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How to replace Timing Belt

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20-09-2009, 09:15 #1

pchanjAS Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008Posts: 23

How to replace Timing Belt

HOW TO REPLACE TIMING BELT.Just in case you guys want to try to replace your timing belt. This is a guide I used and followed in replacing my belt.1) Park the car in the shaded area.

2) Disconnect the negative of the battery.

3) Jack up the car.

4) Take off passenger front wheel tire. Take out the lower wheel arch plastic cover. There are a few screwsunderneath and some plastic clips to be taken off. After you take this off, you should now see the crankshaft pulleyunderneath. (Please see attach Photo)

How to replace Timing Belt - Astra Sport and Astra Owners Club - Mk1 | Mk2 | Mk3 | Mk4 | Mk5 | ... http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showthread.php?t=218662

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5) Take out the splash metal guard underneath the car. There are four screws at the bottom. You will need to takethis out which I will explain later.

6) Now, drain the coolant of the car. There is a plastic screw type nut on the front right underneath the bumper. Afteryou unscrew the nut, uncap the coolant tank on top of engine (yellow cap). You should now see the coolant comingout from behind the radiator. If you want to save the coolant, attach a rubber hose to a plastic tube where the coolantis coming out off.

7) Take out the air cleaner assembly from the car. Top bit of the air cleaner should come off by undoing the metal ringclip attach to the throttle body of the car and also undoing the 4 clips that attaches the top cover of the air cleaner tothe bottom bit. Now take out the sensor that attaches to the air cleaner piping. Now, cover the throttle body becauseyou dont want any foreign object going inside the throttle body whilst you are working on the car. (Please find photoof before and after the air cleaner is taken out) You Can clean the throttle body after taking out the air cleaner. (See


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attach photo of throttle body)


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Now, take out the air cleaner and the bottom bit of the air cleaner. There should be one screw to undo there andthe bottom bit of the air cleaner should come off. (Please see photo)

9) Now, its time to take out the top cover of the timing belt. There are three torx screws that needs to be taken out.After that, you should now see the inlet and exhaust cam and also the timing belt. You should also take out the camsensor. There are two bolts to take out the cam sensor. Be careful not to drop the bolt inside the bottom cover of thetiming belt when taking the bolt out. Its hard to turn the crankshaft knowing you dropped a bolt inside accidentally.Major damage might occur. (Please see attach photo of camshaft with sensor taken out)


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10) Now you need to take out the auxiliary drive belt.. This is the one that drives the alternator and aircon of the car.I dont think it drives the power steering and the brake system of the car.

To take out this belt, you need to lacate the drive belt tensioner. This tensioner is spring loaded so when attached tothe car, correctly tensions the auxiliary drive belt.

To take out the drive belt, you will need to use a 15 spanner and attach it to the bolt of the tensioner. You will seetwo bolts within the tensioner. The first one is the one that attaches the engine block of the car. The second one is theone that you will need to put your spanner on it. What you do is put the spanner on the second bolt and make surethat it is engage properly. Note: you do not undo the bolt. The bolt is there so you can attach the spanner and use itto lever the tensioner towards the back of the car. There should be enough slack there to take out the auxiliary drivebelt from the airconditioning compressor pulley of the car. Once the drive belt is out of the way, note the direction ofthe drive belt if the old one is still going to be used. (See attached photo)


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11) Now, take out the plastic engine cover(with Ecotec written on it) and take out the ignition coil. There are 4 screwsto it. And Take out the spark plug.

12) Using a socket wrench, (6 corner size 14) attach the socket to the crankshaft pulley. And turn the pulley to theclockwise direction. Have someone look at the timing mark of the inlet cam and the exhaust cam at the top timingcover. The timing mark of the inlet cam should line up at 3 oclock with the exhaust cam should line up at 9o clock. Ifyou over shoot the mark go another turn. Do not turn the crankshaft pulley anti clockwise. Once you are happy withthe timing mark. You can use a cam locking tool. I did use it (blue plastic in the photo) when I changed the timingbelt. But I know that a lot of people do not need this as they are already an expert. Once you have it timed (3 o Clockat Inlet cam and 9 o clock exhaust cam) it means that you have it at TDC (top dead center).


