How to change a cambelt EP91

[NightSpirit]

Today I took my wifes glanza along to 3S Services over near Hook (m3 corridor), the owner James had agreed to help me do a cambelt change, allowing me to use his workshop and his knowledge (which I needed). It's the first time I've done a cambelt and although James is best known for doing all kinds of top notch work on other Toyota's hadn't done a cambelt on the EP either.

The price for James to do the work for you, would be £120 labour plus parts...which I think is a bargain from someone who seriously knows there stuff and does such a thorough job here's his website http://www.3sservicecentre.co.uk/

On to the How To, I'd say this isn't a very hard job, but isn't like changing a set of plugs either . It took me/us around 6 hours in total to change the cambelt and alternator belt, including fitting a new cambelt tensioner.

You'll need:

timing gun (to check the timing after the belt change)

an array of 10-12-14 and 17 mm sockets of various depths

patience

axle stands (2)

some blocks of wood to hold the engine up when you drop one side and a jack to raise and lower the engine side.

First of all, remove the 4 10mm bolts from top cambelt cover (2 top, 2 bottom...1 of which, nearest the front bumper is a bitch). Remove drivers side wheel.

Next up, remove the 3 10mm bolts from the power steering reservoir and the 10mm bolt from the thick pipe running next to the power steering reservoir...this gives easier access to things.

Now you need to remove the drivers side engine mount, firstly you need to support the engine on your trolley jack/wooden blocks to stop it falling. There are 2 14mm bolts you can remove from the top and one awkward 14mm nut from the underside. Once these are removed you can remove the final 14mm bolt running through the engine mount and with some movement you should be able to remove it.

Now you have access to the belt area better, loosen the 14mm bolt from the fanbelt tensioner (the long belt with track lines) and loosen the 10mm tensioner by unscrewing it a little. You may need to give the loosened pulley a smack from the top side of the engine to force it down slightly to slacken on the belt. Now you can remove the fanbelt.

Loosen the alternator belt tensioner next, 12mm bolt and the bolt running through the base of the alternator to allow it to move. This is a 14mm bolt and nut, make sure you secure the nut otherwise it won't loosen. Push the alternator up with your hand from beneath the car and the belt should slip off.

Now you can remove the 3 10mm bolts from the bottom of the cambelt cover, 1 at the top and 2 at the bottom.

Now you can remove the bottom pulley attached to the crank, first of all make sure you turn the pulley to 0 degrees (as marked with the notch on the pulley and the 0 mark on the cam shield)...so you know the top cam pulley is at 0, makes it easier when refitting the new belt.

Removing the pulley requires some effort, you need to slightly open the flywheel casing at the bottom and jam a screwdriver into the teeth of the flywheel to hold it still. Now with a 19mm long reach socket you can remove the centre bolt from the pulley...be careful as the pulley lip is fragile. The pulley should slide off with some persuation, James had a rather handy bodywork tool for this job.

You know have the cambelt in view, a 12mm bolt holds the cambelt adjuster (bottom) in place and a 10mm bolt from the spring that holds it tense. You can now remove the cambelt!! and the tensioner.

Fit the new belt, making sure it slots into all the teeth on the pulleys and making sure that it's tight with the tensioner...refit the bottom cover loosely and the pulley (just slide it on)...making sure it's still at 0!. Now do 2 complete turns of the pulley (cranking the engine) to check that everything is working right and that the top pulley is at 0 (as mentioned before). The tensioner on the cambelt and the fanbelt doesn't have to be ultra tight, just as tight as you can get it with no slack..you'll get the feel of it from the belt that comes off.

Once you're happy with this, fit the bottom cambelt cover securely, place the bolt back in the bottom pulley (doesn't need to be tight as it self tightens) and start the car up. If it's done right it should run as normal

Now just replace the belts and reverse the above process. Making sure to mark with tippex or a stanley knife blade the groove in the bottom pulley so you can see it with the light gun.

Once it's all back together, you can attach your timing gun and once the car is idling normally (when warm) you can check where on the cambelt bottom timing mark, the pulley sits...easier to see than explain. Ours was sat at 0 deg, which we thought wasn't right, we thought it should be 10 deg like most other toyotas...so to adjust the timing, just loosen the 2 12mm bolts from the dizzy cap and rotate it slightly to advance/retard the timing and repeat the process until 10 deg is right.

That's about it folks Pics to follow tomorrow...just posting it now while it's fresh in my head.