We finally have our new cam gear that we were waiting for from PART ONE of this tutorial, so now it is time to put it all back together.

This job can be done with just the basic spanner, socket and screwdriver sets, however here are some tools and supplies that although mostly not essential did make the job easier -

• Single Sided Razor Blade and Fine Grade Wet and Dry Sandpaper for removing the old waterpump gasket.
• Wire Brush Attachment for bench grinder for cleaning up waterpump bolts.
• Compressed Air for cleaning out bolt holes etc.
• Non-Hardening Gasket Sealant such as Loctite Aviation Form-A-Gasket No.3
• Loctite Thread Lock.
• 1/2 inch drive Torque Wrench.
• Tool for ‘locking’ the crankshaft such as my homemade Pajero Balancer Tool

Our first mission is to make sure that all traces of the old waterpump gasket are removed. This is a very important step (obviously!) because you don’t want to be doing the job again because of a water leak. I prefer to use a single sided razor blade followed by a light sanding with 800 wet and dry paper. The housing that the waterpump bolts to is only alloy so I suggest air sanders and the like be kept away as any low spots can be the cause of a leak.

Also if you have access to compressed air I suggest blowing out the bolt holes to remove any water and crap that may have built up there. The waterpump bolts should also be cleaned and if possible the threads wire-brushed, just makes things easier as it goes together.

Once you are happy that the surface is nice and clean it’s time to check the waterpump against the old one (yes parts suppliers can get it wrong sometimes!) and I suggest using a non-hardening sealant on both sides of the gasket, such as Loctite Aviation Form A Gasket No.3. Repco, Supercheap etc should have this on the shelf.

The new waterpump should come with new cooling fan studs and it is best to leave these out until you have the timing cover on. The waterpump should also have two locating dowels that will hold the gasket in place as you fit it up to the block and with everything positioned correctly it is simply a matter of running the bolts in by hand until the surfaces meet. Don’t forget that the bracket for the timing belt tensioner needs to be fitted to the right hand lower waterpump mounting bolt and the spring attached to the tensioner. Now we can do the bolts up evenly with a 12mm socket and ratchet.

Now is a good time to push the belt tensioner to it’s fully released position. Loosen the 14mm bolt holding it in place and either push or lever against the spring tension until it is at it’s full travel towards the drivers side of the engine and re-tighten the 14mm bolt to keep it in this position until we fit the belt.

The next job is to refit the top cam gear if you removed it to replace the seal (or replace the gear as in our case). With the woodruff key correctly located in the key you should be able to slide the gear on nice and easy. I suggest then using some Loctite on the cam gear bolt BUT just hand tighten the bolt at this stage. We will torque the bolt once the timing belt is fitted. To be certain that you don’t skip the step of tightening the cam gear bolt I suggest writing “cam gear bolt” in large writing on a foolscap piece of paper and putting it under one of the wiper blades. Don’t laugh, it is very easy to get side tracked and forget about it, and you don’t want to go down that path!

The next step is to fit the new timing belt. If you can grab another set of hands for this operation I suggest you do as it can be a tad difficult by yourself. I suggest starting with the crankshaft gear and work your way around anti-clockwise with the belt. Most belts will have arrows on them indicating the intended direction of rotation – clockwise in this case.

Remember also that the injector pump pulley has more than likely moved from it’s lined up position so you need to correct this as you go.

The main objective is to have the belt reasonably tight on the right hand side (with the crank, injector pump and camshaft timing marks all lined up) and the ’slack’ of the belt on the left hand (tensioner) side.

Once you are satisfied that the belt is ‘taught’ on the right hand side and all three marks are lined up, loosen the 14mm bolt holding the timing belt tensioner against it’s spring and re-tighten the bolt once the tensioner has moved across and holds tension on the left hand side of the belt also.

VERY IMPORTANT STEPS – first item on the agenda is to tighten the bolt securing the camshaft gear if you have removed this. The correct tension is 98 Nm and this can be achieved easily enough without ‘locking up’ the engine at all. The next important step is to temporarily fit the crankshaft balancer bolt (19mm) and rotate the engine clockwise for two revolutions of the crankshaft. If all is well the belt will be tensioned evenly and all three marks will line up once again. If you find that one or two of the timing marks are not lined up you will need to release the tensioner again, remove the belt (only partially if possible) and re-align the timing marks and carry out this step again.

