2001 s40 t timing belt
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Joined: Dec 2009
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Oh yeah, I did mine own in June, took about 4 hours. Compared to the VW/Audi cars and a Mitsubishi Montero I had, this car's T-belt was a breeze!
A few pointers I learned a long the way:
Make sure you have all the parts/fluids/tools lined up beforehand.
An impact wrench to remove the crankshaft nut (balancer) is handy.
There is actually a service cover you open in fender liner to do this, kinda nifty.
Use jack stands, as the right front wheel will have to be off.
It will need GL5 coolant, not recomended to use the green stuff. Mine I bought at NAPA, in a gold container. I forget the brand, but it is GL5 rated, Dexcool is an absolute no-no.
Confer with the manual/dealership if you are not sure. You can get coolant from the stealership, but I have noticed that even they are not always sure. Trust, but verify, I always say.
You need to set the heat all the way up high (fan off high as well, turn it to defrost during the flush process) so as to also drain the heater core. That way you can drain the coolant out most of the way manually and flush it with a couple gallons of distilled water. I started the engine for a few minutes also, that helped clear out heater core.
Do this on a limited basis, as if you get it too hot with it low on coolant, you might damage something. Both the block and head are aluminum and you could warp them if they get too hot. However, 3 or 4 minutes of idling and running water through it are not going to hurt it, just don't bring it up to temp and keep a decent supply of water going through it. Be sure to capture the bulk of the old coolant for proper disposal.
You will loose some during the flush, but at least its not the entire volume of it. You will drain from the radiator plug and add water/coolant at the overflow bottle. Over the next week, check the coolant a few times, it will burp out the block and heads and drop what's in the overflow. After a week or so, it will level off. If not, something is leaking.
I flushed with distilled water as well as I could. You will never get all the old coolant out, but what is left is so diluted, it's not an issue. I was not so worried about mixing brands/types because of cooling ability as much as I worried about a reaction. Some coolants clump up and will clob if mixed with other types. That will plug smaller passages and that will reduce reduce cooling ability. I look at it as being similar to throwing a blood clot that causes a stroke.
Also, when remixing coolant, you want to again use distilled, not tap and certainly not well water. The $10 you spend on DW is worth knowing the minerals in the water aren't going to corrode or gum something up later on. The block will finish draining out as you do the belt. Once I was ready, I started refilling it by adding one overflow tank worth of coolant first, then did the 50/50 mix, just in case some straight H2O was still in the block.
You will need to support the passenger side of the engine, use a block of wood, don't place the jack right on the oil pan. The engine mount will have to come off to get the belt out, you don't want to 'drop' the engine in this process.
The plastic panels covering the T-Belt are a pain to get off, I ended up removing the top cover as well, so plan and doing the plugs while you are in there. Make sure you use dilectric grease liberally on the boots, etc. and anti sieze on the plugs' threads.
It is important you get the seat clean where the H2O pump sits. Mine came out and left a little bit of gasket on the block, at the top, where it is hard to see the thing. Not getting it all off will make for leaks later on, so do it right, new gasket and sealer is a biggie on that mating surface. A small mirror helps with the inspection. I used a razor to get the little bit off. The surface is aluminum so do be careful, scratching it too much might leads to leaks later on. Stuff a clean shop rag or paper towel in the coolant passage so as to not drop crud in the block. Do so when working on the T-stat as well, life will suck if you drop a screw into the block...
MAKE SURE you remember to take the rags out before bolting the new parts up.
The thermostat was a cinch. I also did the temp sensor as well as it had a code for it. There is a little breather hole on the thermostat proper. Make sure you align it up as the old one was when it came out. The Torx bolts on the T-Stat housing are tight, make sure you don't strip them. If you do, a regular head bolt will work, just looks funny.
As for the cams, they turned on me several times (spring tension), so I fashioned a tool to keep them from rotating. Once you flush it and kill the engine, you must turn it to set cylinder #1 at TDC. I used the timing marks on the cams, both of them have a mark that will line up with a corresponding mark on the cover. You will reset those covers a couple times in this process to verify alignment. Painting a mark on the head and the correct tooth helps you see it better. Doing so on the crank gear also helps.
FYI-NEVER! NEVER! rotate the engine while the belts are off. If the starter turns it over, you might bend or break a valve. If you do so by hand, you might just make contact inside the engine, so get it aligned properly before you start taking it apart. The engine is not to rotate again, except to fine tune the alignment of the T-Belt, until the T-belt tensioner is turned tight. Nothing should rotate more then one or two teeth on the belt.
Once the tensioner is set, before putting everything else back on, rotate the entire engine aroung by hand to make sure there are no stops or blocks. Make sure the tensioned is holding the belt tight as well, there should be no play or slipping of the teeth when its said and done. It should rotate freely with a ratchet on the crank bolt.
If not, you have something out of alignment. Odds are you won't have an issue, but better to make sure now then when you start it.
The tensioner is tricky. It has to be rotated to tighten and while you do that, the cams want to turn. I actually offset the belt a tooth, knowing that as I tightened the tensioner it would slip it a tooth the opposite direction. This is where help is good to have. One guy can hold a cam, if you don't block them, while the other rotates the tensioner.
I also used Loc-tite on the bolts, like the tensioner bolt, just to be safe. Use the medium strength, you might have to get back in there again some day.
