Hi Gav, great video thanks. I've just finished doing the timing belt, pulleys, hydraulic tensioner and water pump on my 2003 Magna TL. The car has only 84k on the clock, but the manual says to replace the belt every 100k or 5 years, so I figured I should do it after 20 years! As it was, the old timing belt looked as good as new. The job took 1.5 days on the weekend, taking it slow. A long 17mm socket is almost a necessity for removing two nuts on the engine mount. A rattle gun made short work of the crankshaft bolt. Fortunately the crankshaft pulley just slipped off. Just for interest the belt has 195 teeth on an 8mm pitch, and there are 63 teeth from one camshaft to the other, and 66 teeth from each camshaft to the right edge of the keyway slot when at TDC. I would recommend marking the positions of the camshafts and crankshaft on the old belt before removal (a dot of nail polish works well). You can transfer these marks to the new belt, and it speeds installation. Also, I made the special tool for setting the tension pulley rotation - this is worth doing since it allows you to set the belt tension perfectly so that the hydraulic tensioner moves out by the right amount. If you have the belt too lose, the tensioner will come out too far - possibly leading to a loose belt down the track - and it will be difficult to push back. For reference, the locating holes in the tensioner pulley are 3.35mm in diameter and 14.00mm apart and 9.32mm from the centre; you apply the torque 18mm from the centre; a 3kg spring balance and a spanner will make a suitable torque wrench. Perhaps this is overkill, but it made the tension adjustment very quick and accurate. Rather than making the tool, you can buy it, or you might be able to make do with a pair of circlip pliers.
Yeah Cheers for posting this. I've never done this on any of my 4 AWD Magnas before (2 going, 2 parts cars) and I've been putting it off. After doing it I remember why I stopped being a mechanic. So, I'm a qualified mechanic turned truckie and I just did this in my holidays. I've been putting it off on my main car for 2 years. re the belt tension I found this, not that it matters on a 3yo vid LOL: If you turn the tensioner pulley to spec then the spring tensioner clearance is way greater than the upper spec in the book - Standard value: 4.8 - 6.0 mm. Last night I had a root around for a couple of hours trying to work out what I was going to do and came up with, it's better to have the spring tensioner within spec since the belt is going to stretch, and overtighten the belt a bit now. So I set it up so a 5.5mm drill shank goes in the gap. Thing is, you take the pin out of the tensioner the holes stay aligned on mine at 5.5mm rather than it popping out. I had to take the tensioner of and push it back in about 5x before I worked out the best plan of attack. I just couldn't get it below 8 or 9mm with the pulley adjusted per the book spec. I reason (and we'll find out I suppose) that the tensioner rattle in the morning will hopefully stop for the full life of the belt now. The belt isn't drastically overtight and the tensioner is new Dayco. Also, re all the timing dots not lining up with the rocker covers perfectly. Rocker covers move on the screws a bit, putting the marks off. After tensioning the belt last night I left the it overnight and came back this arvo to do some more reassembly and the belt stretched overnight and the cam pulleys were fully a half a tooth better. Last night with the crank 100% aligned, the back cam slightly advanced and the front cam 3/4 of a tooth advanced. I was wondering what to do but today all seems good - they're all OK give or take. Cheers man!
Well done, well done. Topics covered in this presentation, including enging components and comments regarding,Timing Belt removal and installation are. most welcoming engineered video. Frank 😅😊😅
hardest part of this job is that engine bracket !! Rest of the job is not hard after you do it couple of times :)...Thank you for the videos, they are informative and high quality.
You got that right about the bracket. Without that it would take a lot less time and you could keep more skin on your knuckles;). Thanks for the comment.
@@wellthatsawkward9139 Successful! Was very tricky without any special tools to lock cams and they slipped quite a few times when putting the new belt which was stressful. And no garage, so rain delayed it. But it’s all done and still failed a rwc by miles 🤷♂️
Dear Gav Managed to finish job, on start up noisy lifter but that settled down. Sincere thanks for your help. On hind sight this job was too big for me. Will NEVER do again, old belt after 104k looked brand new same as water pump. Thank God Water pump didnt leak.Will leave it alone for another 13 years, if 380 & myself are still around. As you said in your video you learn alot about your car. Im used to working on bicycles and my old Sigma, plenty of space. With the money saved will buy a set of super soft Formula 1 tyres. I still think 380 is best car made in Oz but not best to work on, best wishes & thanks again.