It is important to do this step as it will identify any potential timing problems BEFORE assembling the rest of the engine.

Once you have established that the timing is aligned correctly and the engine can be rotated with the timing marks lining up again it is time to double check that the 14mm bolt securing the tensioner is tight. There is no need to go ape on the bolt but it does need to be nipped up nicely so the tensioner can’t move while the engine is running. We can then remove the crankshaft balancer bolt to make fitting the timing cover a little easier.

The next job is to fit the ‘disc’ that sits in front of the crankshaft timing belt gear. There is a slot in it which lines up with the keyway to push it all the way on and the marks on it usually indicate which way it goes (belt/gear side and balancer side), although I believe it doesn’t matter too much which way it goes, as long as it is there!

The next really fun job is to refit the timing cover. The job is made easier without the cooling fan studs fitted but it is still a matter of man/woman-handling it into place behind the bracket for the A/C belt idler. Also be careful to ensure that the rubber seal around the outside of the cover and around the waterpump opening is still in position once the cover is in place.

Once you have the cover in position I suggest just ’starting’ all the bolts before tightening any up as it can take some maneuvering of the cover to get all the bolts started. The two ’stude and nut’ arrangements go in the top two holes to secure the vacuum pipes.

Once all the bolts are in position and tight, and don’t forget the ‘pain in the butt’ one behind the A/C belt bracket, it is time to fit the crankshaft balancer. The correct torque for the balancer bolt is 235Nm and I suggest using Loctite on the thread for piece of mind. The specified torque setting can be achieved by a couple of methods -

• You can try chocking all four wheels, selecting a high gear (manual only of course!), firmly applying the handbrake and try your luck at getting it tight enough. I have done this myself previously but it does put a fair bit of stress on the driveline.
• The other option is to make a tool similar to the one that I made for TIGHTENING PAJERO BALANCERS to the correct torque. Rather than welding two ‘lugs’ into the end of the tool you can simply drill two holes that will accept a 12mm bolt and bolt the tool to the balancer. With the dimensions of the tool used in the PAJERO ARTICLE the end of the tool sits just on top of the power steer pump and this is solid enough to hold the crankshaft in place to tighten the bolt to 235Nm.
• Completely removing the radiator and using a rattle gun is another option if you are so inclined!

Once the balancer bolt is tight we can fit the A/C and P/Steer ‘rings’ to the balancer using the four 12mm bolts and fit the waterpump pulley and fanbelts. What I suggest you do is fit the waterpump pulley with two nuts holding it on, adjust your alternator to where you can easily fit the belts and then tighten the alternator adjustment up. By not fitting the fan at this stage it is alot easier for fitting the other belts and the vacuum and water pipes that run across the front of the engine. At this stage we can also fit the A/C idler to the ‘pain in the bum’ bracket – 14mm nut at the rear of the idler.

Loosen bottom alternator bolt – 14mm

Top alternator adjustment – loosen 12mm bolt and undo long bolt anti-clockwise – also 12mm

Fit the water pump pulley and secure it with two nuts and fit the belts. Tighten the belts using the top alternator adjuster, tighten the bottom 14mm alternator bolt and move on to the A/C belt.

The A/C belt is tightened by the 14mm bolt that runs through the adjuster setup and secured by the 14mm nut on the ‘face’ of the tensioner. There are pictures explaining this in PART ONE.

The power steering belt is adjusted by levering against the body of the pump and the bracket that it sits in and tightening the 14mm bolt at the back of the pump. There is also a 14mm nut that has to be tightened at the bottom of the pump. Once again there are pictures better explaining this in PART ONE.

Now that we have that under control we can fit the vacuum pipes that are attached to the two very top timing cover studs and one 12mm bolt on top of the thermostat housing. The hoses should just push on and should already be marked from part one of the article.

We can then also fit the water pipes that run across the front of the engine and attach via a 12mm bolt to the thermostat housing and the A/C hose also fits onto this bracket with a 10mm bolt.

Now we can start to fit the cooling fan by removing the two nuts holding the pulley in place – yes, the pulley will more than likely move out under the pressure of the belts but you should be able to keep it in place enough to fit the fan. Progressively do up the four nuts holding fan so that it goes on as evenly as possible and be sure to nip them up nice and tight.