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13) You can now take out the crankshaft pulley. If you have an automatic car, this is a hassle to take out. Somemechanic uses a piece of metal rod that they put through the crankshaft pulley and to stop it from moving whilst theyundo the bolt (6 corner 14 socket to be used) but I used an airgun. This makes the job much easier. If you have amanual car, I think you just need to put the car in 5th gear and have someone apply the brakes whilst someone undothe bolt of the crankshaft pulley. (Please see attach photo)

14) Once the crankshaft pulley bolt is off, the crankshaft pulley will come off and it should look like this. Notice themark on this as well. You will see that the crankshaft lines up to the mark on the timing belt rear cover. If it does not,check the timing mark on the inlet and exhaust cam. You might have to move the crankshaft a little bit more to get allof them to align properly. This is why you do not take out the timing belt yet. So you have to time the inlet andexhaust cam (3 o Clock at Inlet cam and 9 o clock exhaust cam) and timing mark of the crankshaft. If you need torotate the crankshaft again. Just put back the crankshaft pulley together with the bolt and turn it clockwise. And Takeoff the crankshaft pulley again. Please note that there is a cutout on the pulley which needs to line up with thecrankshaft when fitting back the crankshaft pulley. Note there is also a dot on the crankshaft pulley that serves as atiming mark that lines up against the plastic cover but it is harder to see.


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15) Once you are happy with the timing. Take out the bottom cover of the timing belt. You only need to take out onescrew. The rest of the bits are just plastic that clips on to the rear cover.


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16) Once off, you should now see this. The timing belt is attached to both inlet and exhaust cam, 2 idler pulley (onebig and one smaller), 1 belt tensioner, water pump and the crankshaft. (See Photo)


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17) You will now need to undo the three bolt of the engine support so you can take out the timing belt of the car. Thatis where the timing belt is slipped on and off. Before you undo the 3 bolt, you need to support the bottom part of theengine block. Use a piece of wood together with a jack and jack up the sump of the car. While you take out the threebolts so the jack will temporarily hold the engine while you take undo the engine support.

1 Next job is to take out the timing belt. To do this, you need a torx bit. Loosen the bolt in the middle of the belttensioner and insert an allen key to the hole of the tensioner and turn it clockwise. (please see photos) The timing beltshould now be loose and you should be able to take out the timing belt and slip it through the engine support gap.

19) Now, take out the 2 idler pulley. That is the easiest. To take out the water pump, you need to take off threescrews with washers attach to them. Once off, you need to use a piece of wood and tap the water pump a little fromthe top and at the bottom. Since it will be tight due to rust and mineral deposits.

20) You can now put in your 2 new idler pulley. Torque setting for both pulley is 25 nm. Please note that the smallone is on the right and the big one is on the left. Anyway, you wont get it wrong since it wont fit the other wayaround.

21) Now install your new water pump. I had to install a replacement water pump since the original gm water pump isslightly different from the original gm water pump that was taken off my car. Difference is that the available GM waterpump had two cut out on the side of the pump. Which means that there is a bit of guess work involved in installingthat waterpump. I was told by Thunder that GM stopped making the original GM Water pump I had. So I settled for areplacement water pump which hopefully is of good quality. But at least I know that the replacement water pump canbe installed properly eliminating the guesswork of what position the pump should be in. I was told by Thunder thatOpel Mechanics would know how to do it, but since it was our first time to replace the parts, I did not want to take achance. Also, I noticed that the bolt had a thread lock applied so I applied threadlock when I put the screw back on.


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22) Once the water pump is installed. You can now install your belt tensioner. Make sure that the tensioners hook iscorrectly married with the cut out on the engine block. You can never get it wrong because there is only one cut out inthe engine block (where the tensioner is screwed on) but do not tighten the tensioner yet.