Thanks, Gav. Just did the 3 rear plugs, fixed the misfire. Might have a go at the timing belt as I'm not sure when it was last done, 2003 VR wagon. 240k.
Woops....best way to just...break your engine! To be sure i recommend to paint your mark on the timing belt as well and count the teeth in order to paint the same marks on the new belt. Like this you could be sure to put your belt in the good way. And replace the water pump as well even if its not leaking because it will do and its the same work to replace it. So take advantage of changing the timing belt and replace the water pump and you will have a brand new car!
Dear Gav Watched the video X3 Only one question. Do you just tighten the harmony balancer bolt.? No need to use starter motor to tighten it, Does it just tighten up without the engine turning ? All the rest i understand. This will be my biggest job on a car, Thanks
To tighten the harmonic balancer bolt back up I use the same breaker bar but use a heavy hammer 2lb hammer to complete the tightening. Probably won't find that instruction in the manual and probably not the best instruction, but it works if you don't have a impact wrench like a mechanic does. To make sure it doesn't loosen I also use thread lock like loctight.
Hi Gav thanks for your video , it sure helped before i attempted to change my belt and water pump on my KJ verada . All went well car is running smoothly and quiet with the new belt and pump however like you decided on re using the old hydraulic tensioner . My question is if the tensioner does eventually fail does the belt become extremely loose possibly causing it to jump teeth and potentially destroying the valves and pistons or does the pre tension you do with the tensioner pulley (2 pin holes with the special tool) keep just enough tension on the belt to prevent it from jumping teeth albeit that the belt will be loose now and not to factory spec ? I'm guessing the belt would be flapping around and hitting the timing covers but I'm not worried about that as i could install a new tensioner then but destroying the engine potentially from a faulty hydraulic tensioner freaks me out. What are your thoughts ? Thanks mate
That's right, when I inspected they all looked good. I have a tendency to not disturb them if they are OK most of the time. On my 02 limited ed I had the heads off and changed them then.
Mate, gotta say thankyou. Did the belt on my 380, was loose and very noisy, flapping around inside the case, still amazed it didnt come off. Watched your video, then all i did was remember what order you did it in and took my time. Everything went to plan and its running sweet. Again thanks. Took a quick vid of how loose it was before i changed it - th-cam.com/video/qjsOFR67a9w/w-d-xo.html
Dear Gav, just one more thing installed new belt w pump ,pulleys and tensioner, all good but ive spent 9 hrs trying to install engine mount and its still on garage floor . there must me a way? should i jack motor up. im at my wits end with this job. have taken alternator & A bracket off. Any advice would save me from suicide. After this will no longer change anything again on car, not even radio station. Sincere thanks.
Yeah they are painful. I jacked the motor up as far as I could for some and then dropped it as far as possible for the rest. Both up and down it ends up pretty hard against the three engine mounts. You need to finger tighten all the bolts to get them all started before tightening them all up i.e. Don't tighten one and then try the rest as you won't be able to start the rest. Oh and I just use the car jack with a small piece of wood under the sump. The piece of wood tho protect the sump from the jack. Good luck.
Yeah, you have to raise the engine to get the top ones and then drop it right down to get the bottom ones. That mount just about takes the same amount of time as the rest of the job.
Hi Gav, great video thanks. I've just finished doing the timing belt, pulleys, hydraulic tensioner and water pump on my 2003 Magna TL. The car has only 84k on the clock, but the manual says to replace the belt every 100k or 5 years, so I figured I should do it after 20 years! As it was, the old timing belt looked as good as new. The job took 1.5 days on the weekend, taking it slow. A long 17mm socket is almost a necessity for removing two nuts on the engine mount. A rattle gun made short work of the crankshaft bolt. Fortunately the crankshaft pulley just slipped off.
Just for interest the belt has 195 teeth on an 8mm pitch, and there are 63 teeth from one camshaft to the other, and 66 teeth from each camshaft to the right edge of the keyway slot when at TDC.