We can now fit the top part of the radiator shroud, two 10mm bolts each side, the bottom ones can be a bit painful but with a socket and small extension bar they shouldn’t be too hard. The bottom section of the shroud is best sat in place from underneath and then the clips fitted on either side from above.

Next step is to refit the starter motor positive cable to the battery terminal, fit the radiator overflow hose to the radiator neck and refit the top radiator hose.

Almost there! Next we need to fill the radiator and check for any obvious leaks and then it’s time to start the engine. Turn the heater control to ‘hot’ to get the coolant flowing, check for any noises, leaks etc before taking it for a drive and after idling for a while re-check the radiator level. If all looks and sounds good take it for a drive until it reaches normal operating temperature.

Come back to your garage or wherever, another check for leaks etc and more than likely the radiator will need to be topped up after the thermostat has opened when it reached normal operating temperature, and then you’re done!

Although this article has been quite lengthy and involved, the job itself is not that difficult but the most important aspect is getting the timing marks right and ensuring that everything BEHIND the timing cover is tight and properly fitted, not the sort of job that you would want to do twice!

If you do run into trouble you can always post a question on the ADVICE FORUM and I’ll do my best to answer it in a timely manner.

Good Luck!

Craig

Today we are looking at what is involved in replacing the Timing Belt and/or Waterpump on the trusty old L series Toyota Diesel engines. Before we start I want to stress that although this information is supplied in good faith and is a step by step breakdown of me actually doing the job on a customers vehicle, we are dealing with valve, injector pump and piston timing here and if you are in any doubt that you may not have the skills and/or tools to complete the job then please leave it to a qualified mechanic.

That being said, it is not a particularly difficult job to do but I urge you to read and understand all instructions in the article before starting to avoid any potential dramas. Part Two – Reassembly, can be found HERE.

The job doesn’t require too many ’specialized’ tools, but here is a run down of the tools I’ve needed so far -

• The usual assortment of spanners and a good socket set (namely 10, 12, 14 and 19mm)
• Assortment of flat blade screwdrivers
• Small lever bar
• 1/2 inch drive breaker bar and 19mm socket
• Set of pliers or multi-grips
• Suitable container for catching coolant
• Universal Gear puller (not ‘claw’ type)
• A White Marker Pen (or liquid paper) and small mirror is handy for confirming timing marks.
• Degreaser, rags, etc.

The vehicle we are using for this article is a 2000 Hilux 4×4 fitted with a 5L (3 litre) diesel engine that came to us with a leaking waterpump. Without even pressure testing the cooling system it is usually obvious when one of these waterpumps calls it a day. After removing the bash plate (if fitted) the leak will usually become evident fairly quickly in the centre of the car towards the front of the engine.

Underneath the car looking up towards the timing belt cover will give you an even better diagnosis of the leaking water pump.

Our first step is to remove the radiator cap and loosen the radiator drain plug and release what coolant is left in the radiator, preferably with a container underneath to catch it and not where you will be doing the job! Be gentle with the drain plug as they are plastic and can become brittle over time. Once the coolant has stopped flowing re-tighten the drain plug finger tight only.

To make life easier I remove the negative terminal off the battery and then remove the positive lead that goes across the top of the radiator to the starter motor. The factory setup has a 12mm nut that can be taken off to separate the lead from the terminal and there are two plastic clips on the radiator shroud that hold the lead. Once these are undone you can move the lead over to the passengers side of the engine bay and out of the way.

If your car is A/C equipped you can now also remove the 10mm bolt that secures the hose to the thermostat housing bracket so the hose can be moved up a tad when it’s time to take the timing cover off. Next item to remove is the radiator overflow hose from the radiator neck. Be gentle here also as the plastic radiator tanks become brittle over time.

Next on the list is the top radiator hose.

Removing the fan shroud is the next step. On the later model Toyota’s the shroud is plastic and has a removable bottom section, on some of the older ones they are metal and unbolt in half – top and bottom, and on some early 80’s Toyota’s they are metal but in one piece which requires removing the nuts for the fan and bolts for the shroud and removing it all at once. Make sense? Didn’t think so!

Anyway, the shroud we are dealing with here has a removable lower section to make life a bit easier. There is a clip either side, about half way down that can be levered out to release the bottom piece.

