4E Timing Belt Change

How change timing belt on the 4E engines.

This is quite an easy job, but for 99% of people, the engine is still in the engine bay so just takes time getting to the belt which is why it can be expensive ifyou get a mechanic to do it. Since my engine is out of the car, this will not cover removal of alternator/water pump/powersteering belts etc.

Firstly, remove those belts and then the top plastic timing belt cover.

Turn the engine (by hand or using the crankshaft pulley bolt), rotate the engine (while looking at the side of the engine, that's clockwise) until the hole in the camshaft sprocket marked "4E" lines up with the dot in the camshaft cap. Line up the two holes circled in the pic below.

The triangular timing notch on the crankshaft pulley should line up with the '0' timing mark on the lower plastic timing belt cover. This will be set the engine to Top Dead Centre (TDC) for Piston 1.

Undo and remove the crankshaft pulley bolt by using a rattle gun, or a locking tool that holds the pulley in place (bolts in locking tool insert into holes in the pulley). Then use a puller (as seen in the bottom-end rebuild post http://mearcatmini.blogspot.com/2010/07/tutorial-bottom-end-bearings-main-seals.html) ) to remove the pulley.

Remove the tensioner pulley spring with some pliers. If you have a timing belt kit (like mine in pic below) that includes the tensioner pulley & idler pulley, remove and discard the old pulleys. Remove and discard the old timing belt too.

To the new timing belt, ensure the triangle mark in the crankshaft sprocket lines up with the triangle cast into the oil pump.

...and that the camshaft sprocket hole lines up with the dot in the camshaft cap (as above)

Bolt on the new idler pulley & tenionser pulley, but don't hook up the spring.

Install the timing belt, ensuring the direction arrows are correct, and reinstall the spring.

Once the belt is on and the two timing marks line up, give the crankshaft two full 360 degree turns (so the camshaft sprocket returns to the same position) to make sure any slack the belt has been removed. Any slack will put out the timing when the engine starts. My timing marks in the crankshaft pulley were not aligned after turning the engine (see pic below where notch on crankshaft pulley does not match up oil pump "triangle"), so I removed the tensioner spring, retensioned, turned engine another two times and it was okay after that.

Fitted belt. After this, tefit timing belt covers, crankshaft pulleys and any belts. Remember to properly tension the ancillery belts too.