Heads Up for Timing Belt/Water Pump Service

[VR4 WRC]

Hey Everyone,

Just thought that i would give you some advice if you want to replace the Timing Belt and or Water Pump..... Pay someone else to do it for you.

Mitsubishi went all out with this setup.

On the 4G63 engine in my old 92 Galant VR4 the Harmonic Balancer was easy to remove, 4 bolts and piece of piss. THe Legnum was nice and tight. Pry bar and a rubber mallet to get it off.

The best part was the water pump. To get the last bolt out which is behind the engine mount, you have to unbolt the 3 bolts for the Power Steering pump, the 4 bolts for the Air con compressor, then the 6 bolts for the mount. Take off the pump, put the new one back in then bolt it all back together.

Least the engine runs fine, so i know that i did it correct. All the timing marks lined up fine.

Oh yeah, it is handy to have the firewall side cam gears locked together so they don't move, but I got away with holding them steady with 2 spanner's in one hand then threading the belt around with the other.

Cheers

Scott

 

[Guest]

can you not use a harmonic balancer puller to remove it?
you can buy a set of plastic wedges that lock the front and rear cams together too.

 

[minik1971]

Hey I helped the guy I bought my Legnum off change the timing belt. He was a mechanic I was simply an extra pair of hands. Not sure about the water pump replacement as we didn't do that but the timing belt wasn't too much of a problem. There is a bit of dismantling to do prior to gaining access to the timing belt, turbo outlet pipes, engine mount, plastic covers, overflow bottle. Not as bad as it looks. Take right hand wheel off and put on a jack stand and remove one of the guard liners.

 

[mookers]

"Harmonic Balancer"... love the name. Sounds like an aftermarket snake-oil fuel catalyst type thing lol

 

[Guest]

Hey I helped the guy I bought my Legnum off change the timing belt. He was a mechanic I was simply an extra pair of hands. Not sure about the water pump replacement as we didn't do that but the timing belt wasn't too much of a problem. There is a bit of dismantling to do prior to gaining access to the timing belt, turbo outlet pipes, engine mount, plastic covers, overflow bottle. Not as bad as it looks. Take right hand wheel off and put on a jack stand and remove one of the guard liners.

The waterpump should really be replaced at the same time. The belt on my car was replaced before I bought it but the pump wasn't. Therefore after only 10k miles I had to replace all the pulleys belt and tensioner just to be on the safe side. It is a bit more work but a worthwhile investment.

 

[VR4 WRC]

Yeah, i know about removing the Driver's wheel, splash guards, pipes and all that. I am just letting other people know about the extra little things if they aren't expecting it.

Mitchy, i looked into the Harmonic Balancer Pulley. The pulley has 2 blind holes that are ~10mm and i had bought a 1/2" Tap to create some thread in them in order to use a pulley remover but the one's that i found couldn't handle a 1/2" thick bolt. So i just took my time carefully removing the pulley. I thought about a Pulley Puller but didn't want to risk it as the pulley is cast.

Cheers

Scott

 

[mookers]

"Harmonic Balancer Pulley Puller"... lol this just gets more and more surreal

 

[SiliconAngel]

This is the one thing I've held off doing until I get that damned workshop manual... Makes sense to do it while half the car's already disassembled.

It would have been nice if you'd taken some photos and done a write-up Scott

 

[VR4 WRC]

I used the write up that i got from CLubVR4 from the UK. I was going to take photo's but didn't want to cover the digi camera in grubby thumb prints.

If you are confident with spanner's it isn't hard to do.

Scott

 

[matchtheclown]

Well i have my 100k parts + water pump so I'll be doing this shortly.

I'll take some photo's / video's and maybe make a new thread. I'll definitely use your tips though scott.

 

[Baba Galant]

Well i have my 100k parts + water pump so I'll be doing this shortly.

I'll take some photo's / video's and maybe make a new thread. I'll definitely use your tips though scott.