Drivers Side

Passengers Side

With a bit of maneuvering the small bottom section of the shroud should come out easily enough. Next we move on to the four 10mm bolts holding the rest of the shroud in place. Two each side and the bottom one on the passengers side can take a bit of getting to but it’s not too bad.

Drivers Side

Passengers Side

Now with the shroud out of the way we can concentrate on removing the four 12mm nuts that hold the fan on. Once the nuts are removed it may take a bit of ‘backwards and forwards’ moving of the fan blades to loosen the fan hub from the waterpump shaft.

The next step is to start removing the fanbelts/drivebelts. The first one is the Power Steering belt which is removed by loosening the 14mm nut on the end of the power steer pump mounting bolt, best got at from underneath the car. The pump is on the passengers side of the engine.

Next we need to loosen the 14mm upper ‘adjustment’ bolt of the Power Steer pump. Just a couple of turns is usually enough to be able to push the pump towards the engine and remove the belt.

Next up is the Air Conditioning belt which is removed by loosening the 14mm nut on the ‘face’ of the tensioner pulley (1) and then winding the 14mm bolt (2) anti-clockwise until the tensioner pulley can slide towards the engine enough to remove the belt.

The alternator/fan belts are next in line and you really have two choices here – you can either remove the waterpump belt pulley with the belts or loosen off the alternator adjustment and remove the belts that way. I prefer to do the former as once you have everything apart it is a lot easier to loosen the alternator mounting bolts.

Removing the alternator/fan belts and pulley in one

Our next step is to remove the heater hoses and piping that runs across the front of the engine. Apart from the four hose ends there is also a 12mm bolt on the thermostat housing that has to come out.

Then we are left with two vacuum pipes that run across the front of the timing cover. Putting a mark on the hoses so they go back in the right place is a good idea (duh!) and once you have removed the hoses from the pipes you can then undo the two 10mm nuts that hold them to the timing cover, the 12mm bolt into the thermostat housing and the two 10mm bolts that hold it all to the air intake.

The next step is to remove the balancer. You have two choices for removing the balancer bolt. The first solution is to completely remove the radiator and use an impact gun to loosen the 19mm bolt. The other option is to temporarily refit the negative battery terminal and positive lead to the starter motor and using a 19mm socket and breaker bar. What you do is wedge the end of the breaker bar against the passengers side chassis rail and momentarily operate the starter motor with the key.

Because there are a number of pipes running down the topside of the passengers side chassis rail on these vehicles I recommend using a couple of strategically placed blocks of hardwood to avoid damaging the power steer lines. Also be sure that there is nobody around that could get hurt if the breaker bar decides to let go while your doing this. I have used this method on countless occasions without any problems, just be safety conscious.

Once the bolt is loose you can continue to undo it with a ratchet and 19mm socket and don’t forget to remove the negative battery terminal first and then the starter positive lead again as it will get in the way.

Once the main balancer bolt is removed I find the easiest way to remove the balancer is to remove the two outer rings (A/C and P/S belt pulleys – 6 x 12mm bolts) which gives more room to fit the balancer puller.

With the balancer removed we can now start to remove the timing cover. If your car is equipped with air conditioning you will notice that there is an idler wheel on a bracket at the top left of the timing cover. This idler is removable by removing the 14mm nut holding it from the back. Once this is removed there is enough room to get the cover out even though it doesn’t look like it! You can go to the trouble of removing the bolts securing the A/C compressor and this bracket if you want to but believe me it adds a lot more work to the job.

The only real issue that you will face by leaving this bracket in place is removing the timing cover 10mm bolt that is almost directly behind the bracket but with some patience and a 10mm spanner this bolt shouldn’t cause too many dramas for you.

Success!!

Next item on the agenda is to remove all the 10mm bolts securing the timing cover, including the three around the waterpump area. Once all the bolts are removed it’s time to wrestle (err.. manoeuvre) the timing cover out. It does take a bit of doing but believe me it can be done without the need for a tube or two of Araldite afterwards!

Now that the cover is off it is time to evaluate the situation.

As you can see there is quite a bit of engine oil floating around the place which tells us that either the camshaft seal and/or the tappet cover gasket has been leaking. Either way the timing belt will be getting replaced because of oil contamination even though it has only travelled around 50,000km. The waterpump is buggered for sure and more than likely the crankshaft seal will be leaking also.

