Changing the timing belt/water pump

[VXorado]

My poor VX has been leaking coolant for a month now and I wanted to get it stopped before the snow comes. I'm guessing its a leaky water pump and bought all the parts to replace it along with the timing belt. I got a mix of OEM/aftermarket parts and all is well except that the timing belt (aftermarket) only has one dash . According to the very helpful guide from Bart , the timing belt needs three.

Can I properly replace the timing belt with only one dash? or can I match the marks from the old timing belt and add marks to the new one? I don't want to mess this one up. Thanks guys & gals

[tom4bren]

As long as it's the right size, the marks shouldn't matter.

[deermagnet]

You need all three marks. There is zero margin for error. You can't be off by one tooth. It's a long belt looping around pulleys and it needs to be pulled tight to get all three marks exactly in the right spots. You also need the direction of travel arrows. Without the marks you could easily be off by one. In one of my Isuzu videos it even shows a little trick to get the crank mark lined up if you can't pull it tight enough to reach the right tooth. Without a mark you wouldn't know if you had the right tooth in that spot. When you release the tensioner you need to confirm the marks to be absolutely sure the belt did not jump and everything is perfect before sealing it up.

I guess you could transfer the marks to the new belt, but be sure to count the teeth twice, three times even. This is one of those things where 99.9% is not good enough.

Mark

[tom4bren]

I stand corrected.

[nfpgasmask]

You need all three marks. There is zero margin for error. You can't be off by one tooth. It's a long belt looping around pulleys and it needs to be pulled tight to get all three marks exactly in the right spots. You also need the direction of travel arrows. Without the marks you could easily be off by one. In one of my Isuzu videos it even shows a little trick to get the crank mark lined up if you can't pull it tight enough to reach the right tooth. Without a mark you wouldn't know if you had the right tooth in that spot. When you release the tensioner you need to confirm the marks to be absolutely sure the belt did not jump and everything is perfect before sealing it up.

I guess you could transfer the marks to the new belt, but be sure to count the teeth twice, three times even. This is one of those things where 99.9% is not good enough.

x2 on all that. IMO, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd ring Merlin and get an OEM belt shipped asap. I bet he can do overnight for you if you want to spend the money. My VX was down for 4 days when I did mine. Of course, I was taking my time and documenting everything, which added to the downtime, but this is just one of those things you don't want to eff up.

That said, I suppose you could count teeth and match the lines. Your call.

Bart

[VXorado]

Thanks guys, I'll try matching up the marks and count the # of teeth. Hopefully it will match up. The belt I have does have the direction arrows.

I have the VX front pulled apart in the garage and was hoping to get this done tonight after work. If I order a new belt, it will delay me till next week but I would rather do it right than rush it.

[MSHardeman]

Jon,

I haven't done the timing belt switch yet, but it is on my list of things to do for sure. I've read through Bart's How-to and it looks like you could use an extra set of hands during a few key steps. I will happily volunteer my hands if you can/ want to wait until Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday sometime to do the belt swap. It'll also give me an opportunity for a "dry run" before I have to do mine.

Let me know and I'll head on over....

[Greasemonkey]

I used clothes pegs to attach the belt to the pulleys and then fitted the tensioner - and pulled the pin
cheers
Steve

[VXorado]

Jon,

I haven't done the timing belt switch yet, but it is on my list of things to do for sure. I've read through Bart's How-to and it looks like you could use an extra set of hands during a few key steps. I will happily volunteer my hands if you can/ want to wait until Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday sometime to do the belt swap. It'll also give me an opportunity for a "dry run" before I have to do mine.

Let me know and I'll head on over....

Mark, that would be awesome- I'll supply the Beer, you supply the help . Tomorrow will work great, i'll hold off on doing anything tonight. Give me a call or PM and i'll get you directions. I work until 4

x2 on all that. IMO, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd ring Merlin and get an OEM belt shipped asap. I bet he can do overnight for you if you want to spend the money. My VX was down for 4 days when I did mine. Of course, I was taking my time and documenting everything, which added to the downtime, but this is just one of those things you don't want to eff up.

That said, I suppose you could count teeth and match the lines. Your call.

Bart

Bart, stellar write up! I spent three hrs on it last night and got all the way to the timing belt. Without the writeup, i would have taken it to a shop for sure. I owe you a six pack

About the timing belt... i'm leaning that direction too on scapping this timing belt and leaving the VX o/s for the weekend. Mark and I will take a look into it more tomorrow.

[psychos2]

It is very simple, you can mark the belt yourself. First on the old belt line up the crank mark like it says in the manual. Find the marks on the camshaft pulley, make a mark on each pulley and on the belt in the same spot.a white paint marker or white out works well. Also mark the crank mark with an X so you know which mark is the crank mark and put an arrow in the correct direction on the old belt . Remove the old belt. Count the teeth between each mark and transfer that to the new belt. Make sure you double or triple check your tooth count and be sure that the belt has the same number of teeth. Reinstall the belt making sure that your marks are lined up with the marks you made on the pulleys And the direction is the same (the clips they tell you to use in the manual work great) and release the tensioner. Make sure that the marks are lined up and you are done. As long as you correctly count and mark the teeth on the belt you will be ok. One final note DO NOT TURN THE PULLEYS you can move them a little if you have to,to make the marks line up on the belt and pulley but do not turn them any farther. I used a carquest belt and the marks were not correct, but I had marked the old belt before removing and marked the new belt and installed it with no problems. This method is the easiest way to do it. And I would not install any belt ,factory or otherwise without counting the teeth and double checking the marks. shawn

[nfpgasmask]

Bart, stellar write up! I spent three hrs on it last night and got all the way to the timing belt. Without the writeup, i would have taken it to a shop for sure. I owe you a six pack

Thanks, glad people are putting it to use!!!


Bart

[VXorado]

Mark and I stayed up late last night working on the VX. After pulling the broken timing belt cover (1st problem), we discovered that the RH/LH camshaft marks will not match up together with the engine. When I matched up the oil pump mark, the LH camshaft would match up with the engine but the RH camshaft was off by one tooth. I guess that means my timing has been off even though it runs smooth .

...Long story short, I will want to get back in this area for timing belt cover replacement and some work with the steering pump. Someone already replaced the timing belt, so we opted to leave the timing belt on in the same EXACT position on all three pulleys (I will replace later with OEM) and I replaced the water pump. I do have the option to move the RH cam shaft over a tooth which in theory will correct the difference in pulley positions. My question is if the timing has been off by one tooth, wouldn't I be able to notice when driving around?

One last question: when replacing the water pump, Do I leave one bolt hole missing a bolt? The manual shows an empty bolt hole at the top of the water pump and only accounts for 10 bolts/screws when there are 11 holes on the pump.