I would recommend marking the positions of the camshafts and crankshaft on the old belt before removal (a dot of nail polish works well). You can transfer these marks to the new belt, and it speeds installation.
Also, I made the special tool for setting the tension pulley rotation - this is worth doing since it allows you to set the belt tension perfectly so that the hydraulic tensioner moves out by the right amount. If you have the belt too lose, the tensioner will come out too far - possibly leading to a loose belt down the track - and it will be difficult to push back. For reference, the locating holes in the tensioner pulley are 3.35mm in diameter and 14.00mm apart and 9.32mm from the centre; you apply the torque 18mm from the centre; a 3kg spring balance and a spanner will make a suitable torque wrench. Perhaps this is overkill, but it made the tension adjustment very quick and accurate. Rather than making the tool, you can buy it, or you might be able to make do with a pair of circlip pliers.
Yeah Cheers for posting this. I've never done this on any of my 4 AWD Magnas before (2 going, 2 parts cars) and I've been putting it off. After doing it I remember why I stopped being a mechanic.
So, I'm a qualified mechanic turned truckie and I just did this in my holidays. I've been putting it off on my main car for 2 years.
re the belt tension I found this, not that it matters on a 3yo vid LOL:
If you turn the tensioner pulley to spec then the spring tensioner clearance is way greater than the upper spec in the book - Standard value: 4.8 - 6.0 mm.
Last night I had a root around for a couple of hours trying to work out what I was going to do and came up with, it's better to have the spring tensioner within spec since the belt is going to stretch, and overtighten the belt a bit now. So I set it up so a 5.5mm drill shank goes in the gap.
Thing is, you take the pin out of the tensioner the holes stay aligned on mine at 5.5mm rather than it popping out. I had to take the tensioner of and push it back in about 5x before I worked out the best plan of attack. I just couldn't get it below 8 or 9mm with the pulley adjusted per the book spec.
I reason (and we'll find out I suppose) that the tensioner rattle in the morning will hopefully stop for the full life of the belt now.
The belt isn't drastically overtight and the tensioner is new Dayco.
Also, re all the timing dots not lining up with the rocker covers perfectly. Rocker covers move on the screws a bit, putting the marks off.
After tensioning the belt last night I left the it overnight and came back this arvo to do some more reassembly and the belt stretched overnight and the cam pulleys were fully a half a tooth better. Last night with the crank 100% aligned, the back cam slightly advanced and the front cam 3/4 of a tooth advanced. I was wondering what to do but today all seems good - they're all OK give or take.
Cheers man!
Thanks for making this video.
Very much appreciated! 👍👍👍
Well done, well done.
Topics covered in this presentation, including enging components and comments regarding,Timing Belt removal and installation are. most welcoming engineered video.
Frank 😅😊😅
hardest part of this job is that engine bracket !! Rest of the job is not hard after you do it couple of times :)...Thank you for the videos, they are informative and high quality.
You got that right about the bracket. Without that it would take a lot less time and you could keep more skin on your knuckles;). Thanks for the comment.
Just what I need, hoping to try this as a first ever timing belt. Wish me luck
how’d you go?
@@wellthatsawkward9139 Successful! Was very tricky without any special tools to lock cams and they slipped quite a few times when putting the new belt which was stressful. And no garage, so rain delayed it. But it’s all done and still failed a rwc by miles 🤷♂️
Dear Gav Managed to finish job, on start up noisy lifter but that settled down. Sincere thanks for your help. On hind sight this job was too big for me. Will NEVER do again, old belt after 104k looked brand new same as water pump. Thank God Water pump didnt leak.Will leave it alone for another 13 years, if 380 & myself are still around. As you said in your video you learn alot about your car. Im used to working on bicycles and my old Sigma, plenty of space. With the money saved will buy a set of super soft Formula 1 tyres. I still think 380 is best car made in Oz but not best to work on, best wishes & thanks again.
Thanks, Gav. Just did the 3 rear plugs, fixed the misfire. Might have a go at the timing belt as I'm not sure when it was last done, 2003 VR wagon. 240k.
i do the same on commodores, just remove the fuel pump fuse or ecu fuse, then crank it over before fitting the bar, then it'l only crank and not fire.