Did my cambelt and water pump.last weekend, only hit 93k but got that itch, you know the one!
A few things that really helped.me:
Small clear containers from a $2 shop, masking tape and a texta. Invaluable, label.the different bolts etc as the come off and then seal the container labelling it say "front timing cover"
Tape as many bolts to components as you can, power steering bkt ended up with 5 bolts on it, Alt tensioner about 6. Tape them on so there's no guess work later.
Drain the radiator via the.lower drain plug, when you get the water pump.loose, crack it slowly, we used a old paint roller tray and letting trickle empty.
Have a bag of cheap rags next to you for wiping and drying.
When disconnecting the aluminium power steering line have a few rags ontop of the a/c compressor, save moping up.
When you remove the dip stick tube plug the hole up asap to keep water or dirt out.
Crank pulley! What a piece of crap! Had a tool made up with 10mm posts to lock it up, yeah nah, cracked the tiny wall.around the hole.
Used the accessories belt to.lock the pulley up to the lower control arm and cracked the 22mm bolt easily!
Have some permatex Ultra grey ready to build up sealing gaskets for the timing covers, chances are yours will be broken.and brittle, clean the channels out early and.load them up so the grey silicone has set prior to installing.
The Ultra grey is also specified for the pump housing gasket, good stuff.
Loosen all four a/c compressor bolts to slide it forward towards the radiator If needed, no need to remove the bolts.
My new belt had no alignment marks on it so we marked.it up against the sprocket marks as we went to check for alignment.
Point of interest, once you have set all 5 timing marks, dont expect them to coincide again with the marks on the belt. All you need to verify are the sprockets and lower down the crank position, had a BB of a time trying to convince myself it was fine.
Make sure you have a deep 14mm socket for the engine mount nuts.
Setting the tensioner pulley was a pain as trying to torque it up it tended to rotate which would have thrown out the auto tensioner usability. When torqued up we had no gap between the pulley body and the auto tensioner actuator, when you release the pin there should be about 4.5mm between the 2 bodies, otherwise over time as the belt stretches the actuator will run out of travel.
Probably missed something to note here but if I can do it anyone can.

 

[Baba Galant]

Did my cambelt and water pump.last weekend, only hit 93k but got that itch, you know the one!
A few things that really helped.me:
Small clear containers from a $2 shop, masking tape and a texta. Invaluable, label.the different bolts etc as the come off and then seal the container labelling it say "front timing cover"
Tape as many bolts to components as you can, power steering bkt ended up with 5 bolts on it, Alt tensioner about 6. Tape them on so there's no guess work later.
Drain the radiator via the.lower drain plug, when you get the water pump.loose, crack it slowly, we used a old paint roller tray and letting trickle empty.
Have a bag of cheap rags next to you for wiping and drying.
When disconnecting the aluminium power steering line have a few rags ontop of the a/c compressor, save moping up.
When you remove the dip stick tube plug the hole up asap to keep water or dirt out.
Crank pulley! What a piece of crap! Had a tool made up with 10mm posts to lock it up, yeah nah, cracked the tiny wall.around the hole.
Used the accessories belt to.lock the pulley up to the lower control arm and cracked the 22mm bolt easily!
Have some permatex Ultra grey ready to build up sealing gaskets for the timing covers, chances are yours will be broken.and brittle, clean the channels out early and.load them up so the grey silicone has set prior to installing.
The Ultra grey is also specified for the pump housing gasket, good stuff.
Loosen all four a/c compressor bolts to slide it forward towards the radiator If needed, no need to remove the bolts.
My new belt had no alignment marks on it so we marked.it up against the sprocket marks as we went to check for alignment.
Point of interest, once you have set all 5 timing marks, dont expect them to coincide again with the marks on the belt. All you need to verify are the sprockets and lower down the crank position, had a BB of a time trying to convince myself it was fine.
Make sure you have a deep 14mm socket for the engine mount nuts.
Setting the tensioner pulley was a pain as trying to torque it up it tended to rotate which would have thrown out the auto tensioner usability. When torqued up we had no gap between the pulley body and the auto tensioner actuator, when you release the pin there should be about 4.5mm between the 2 bodies, otherwise over time as the belt stretches the actuator will run out of travel.
Probably missed something to note here but if I can do it anyone can.

In removing the engine.mount, you will need to Jack up the motor slightly, ran out of patience looking for a better spot so used a wide plank of hardwood under the oil sump.
The lift is minimal, just have your jack sideways so that your area below the belts is clear.

 

[Size1]

Bottle jacks are good for this if you have them. Not on the sump though.

 

[Baba Galant]

Ah yes! Got one floating around, great.idea!