1999 Camry crankshaft pulley bolt

I'm not sure, but I have a bunch of mechanical and electrical diagrams/instructions from a 1997 Camry that I don't own anymore. I can e-mail them to you if you wish and you can sift through them.

Yes please! m r d a r r e t t [at-symbol-thingie] g m a i l . c o m

In the meantime I figured it is 19mm, but rather than go to the store, I found that 19mm is 0.748 inches, close enough to 3/4 inch... which I happen to have!

that 19mm is 0.748 inches, close enough to 3/4 inch... which I happen to have!

Assuming it's a 4 cylinder, Looks like this guy used a 3/4 inch SAE socket.. probably a 6 point socket, so a 19 mm. If you're changing the timing belt there are some good videos on youtube also.

I found that 19mm is 0.748 inches, close enough to 3/4 inch... which I happ en to have!

Thanks! I'm on Day 4 of the Water Pump/Timing Belt adventure. Water pump failed catastrophically, and I think the timing is off too since the car wo n't start.

I just noticed something. My fuel gauge dropped from 3/4 to 2/3. I didn't disconnect the battery because I really need to listen to music while work ing on the car, and I noticed this morning I had left the keys on ON instea d of ACC (to power the windows, and forgot about that). Would the fuel pum p have continued to pump fuel into the cylinders? Would it evaporate on it s own or...?

The fuel pump wouldn't run except for a couple of seconds when you fist turn the key to on, it doesn't start running again until the engine starts. The fuel gauge on my 98 Toyota... takes forever to get down to a half tank then moves down much faster... in other words they aren't that accurate. No way the fuel will evaporated if the vapor control emission system is still original and working properly. Make sure you get the crankshaft bolt back on TIGHT but don't break it ... if you have anyway of holding it from turning I'd sure use a torque wrench on it. When I did mine the harmonic balancer came off without having to use a puller which surprised me. ... The Y bracket, it helps a lot if you have a helper to hold it while you get the first couple of bolts started and don't forget the hidden 12mm bolt. I'd suggest reading some of the Toyota forums if you haven't and watch the youtube videos. The timing belt must be exactly right when you put it all back together. If the engine over heated ... not good, you might want to go ahead and try retorquing the head bolts to try and prevent a blown head gasket.

Oh ok, great!

I figured it's because the fuel tank is kind of cone-shaped...

Same here! Didn't need to use the harmonic balancer I'd borrowed from autozone.

Doing that now.

I got everything taken apart... replaced the (destroyed) water pump, even the tensioners. Using the old timing belt to get everything into position, then I'll use the new one (no point stressing out the new one prematurely).

I've got a couple of problems:

1. I'm not quite sure what mark to align to on the CAMshaft. There's a circle impression, and a slit about 45 degrees from that circle.

1. I turn and turn, but get no compression at all from my compression gauge! Then again, it looks like the borrowed gauge has a bad O-ring. That needs to be replaced, huh.

2b. It *is* a non-interference engine (5S-FE, 4-cylinder 1999 Camry), right?

I know! My worry is confusing TDC with Exhaust stroke (180 degrees out of phase). Oh, and figuring out where exactly that camshaft mark is...

It didn't... car made it maybe one block before making REALLY loud noises...stopped the car, noticed a puddle on the ground, and turned right back home before the T-stat even knew the car was warm...

Thanks!

Michael

Hmm, I took the timing belt off again, and aligned the CAMshaft to the 11:30pm position (it snapped into place; it was as though the lobes were happy to be at one of four positions, and this was one of them). It was the SLIT mark (not the circle).

Also read somewhere online that it's supposed to be the 11:30pm position, not the 9:30pm position...

Going to get that compression tester O-ring swapped out...

yes the engine is noninterference. you can put the plugs back in the harmonic balancer back on and run it for a little bit. Then remove the crankshaft pulley and put it all back together just to test it a bit. This has a good explanation of where the timing marks are and how they must be when the belt is on.

from the article .. With moderate tension in the timing belt between the camshaft and the water pump, align ?V? notch in camshaft seal housing with hole in camshaft pulley. If you look at the right hand side of the mirror, near the edge, in the above photo, you will see a round indentation. That is NOT the mark you want. The one you want is the "V" shaped notch.

aft seal

Cool! Thanks for the link too!

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shaft seal

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I got it done, but then after putting the new belt on, the belt slipped a f ew teeth when rotating the crankshaft (AAAAHHHH!!!!)

Then I found this. Apparently the tensioner has to be pulled upwards with great force to provide tension on the timing belt, then that 14mm bolt torq ued to 31 ft-lb.

$20belt$20loose$20tensioner/alt.autos.toyota.camry/hqfI6LWchqE/Bde8 EheZ08sJ

Tried it (not with a hook, but just pulling up on the roller with my finger s), but now I'm off by about 5 degrees AFTER top dead center. GRR.

Gotta redo it...

Michael

...

h great force to provide tension on the timing belt, then that 14mm bolt to rqued to 31 ft-lb.

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ers), but now I'm off by about 5 degrees AFTER top dead center. GRR.

That lack of additional tension *might* explain why his timing belt failed after 1 1/2 years...

"UPDATE: March 25, 2010: After about 1.5 years and 20K Kms, I could hear so me rattling under the timing belt cover when the engine was cold. The noise went away when the engine was warm. It sounded like the timing belt was ge tting loose and hitting the cover. I was planning to tear it all down and t ighten the belt when the weather got a bit warmer, but the belt broke befor e I got it apart. I am not sure if the original belt was defective or if I installed it too loose to begin with. Bottom line is if you hear some rattl ing, it is a good idea to take the timing belt cover off and check the belt tension. I used a Contitech belt (more expensive) this time. Hoping that t his one will perform better."