Its so obnoxious Mitsubishi side mounted the engines in the Magnas! Turns a timing belt replacement into a nightmare!
Thanks very much , very helpful.
Woops....best way to just...break your engine! To be sure i recommend to paint your mark on the timing belt as well and count the teeth in order to paint the same marks on the new belt. Like this you could be sure to put your belt in the good way. And replace the water pump as well even if its not leaking because it will do and its the same work to replace it. So take advantage of changing the timing belt and replace the water pump and you will have a brand new car!
thanks man once again
Great work Gav!
Cheers mate
Dear Gav Watched the video X3 Only one question. Do you just tighten the harmony balancer bolt.? No need to use starter motor to tighten it, Does it just tighten up without the engine turning ? All the rest i understand. This will be my biggest job on a car, Thanks
To tighten the harmonic balancer bolt back up I use the same breaker bar but use a heavy hammer 2lb hammer to complete the tightening. Probably won't find that instruction in the manual and probably not the best instruction, but it works if you don't have a impact wrench like a mechanic does.
To make sure it doesn't loosen I also use thread lock like loctight.
Top job Gavin
Hi Gav thanks for your video , it sure helped before i attempted to change my belt and water pump on my KJ verada . All went well car is running smoothly and quiet with the new belt and pump however like you decided on re using the old hydraulic tensioner . My question is if the tensioner does eventually fail does the belt become extremely loose possibly causing it to jump teeth and potentially destroying the valves and pistons or does the pre tension you do with the tensioner pulley (2 pin holes with the special tool) keep just enough tension on the belt to prevent it from jumping teeth albeit that the belt will be loose now and not to factory spec ? I'm guessing the belt would be flapping around and hitting the timing covers but I'm not worried about that as i could install a new tensioner then but destroying the engine potentially from a faulty hydraulic tensioner freaks me out. What are your thoughts ? Thanks mate
you didn't replace the cam and crank seals
That's right, when I inspected they all looked good. I have a tendency to not disturb them if they are OK most of the time. On my 02 limited ed I had the heads off and changed them then.
Mate, gotta say thankyou. Did the belt on my 380, was loose and very noisy, flapping around inside the case, still amazed it didnt come off. Watched your video, then all i did was remember what order you did it in and took my time. Everything went to plan and its running sweet. Again thanks. Took a quick vid of how loose it was before i changed it - th-cam.com/video/qjsOFR67a9w/w-d-xo.html
Jesus that was loose!
Thanks for taking the time to film this👍🏻
Thanks mate
Think I’ll get the mechanic to do it
What is the torque setting on the tensioner pulley lock bolt? 35 nm 48 nm?
How many klm to change Timeing Belt on magna v6
How did you go with your valve stem seals?
Dear Gav, just one more thing installed new belt w pump ,pulleys and tensioner, all good but ive spent 9 hrs trying to install engine mount and its still on garage floor . there must me a way? should i jack motor up. im at my wits end with this job. have taken alternator & A bracket off. Any advice would save me from suicide. After this will no longer change anything again on car, not even radio station. Sincere thanks.
Yeah they are painful. I jacked the motor up as far as I could for some and then dropped it as far as possible for the rest. Both up and down it ends up pretty hard against the three engine mounts. You need to finger tighten all the bolts to get them all started before tightening them all up i.e. Don't tighten one and then try the rest as you won't be able to start the rest. Oh and I just use the car jack with a small piece of wood under the sump. The piece of wood tho protect the sump from the jack. Good luck.
I'm just doing this again and I'm F#@ed how to get the engine mount bracket back in with all the long bolts
Yeah, you have to raise the engine to get the top ones and then drop it right down to get the bottom ones. That mount just about takes the same amount of time as the rest of the job.
@@gavsshed_7393 cheers thanks so much for that, I couldn't remember how I got it to fit, I must be getting old and forgetful
@@gavsshed_7393 how did you go with your valve stem seals? what special tools do you need?
FWD Yuk lol
Still great cars though Nige. I'll have to get those injectors done one of these days