timing belt tensioner rod sticks out .460" not ~.400" as in the specs. Is this a concern? The car only has 90k miles. Also, I'm wondering if they meant to measure with the rubber boot on. With rubber boot on it measures .400". Comments?

- Haynes manual says to take spark plugs out to do the timing belt. I didn't, as it seemed llike it would go a lot faster to just mess with the existing compression. It wasn't that bad and I got everything to line up, passed the final "line up" visual test, and the car runs perfect. Do others take the plugs out to do the timing belt? And while we are at it, how on earth do you get to the rear plugs? :geek: Seems "impossible," but I'm sure there are tricks.

- I can't believe the stupidity of having to remove timing belt backing cover #3 to do the water pump. Seems like they could have spent another 30 seconds on the problem and designed the cover so that it clears the water pump. Am I missing something here? Is there some good reason why it is not designed that way?

- The CD manual (which seems derived from the factory manual) says to remove the right tierod to remove the ps pump. But it came out easily through the engine cover hole (ie: harmonic balancer hole). Am I missing something there? Removing the tierod end seems a lot of extra work and possible damage to the boot.

- The engine "torque brace" (I don't know what it's called, on the top, passenger side of the motor, a strut with 2 rubber bushing ends) has the forward rubber bushing cracked (excuse my poor grammar). Should I be concerned? Seems like it probably happens on all es300s just by the design of it. Like it's not supposed to restrain too much. Should I replace it?

- I used a screwdriver in the flywheel teeth to lock the crank so I could unscrew the harmonic balancer screw. Is there a better way? I'm sure I put a tiny nick in the tooth, but I didn't have the special tool to hold the balancer, and couldn't figure out how to lock the flywheel with the flywheel screws and a prybar.

- I ended up disposing of the ps pump factory "pinch" hoseclamps and using the aftermarket screw type. Am I too much of a wimp? :whistles: Is there some secret to getting these puppies back in place when you can't see what the heck you're doing? I used needlenose to get them off, but that just didin't work to get them back on.

That's about it. All in all it wasn't too bad, and frankly the timing belt looked in good condition. I'm sure it wasn't replaced at 60k, so at 90k I bet it would have been fine up to 120-150k. But didn't want to take the chance, even with a non-interference motor.

PS pump was a slam dunk -- it was completely filthy and the shop where we had the car checked out said it should be replaced. They were right apparently.

I'll download photos and write something up for the self-help section.

Thanks to everybody for your helpful comments -- made the job more bearable!

Fred

ihurley · September 7, 2004

It took me three days to get the crank pully off, but now I know the secret!!! There is a sst (special service tool) that the dealer has and wont let you borrow, but a nice mechanic at one dealership let me in on a secret. Go to your local tool store (not autoparts, we are looking for a plumbing tool) and ask for a chain wrench. It is a two foot plus long bar with what looks like a motorcycle chain dangling from one end and is used to twist sewer pipes. I found one for 12 bucks. Take an old belt (preferably the alternator belt, it is biger and at the end of the pully on a 97 right?) and cut it to wrap arround the pully to keep it protected from the chain (dealer guy doesn't do this and says there is minimal scratches and much easier to line up w/o belt). Wrap the chain around the pully and the bar is so long, and it holds it so firm that it takes no effort to pop the bolt off. I tried everything else, and I will definitly be using the chain wrench again.

boRXis · September 8, 2004

Dealer's mechanics or any other professional shop remove crankshaft pulley bolt in 30 seconds by using impact wrench gun. They use special puller to pull out pulley from the crankshaft, but nothing special to open bolt.