Before going any further, if you have decided to replace the camshaft seal (a good idea even if things are relatively dry) we need to loosen the camshaft sprocket bolt. Once again out trusty breaker bar and 19mm socket will come in handy for this.

One sharp blow on the end of the breaker bar should be enough to loosen the bolt or if you have an impact gun it should be no hassle. Just loosening the bolt is all that is needed at this stage, we still have the timing belt fitted and still need to line up the timing marks.

Speaking of aligning timing marks, now we can refit the crankshaft balancer bolt into the crankshaft thread and use this to rotate the engine in a clockwise direction to line the marks up. We have three marks to line up with these engines – the camshaft, the injector pump and the crankshaft.

Although the photos don’t show it too well there is a notch or line in the cam gear that has to line up with the arrow on the rear timing cover which is located just above the waterpump at around the 6 o’clock position.

The injector pump also has a notch or a line in the gear that must line up with the mark on the engine. Don’t worry about the stripe of yellow paint, that’s just there to confuse us!

The crankshaft marks are not the easiest to spot but there is a small cutout in the crankshaft gear that has to line up with the mark on the oil pump housing. Pretty basic stuff, the only thing that can throw a spanner in the works is if you have the crankshaft marks lined up and the camshaft and injector marks are 180 degrees out. One full revolution (clockwise only) of the crankshaft should bring things into line.

Once you are confident that the timing marks are lined up correctly it is time to release the timing belt tensioner. By loosening the 14mm tensioner bolt (red arrow below) you will be able to push the tensioner across towards the drivers side of the car and then re-tighten the bolt to keep the tensioner in the ‘released’ position. In the photo below you will see that I am using a lever bar to move the tensioner – DO NOT do this if you are planning on re-using the timing belt as it may damage the belt. The tensioner does have a spring on it but hand pressure should be enough to move it across if the belt is to be re-used.

Also on that note, if the belt is to be re-used mark the belt so that you can be sure it will be rotating in the same direction once refitted. The teeth on the belt ‘wear-in’ to travelling in one direction and changing the direction can cause premature belt failure. Not that I recommend you reuse any timing belt, even if you have to pay $100 for a new one it is cheap insurance against possible engine damage down the track.

If you are replacing the tensioner unit, another good idea while you’re at it, completely remove the adjuster bolt and the attaching bolt. (Pictured below)

Ok, time for the belt to come off and you will more than likely notice that the injector pump pulley moves around an inch or so as the belt comes off. Don’t stress, this is normal and we can leave it there until we come to refit the belt.

The next step is to place a suitable container underneath the car to catch the remaining coolant and remove the six 12mm bolts securing the waterpump to the block. The bottom right-hand bolt also holds a small bracket that the timing belt tensioner spring attaches to so be aware that you will have to remove the spring as this bolt comes out. Once all the bolts are removed a gentle tap on the top of the water pump should be all that is needed to dislodge it.

Next up we can turn our attention to replace the camshaft seal by removing the four 12mm bolts securing the rear timing cover to the cylinder head. Once removed we can CAREFULLY prize the top of the seal out and remove it. Be careful here not to mark the camshaft surface as you may end up with a worse oil leak than you had in the first place!

To fit the new seal use a socket that has the same outside diameter as the new seal and gently (and squarely) knock it into place. These cylinder heads have a ’step’ where the seal bottoms out and can’t go in any further. Not all seal arrangements are the same so it pays to take note of how far in the old seal sits before removing it. A good clean-up and degrease of the surrounding area and rear timing cover and we can refit the cover and move on to the crankshaft seal.

There is a thin tin ‘disc’ that sits in front of the crank gear and this is removed by lining up the ‘groove’ in it with the keyway. Once this is removed the crank gear needs to be removed with a puller. Don’t be tempted to lever the back of the gear to remove it as this will only crack the gear, they usually take a fair bit of moving! Once the gear is off we can replace the seal in the same way as doing the cam seal, refit the gear by gently knocking it back on and refit the ‘disc’.

I am going to have to leave this article here as I found a nice little crack in the cam gear of this engine and being a Sunday we have no way of tracking down a replacement. Part Two is finally finished and can be found HERE.

‘The Boss’ checking my work!

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO