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Timing belt adjustment through plastic covers?


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Did a water pump over the weekend and ended up messing with the timing belt tensioner on drivers side and now its out of time, wont start.

Can I set the timing belt correctly by removing the plastic covers or do I need to strip down front of motor to adjust the belt/timing? Any tips/tricks to getting this done?

 

92 Loyale EA82 SPFI motor 

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The tip and trick to this is omiting the timing belt covers altogether. There is nothing to gain by keeping them, but you lose all that time and labor for something that would take 5 minutes without the covers.

 

However, you can bust out the center cover without removing the crank pulley.

 

It may be possible to adjust a cam with the covers on, once removing the outer, you will want toe way to maneuver the tensioner up and done while turning the bolts through the access plug.

 

The belts are more likely to break on their own than getting thrown off by debris hitting the naked belt. Being a non interference engine, one should not be afraid of belt breakage, and witht he covers off, a broken belt can be quickly repaired with a spare form the trunk. What i mean is taking a 2 hour job and turning it into a 20 minute job with no covers.

 

EA82 timing belt is something that can be repaired off the side of the road with nothing more than a 7/8 box end wrench and a 12mm deep socket 3/8 drive

 

Belt covers are a preference, it's up to you if you want to do all the labor to keep them.

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... taking a 2 hour job and turning it into a 20 minute job with no covers...

 

Belt covers are a preference, it's up to you if you want to do all the labor to keep them.

 

I Agree, Absolutely.

 

I run my EA82 Coverless since years ago, and it is a Weekend Offroader.

 

Seems like Coverless, the Belts runs cleaner.

 

Kind Regards.

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thanks for the replies. Plastic covers are coming off for good and heading to a parts pile then I better address the leaky power steering pump cause that stuffs all over the front of the covers.

So is it possible to leave the passenger side belt alone since it was set properly before and then just get the drivers side belt to the sweet spot after I loosen the tensioner?

I've watched Miles' video and its great help. I'm trying to stall the whole timing belt kit replacement for now if its significantly easier just to adjust the drivers side. belts and tensioners did appear to be ok but its a new car to me with last documented timing belt being done 110,000 miles ago and in 1997.  

 

Rrgr,

We spun all our stripped cover bolts out with air ratchet that didn't come willingly. Theres a fitting inside the plastic that's essentially 'stripped' in the plastic so the speed of the air ratchet kind of melts it out. Zip ties after that.

d

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You can loosen the tensioner bolts.....and let the spring take up the belt slack.....then crank the bolts back down.  That's all you can do through the access holes....helps to do every other oil change just to keep belts tight......

 

But to actually reposition the belt timing......you will need to take off  the covers.

 

I personally wouldn't run no covers unless its strictly an on road car.

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Now my question is assuming I can access the drivers side belt to get it positioned correctly, will I need to  be adjusting the passenger side belt at all if its still in its original position on crank and cam?

 

 Hi,

  you can leave the pass side alone, the driver side is the one in rear of the pair but is on it's own cog on the crank.  just be sure that you have the flywheel marks on the pointer, the cam gear aligned right, and the other one is opposite (down ) in this case.  IMPORTANT: you must have the pass side aligned straight down (opposite the driver side)  when you set this or your belts will still be off time,, best to do a rotation and double check both when you get done. 

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Won't keep out watery mudhole debris.....not unless you turn it into a boat.

 

I'd still rather not have the covers in that case.. If your crawling through a mudhole, the covers would definitely hold in gunk/dirty water. Easier to pressure wash and inspect the belts coverless.

 

Flying rocks jamming between the belt and a pulley is what will cause a instant belt break.

Edited by Ibreakstuff
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I'd still rather not have the covers in that case.. If your crawling through a mudhole, the covers would definitely hold in gunk/dirty water.

 

 

If you are "crawling" though a mudhole deep enough for your belts to submerged you WILL skip teeth quickly......at least in the clay soup we have up here you will.  Every time......If you are lucky you might make it out of the hole running on 2 cyl or half advanced or retarded (correct use of word)

 

New belts, tensioners and seal the timing covers well each time won't be any mud in there.....inspect them once in while in the nice warm shop with air tools. 

 

Not covered in mud......after lookin like a noob getting swamped out and pulled out or worse trying to reset the timing with the engine still half underwater ............NO THANKS.   I can't see taking that risk all for saving a few minutes with a 10mm on a 1/4 drive ratchet.  And if you wheel alot and break belts they add up quick $ they are cheap but not free......I'd rather buy gas.

 

Covers FTW every time unless it's a grocery getter flatlander car.  And even in that case unless you are so broke running old belts crap expetin them to break or somethin.

 

My $.02

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 I'm assuming when I loosened the driver side belt tensioner through the adjustment ports and it came completely off, the belt moved a couple teeth on the cam gear. That's why I'd rather leave the other side alone and just set up that one belt I screwed up.  

 

Thanks for all your responses, I think I got this covered now.

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yes, you can leave the passenger belt alone. but if you need to remove the driver side belt entirely, the passenger side belt will have to come off.

 

To get the timing marks right, just start the belt procedure from step one align the belt, and then you are done. Just make sure the passenger side cam is pointing down when you line up the flywheel mark.

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The other trick we do is to use cable ties instead of the bolts to tie the covers together.

 

There are a few bolts on the centre cover that screw into metal, the rest are into inserts mounted in the plastic.

Use the cable ties for those which are on the inserts.

 

Better than bolts & better than leaving them off

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Sounds like the quickest way to destroy T belts particularly off road.

Only take/s a stick or a stone and belt/s will be history and you'll be stranded if no spare / tools.

Better to have covers/protection  plus drain holes if off road with  water plus mud.

If belts tensioned correctly when fitted / covered / protected   they shouldn't need retensioning

unless need to be replaced  (they're relatively cheap anyway in the greater scheme of things - inconvenience etc)

Edited by subnz
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Haven't had any issues off road running coverless.  The only issue I had was a branch coming up from the bottom of the engine compartment, and just missing the t-belst, rad, and fanbelt, but that was from pulling logs out of the woods and making a path with the car.

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