Another timing belt question....

[95metro]

I'm replacing the timing belt on my 95 metro 1.3. The book says in order to do this, all you need to do is take the 5 small bolts off the crankshaft pulley and everything comes off. What the book fails to mention is that you can do this with the motor OUT of the car. When it is in the car, you need to remove the center bolt that is a PITA to get off. I read somewhere that someone removed the two bolts holding the passenger side motor mount and lowered the motor with a jack to slide the pulley off. Would this damage anything? Seems that the axles would get damaged somehow doing this? is there any other way of getting this pulley off? Thanks in advance...

[Crvett69]

you only need to drop the motor about 2 inches, axles go up and down farther than that with the struts while your driving. will be fine as long as you don't just let it drop

[Johnny Mullet]

You do not need to remove the engine or the center bolt to do a timing belt. Just the smaller bolts and remove the pulley. There is room.

[95metro]

Ummmm, no there is not enough room. The pulley hits the top of the center bolt, and gets pinched between it, and the unibody. Trust me, I tried....

[fubard]

Yup, it hits the fenderwell and can;t be removed...UNTIL you lower/raise the engine to give it enough room to be wiggled out, as was previously mentioned. Just place a jack under the oilpan using a block of wood for protection .Take up the slack and then remove the 2 bolts on the passenger side front motor mount.Then jack up/down the engine until you can just get the lil bugger to come out. To assemble , reverse the process.

YMMV

Originally Posted by 95metro

Ummmm, no there is not enough room. The pulley hits the top of the center bolt, and gets pinched between it, and the unibody. Trust me, I tried....

[cal058]

I'm in the middle of doing the same thing. I had to take the center bolt out to get the pully off. Mine came loose without alot of problems. I just pulled the two bolts holding the inspection cover for the flywheel off, took the cover off, and held the flywheel with a screwdriver. Did I luck out? I need to replace the pully on my 2000 next and I'm hoping it will come loose as easy as this one did.

[Johnny Mullet]

I'm sorry, I realized this was a 1.3L and not a 1.0L engine. My bad

[hot_sd]

I did this on my 2000 metro without lowering the engine. I used a breaker bar which I think I bought at Sears. The bar is thin enough to get it into the space. It is also a long bar which gives you good torque. That bolt is torqued at about 110 ft lbs as I recall.

There should be a small slot in the flywheel cover to insert a screwdriver and lock the flywheel while doing this.

[95metro]

Wow. you guys are great. thanks a bunch. So when I get the belt off, do I need to align the timing marks, or can I just throw a new belt on?

[wetback1]

You will likely have to turn one pulley or the other a smidge to get a new belt on - so make sure the marks are properly aligned before you release the tensioner; otherwise you could be out by one tooth which is enough to raise hell. Also, be careful not to kink or twist the belt as the box says because a new tight belt is a lot harder to get on than the old one was to get off.

[95metro]

It's funny you suggest that. It was tough getting the old belt off, and getting the new one on was not bad. I couldn't move the sprockets if I wanted to, so I pulled the belt really tight on the side opposite the tensioner, and it slid right into place. Throughout this whole ordeal I have discovered one thing. The bitch of everything was getting everything off. Putting it all back together was pretty easy. I did water pump, alternator, belts, timing belt, starter and alternator cable, and hoses. Just wanted to be ready for winter. And if anyone reading this cares, Best Buy sells (and installs) remote starters for manual transmission cars. They are made by Viper and specifically designed for manual cars (I believe they are the LE series). Cant wait!