You'll get right. A friend of mine once had a timing belt break on his Honda while the family was traveling on vacation, two or three unexpected days in a motel 1,000 miles away from home. A month or two later the engine quit and it turned out the timing belt had been put on to tight and I don't remember if it finally broke the camshaft or just ruined the bearings, but he was out another repair job it. Now let's see you find a Toyota approved antifreeze without having to buy it from Toyota at 30 bucks a gallon. I don't know what is so damn special about their anti-freeze but last time I checked there was only one after market anti-freeze that meets their specs.

Oh, too tight, huh. Thanks for the warning.

I did Daniel's prybar trick (wrapped a crowbar with a sock so I wouldn't sc ratch my tensioner), pulled up with both arms, let the spring keep the tens ion, rotated the crankshaft 1 7/8 (actually a little more than that... miss ed the mark slightly... uhoh) then torqued the tensioner bolt to 30 ft-lb. Ran the car for awhile... at least this time the timing belt didn't want t o slide off like last time (when I assumed the tensioner bolt had to be loo se to allow the spring to do its magic). I think the thermostat opened... I have to drain and fill that radiator again to get all the bits of metal o ut (the water pump impeller scored the pump housing a bit).

Yeah CarQuest sells the Toyota antifreeze for $28/gallon. When I use Toyot a antifreeze I didn't notice any corrosion in my radiator, but I did notice some corrosion in my '96 Camry when I used the cheaper stuff. The magic i ngredient *might* be the sodium hydroxide in the Toyota antifreeze...

What other antifreeze meets Toyota's spec?

I always thought the Toyota antifreeze's special quality was lack of silicate.

Confused... Prestone says their 50-50 prediluted coolant is silicate-free.

"For those consumers who would feel more comfortable using a phosphate-free antifreeze, our Prestone® Extended Life 50/50 Antifreeze/Coolant is phos phate, silicate, and borate free"

It's not clear if Prestone's other products are silicate-free too.

Oh! Does it matter which way the tensioner spring faces? The factory manu als and Haynes don't mention it, but the instructions on the Gates timing b elt kit said to "make sure the spring faces the same way" as the original, and I don't recall which way that was... I already put it on and I'd hate t o have to take it off again, after I tensioned it and everything...

that's just flat out wrong. The spring provides all the tension the belt needs, that's why it's there. You put the belt on the right way to begin with, allow the spring to work, then you tighten the tensioner bolt, turn the engine 360 degrees, loosen, allow the spring to work again, and then torque the bolt.

Toyota timing belts are by far the easiest to do. They are my absolute favorites. Shouldn't take even four hours on a Camry.

To anyone else out there who reads this some day, I always recommend the timing belt kit by Gates. They're sold pretty much anywhere...even Amazon.com. It comes with the belt, the tensioner, the idler, and VERY GOOD instructions....and the quality is the same as any OEM. GW

Well, alright. Before I heard about the upwards-force method I didn't even get 360 degrees before the belt wanted to fall off (!!!) and even slipped a few notches, throwing everything out of alignment. I had too much faith in that spring being able to do *all* the work...

I agree about the Camry being easy compared to an interference engine... th ose would be much, much harder... especially with repairing bent valves.

Pep Boys quoted me four hours ($500), including changing the tensioners. I 'm on Day 8 of the adventure, working on it when I get home from work. I'm almost done putting it back together. The really time-consuming part (apa rt from the timing belt wanting to fall off and slip notches) was removing and re-installing the two bolts holding the engine mount bracket. I don't have the special tools they used in this video.

Yup, the Gates timing belt kit... that's what I got from CarQuest. Good st uff.

Say, question. I get a strange noise when turning the steering wheel eithe r all the way to the left or all the way to the right. Did I simply put th e power steering belt on too loosely? I flushed the PS fluid also, after r emoving the PS hose (to get extra space to work on that engine mount bracke t).

Thanks,

Michael

That video you linked to is quite good, not sure why you had any problems if you watched that, especially since he shows letting the tensioner spring-up all the slack in the belt in part 2.

Not sure what tools you thought were special, they all looked basic to me. With Honda, OTOH, you DO need a special tool just to hold the crankshaft because the 4 cyls turn COUNTER-clockwise, unlike almost everyone else's. On V6 and DOHC engines, my own "special" tool is a couple of spring clips I got from old closet skirt hangers. (my grandma's) to hold the belt in a few places as I wind it around the rest.

A loose PS belt will usually squeal pretty loudly on any turn with the car stopped. But any car makes a hissing/psh-ing noise when turned to the limitss; that's the bypass valve opening. It could just me more noticeable with brand new fluid, or you could have some air that hasn't bled out after the flush.

hth, GW

...

(shrug) my first timing belt job... who knows. I was averaging several set s of information: the video, information from here, the Gates timing belt i nstructions, my Haynes manual, and the Factory Service Manual Mike was kind enough to send to me. Information overload I guess.

Now I am slightly worried the timing belt may fail from overtightening. Th e car drove 45 miles today with no problems other than the steering at extr eme left/right tho.

The semi-deep sockets. Those are only available to mechanics, I think. I bought some 1/2-inch drive sockets, but those were too big.

.

Can't you just use an impact hammer? I got an electric one from Harbor Fre ight for $20; it runs off 12V. I laughed when I first used it... takes abo ut one second between impacts, and I gave up using it for tire rotation job s... then I remembered it when I took the crankshaft bolt off, and it worke d. (The impact hammer broke in the middle of the job, but it was just a sp ring I was able to repair by pulling out one of the spring loops and re-con necting it.)

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Ah, the noise to the extreme left/right sounds kind of like a rubbery squea l, like someone's slamming on the brakes or something.

Helps a lot! Thanks!

Michael