23) Now put on the new timing belt. Put it through the engine mount (similar to how you took off your old timingbelt). Start at the bottom crankshaft. Match it up with the teeth of the crankshaft and then through the inside portionof the right side idler pulley and put it through the exhaust cam. And dont put it yet through the inlet cam. Now fromthe crankshaft run the belt through the belt tensioner and the water pump and up to the idler pulley. This will be a bittight. Just make sure you do not bend the belt too much. Now only the inlet cam do not have the belt attach to it yet.Now try to put it through the inlet cam. Its going to be a bit tight. What we did was loosen the bolt of the tensionerrotated the tensioner itself which provided some slack on the belt but at the same time did not risk bending the beltsince the belt is already routed through the belt tensioner. You should now be able to put in the belt over the inletcam. Tighten the belt tensioner once the belt is properly positioned. But dont over tighten as we will be loosening andtightening it when we tension the belt.


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24) Once the belt is attached, check the timing of the inlet and exhaust cam and the crankshaft has not moved. Onceyou are still happy with the timing, its time to correctly tension the belt. Dont worry if the belt is not correctly seatedon the sprockets. Either its way too inside the sprockets. This will sort itself out when you start the engine later. Aslong as the timing is still in place.

25) The belt tensioner itself has a belt indicator on it. You can see it in the picture. When you took off your old belt tobe replaced, you should see that the pointer should be pointing to the old belt(this is assuming you took out the beltwhilst the timing marks are correct). This is important to know so you can correctly tension the belt. Quite easy to do.

Now what you do is loosen the belt tensioner (but make sure that the hook of the timing belt is correctly seated withthe cut out of the engine block) and then using the allen key move the adjuster anticlockwise until the poiner of thebelt tensioner is to the right most of the plate (the plate where there is a marking of old and new belt. Put the pointerto the right way past the new belt marker). Now, once you have done that, hold the tensioner adjuster with the allen


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key and tighen the tensioner. If you do not hold the tensioner adjuster with the allen key, the marker will move so itsimportant to hold the tensioner adjuster via the allen key whilst you tighten the tensioner to lock it in position.

26) Now attach the crankshaft pulley together with the bolt noting the cut out on the crankshaft pulley making sure itlines up with the cut out on the crankshaft. Using the 6 corner socket 14 rotate the crankshaft clockwise to 2complete timing rotation ie stop after 2 complete turn. Making sure that the timing mark all lines up. If you have doneit correctly, then there is no reason why it wont be on the mark. Take off the crankshaft pulley again to check timingof the crank. Although there is also a marking on the pulley itself but its harder to see so I would recommend takingout the crankshaft pulley.

27) Now loosen the belt tensioner and using the allen key rotate anti clockwise the adjuster and point it to the newbelt (one where there is a cut out) then tighten the belt tensioner. Now, rotate the crankshaft pulley to 2 completeturn and check the tensioner pointer. If its pointing to the right or to the left, adjust the tensioner again and point it tothe new belt and make complete 2 turns again. Please note that the tensioner pointer moves from left to right whilstthe crankshaft pulley is moved, but should settle in the new belt position once the inlet and exhaust cam and thecrankshaft pulley line up with the timing mark. Once you have done that, then you have correctly tensioned the belt.Take out the crankshaft pulley again.

2 Now you can put back the bottom cover of the timing belt. Make sure that the bottom clips are properly attached.This is important because I did not with mine and when I started the engine, I could hear a ticking sound whichscared me. I thought we messed up somewhere. As it turns out, it was just the cover.

29) Put back the crankshaft pulley. You are supposed to torque it at 95 nm and then another 30 degrees and another15 degrees. Its very hard to do on a automatic car. So we just used the airgun again to tighten it. Hopefully thatshouldnt be a problem. We just made sure that the bolt bolt is tight enough. Make sure you note the cutout beforetightening the bolt.

30) Now put back the camshaft sensor (also apply thread lock).

