I never mess with stuff I don't HAVE to, except for breaking lug nuts loose on a new car. To often something un-expected happens & then you have to deal with that. Example, if your water pump is NOT leaking, and you go to replace it ANYWAY, and a bolt sheers off, now you have a new PAIN IN THE A*S problem to deal with. Have fun with that one. So, I tend to leave stuff alone. If I couldn't help myself and had to change a water pump, I would do it every 3rd belt change or 15 years. I have a few pumps go bad and start leaking. I also purchased a S90 that had the impeller broke off in the motor.

 

I turned mine over with the plugs in. I think it's pretty easy to tell when the resistance is compression vs something hitting metal on metal.

 

Are there any special tools you guys would recommend picking up to make this job as easy as possible?

 

Socket to fit the nut on the drive shaft, a breaker bar and a long extension. This was all stuff I had in the tool box when I did it. Nothing really special I can think of.

Getting the old belt off was probably the toughest part for me. I ended up cutting it and pulling it through instead of getting it out through the bottom. Kind of a pain to get the new one it too, but it went.

 

Patience...
Jackstands, and a 2x4 along with you jack.
and a good solid drill bit for the pinning of the tensioner the cheap ones snap

Read up on it a couple times so you know what to look for. Ive done my TB / WP 5 times so far and it gets easier every time..

 

If you change the idler, it's a giant pain in the butt to get off too. the easiest way I found was to take the torx bit that fits into the bolt and cut it shorter so that you can get the torx, the bit to hold it, and the rachet in there comfortably.

Oh, and LOTS of PB Blaster to get it to loosen up...

 

Instead of cutting your torx bit, just clamp and lock (good and tight) a full size vise-grip pliers over it; then it fits right in there.

I also like to pull the ECUs and electrical box; don't have to, but it's easy to do and gives you a lot more elbow room..

 

If you do not know the history, be prepared to do the tensioner roller and idler roller. The tensioner roller is a bear to get off, mainly because of the T45 bolt that holds it on. ibified suggest cutting the tip of the bit off, I suggest getting a good set of bits. Here is why:



I actually stripped two of those bolt heads and had to pull the roller bolt off which is terriable to have to do because you CAN NOT torque the roller bolt back on.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys! I'm going to order the aftermarket TB kit and read up on the instructions a few times so I'll be ready to do this next month. Wish me luck.