So, those were things I learned. Sorry it is long and rambling, but as I am thinking about it, I remembered new issues I had.
HTH
Mark
A few pointers I learned a long the way:
Make sure you have all the parts/fluids/tools lined up beforehand.
An impact wrench to remove the crankshaft nut (balancer) is handy.
There is actually a service cover you open in fender liner to do this, kinda nifty.
Use jack stands, as the right front wheel will have to be off.
It will need GL5 coolant, not recomended to use the green stuff. Mine I bought at NAPA, in a gold container. I forget the brand, but it is GL5 rated, Dexcool is an absolute no-no.
Confer with the manual/dealership if you are not sure. You can get coolant from the stealership, but I have noticed that even they are not always sure. Trust, but verify, I always say.
You need to set the heat all the way up high (fan off high as well, turn it to defrost during the flush process) so as to also drain the heater core. That way you can drain the coolant out most of the way manually and flush it with a couple gallons of distilled water. I started the engine for a few minutes also, that helped clear out heater core.
Do this on a limited basis, as if you get it too hot with it low on coolant, you might damage something. Both the block and head are aluminum and you could warp them if they get too hot. However, 3 or 4 minutes of idling and running water through it are not going to hurt it, just don't bring it up to temp and keep a decent supply of water going through it. Be sure to capture the bulk of the old coolant for proper disposal.
You will loose some during the flush, but at least its not the entire volume of it. You will drain from the radiator plug and add water/coolant at the overflow bottle. Over the next week, check the coolant a few times, it will burp out the block and heads and drop what's in the overflow. After a week or so, it will level off. If not, something is leaking.
I flushed with distilled water as well as I could. You will never get all the old coolant out, but what is left is so diluted, it's not an issue. I was not so worried about mixing brands/types because of cooling ability as much as I worried about a reaction. Some coolants clump up and will clob if mixed with other types. That will plug smaller passages and that will reduce reduce cooling ability. I look at it as being similar to throwing a blood clot that causes a stroke.
Also, when remixing coolant, you want to again use distilled, not tap and certainly not well water. The $10 you spend on DW is worth knowing the minerals in the water aren't going to corrode or gum something up later on. The block will finish draining out as you do the belt. Once I was ready, I started refilling it by adding one overflow tank worth of coolant first, then did the 50/50 mix, just in case some straight H2O was still in the block.
You will need to support the passenger side of the engine, use a block of wood, don't place the jack right on the oil pan. The engine mount will have to come off to get the belt out, you don't want to 'drop' the engine in this process.
The plastic panels covering the T-Belt are a pain to get off, I ended up removing the top cover as well, so plan and doing the plugs while you are in there. Make sure you use dilectric grease liberally on the boots, etc. and anti sieze on the plugs' threads.
It is important you get the seat clean where the H2O pump sits. Mine came out and left a little bit of gasket on the block, at the top, where it is hard to see the thing. Not getting it all off will make for leaks later on, so do it right, new gasket and sealer is a biggie on that mating surface. A small mirror helps with the inspection. I used a razor to get the little bit off. The surface is aluminum so do be careful, scratching it too much might leads to leaks later on. Stuff a clean shop rag or paper towel in the coolant passage so as to not drop crud in the block. Do so when working on the T-stat as well, life will suck if you drop a screw into the block...
MAKE SURE you remember to take the rags out before bolting the new parts up.
The thermostat was a cinch. I also did the temp sensor as well as it had a code for it. There is a little breather hole on the thermostat proper. Make sure you align it up as the old one was when it came out. The Torx bolts on the T-Stat housing are tight, make sure you don't strip them. If you do, a regular head bolt will work, just looks funny.
As for the cams, they turned on me several times (spring tension), so I fashioned a tool to keep them from rotating. Once you flush it and kill the engine, you must turn it to set cylinder #1 at TDC. I used the timing marks on the cams, both of them have a mark that will line up with a corresponding mark on the cover. You will reset those covers a couple times in this process to verify alignment. Painting a mark on the head and the correct tooth helps you see it better. Doing so on the crank gear also helps.
FYI-NEVER! NEVER! rotate the engine while the belts are off. If the starter turns it over, you might bend or break a valve. If you do so by hand, you might just make contact inside the engine, so get it aligned properly before you start taking it apart. The engine is not to rotate again, except to fine tune the alignment of the T-Belt, until the T-belt tensioner is turned tight. Nothing should rotate more then one or two teeth on the belt.
Once the tensioner is set, before putting everything else back on, rotate the entire engine aroung by hand to make sure there are no stops or blocks. Make sure the tensioned is holding the belt tight as well, there should be no play or slipping of the teeth when its said and done. It should rotate freely with a ratchet on the crank bolt.
If not, you have something out of alignment. Odds are you won't have an issue, but better to make sure now then when you start it.
The tensioner is tricky. It has to be rotated to tighten and while you do that, the cams want to turn. I actually offset the belt a tooth, knowing that as I tightened the tensioner it would slip it a tooth the opposite direction. This is where help is good to have. One guy can hold a cam, if you don't block them, while the other rotates the tensioner.
I also used Loc-tite on the bolts, like the tensioner bolt, just to be safe. Use the medium strength, you might have to get back in there again some day.
So, those were things I learned. Sorry it is long and rambling, but as I am thinking about it, I remembered new issues I had.
HTH
Mark
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maddog123
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May 21, 2012 03:08 PM