31) You can bolt the engine support as well. Torque 55 Nm.

32) Now put back the auxiliary drive belt tensioner (while its off, have a look at the two stops I am talking about). Thecorrect torque setting for the belt tensioner is 25 Nm.

33) Put back the auxiliary drive belt similar to how you took off the belt awhile ago. Note the direction of the beltwhen you took it off. As you need to put the same direction you took it off.

34) Put back the ignition coil and put back the spark plug. Spark Plug torque setting is 25 Nm.

35) Put back the air cleaner assembly. Dont forget to attach the sensor back to the air cleaner.

36) Put in the new coolant through the reservoir.

37) Pray hard that you didnt forget anything.

3 Start your engine

39) I undid the top timing belt cover to convince myself that the belt do line up after the engine was started. I have apicture after I started the engine showing that it has indeed lined up against the inlet and exhaust cam.


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Last edited by Ffoeg; 20-09-2009 at 09:40. Reason: sorting out coding/tags

20-09-2009, 16:50 #2

BenfinlaysonAS Newbie Join Date: Sep 2009Posts: 12

Thanks for taking the time to do that. I will be using a haynes manual to do mine next week but the largecolour pics are very useful.

20-09-2009, 17:31 #3

Toms1989Very Controversial

Join Date: Dec 2007Location: North Wales Drives:-The Golden Dong!Posts: 10,449

That is definitely a winner of a guide

Hat's off to you mate for taking the time for doing it__________________

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20-09-2009, 22:44 #4

IainLCaptain Slow

Join Date: Jun 2006Location: Bonnybridge,ScotlandDrives: Astra Coupe and VectraBPosts: 3,717

Get this man a pint. Excellent guide. Thanks__________________I>< Silver Coupe >

21-09-2009, 11:48 #5

CoupeZamAS Newbie Join Date: Sep 2009Location: North East, UKPosts: 2

Is this for a Coupe or is there no difference when changing the timing belt and water pump compared to astandard Hatchback model?

21-09-2009, 12:13 #6

PeteGAS Obsessed Join Date: Oct 2006Location: Dereham, (Norfolk)Drives: 2.2 ZaffyPosts: 8,518

engines are all the same mate - the principles shown above will apply to most engines, not just vauxhalls andcertainly not just astras - whether they are coupes/hatches vans etc

nice guide, but I wonder how many will feel confident enough to follow it then get stuck part-way through __________________

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23-09-2009, 09:53 #7

haulmeAS Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2005Location: LondonDrives: Vauxhall Astra BertoneCoupe 1.8i 16VPosts: 2,301

yeah thanks for taking the time but that is mighty daunting for my daily driver__________________Drives:Mazda 6 MPS- Zoom Zoom

27-01-2010, 20:47 #8

dellboyAS Newbie Join Date: Jan 2010Posts: 1

vauxhall astra mk4 1.8 16vwhy does the water pump need timeing up?

28-01-2010, 18:40 #9

steve1412AS Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2009Location: sunny England,Drives: Astra CoupePosts: 3,556

the water pump does not need timing up, the older OE GM pumps had cuts outs that were not that easy toposition correctly when trying to dial in the initial tension position for belt tension. the newer pumps as abovehave a timing reference mark which takes the guess work out of the job. i have had a few friends with the oldertype cut out pumps that i have had to help out because they have been unfamiliar with how to set the pumpand have had loads of slack in the tension side of the belt even after setting the tensioner wheel. well done topchanj for the above guide, very informative and straightforward

11-02-2010, 01:55 #10

dajocaAS Newbie Join Date: Aug 2009Posts: 2

Thanks mate!! am doin mine this weeknd the big pictures are very helpfull. got my locking tool today, wouldn'tdo it without it! My haynes manual says i have to take off the rear cover aswell to change the water pump butyou didnt have to do this no??let me know!Thanks..

Last edited by dajoca; 11-02-2010 at 02:15.

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17 of 17 25/02/2012 20:08

how to replace timing belt - astra sport and astra owners club

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