Diesel Timing belt change
 

I've finally got to change a timing belt on a JK diesel - and in reality was surprised that it wasn't half black magic ( considering how much of a PITA I thought it would be ). If you've never done one before then allow around seven hours if you keep at it - obviously a dealer would probably be around five(ish).

No special tools required, anyone with the usual sockets, open enders and assorted other small hand tools will be fine. Only "special" tool is a largish shifter to remove the fan boss and a paint pen to mark the sprockets.

Removing the fan(s) and shroud takes the most time but once its out its reasonably straightforward if your carefull. Believe it or not the washer bottle removal is almost the biggest pita :-(

Obviously maintaining the sprocket relationships is ESSENTIAL but i can confirm that the special service tools aren't required if your carefull and mark everything before removing the old belt. Setting the belt tension is also simple once you've figured out how the tension indicator actually works.
As your not using the camshaft locking tool you don't need to replace the sealing bung on the front of the exhaust camshaft.

You don't loose any oil or water but its worth washing out the radiator whilst the shroud is off - the crap that comes out is a "bit" depressing.

So if you want to save $$$ and are mechanically competent there's no reason why you shouldn't do the cam belt yourself. However if you'ver never fitted a cam belt to anyting before then probably not a job for you OR get a mate who has - to help.

P.S. the replacement cam belt came from Double Black Offroad.

sounds like you changed only the belt, not the tensioner or any pulleys or water pump which is behind the rear timing cover. were there any signs of wear in these components or were they still like new?

Yes I changed the belt only, carefully inspected the other components for signs of wear - all were fine. The vehicle has seem lots of off road use so its pretty comforting from Diesel owners IMHO . All compnents internal to the timing covers had a very faint coat of "dust" but considering what the vehcile has been through - the timing covers can be pretty much considered sealed.

I suppose if you wanted to start pulling other bits off then you could whilst its stripped, but as everything was still in good condition and the vehicle had no other issues, i couldn't see the value in it.

If you wanted to change the tensioner it wouldn't take any extra time just extra $$. Personally i'd want a damm good reason to start stripping any more than the belt and possibly tensioner........

If your interested in doing mine pm me a price.

Um... not going to fit in well with my real job :-) but contact Bill @ DBOR ( http://www.doubleblackoffroad.com/main.php ). Bills mechanic knows his stuff.

thanks. i'd often wondered about whether i should do the lot including water pump to eliminate the possibilty of having to do it all over again because of a pulley, tensioner or water pump failure.

so how many KM have you done?

That's a call each owner needs to make.

Touching a perfectly functional component can cause problems or prevent them and there's no guarantee either way - your call.

I posted this for those that want to DIY and were concerned about the degree of difficulty and labor costs - not focusing on individual choices of how much preventative mainenance to do.

A failed cam belt is catastrophic in an interference engine and so replacement of this is essential - other parts are more reliable or have less serious consequences.

I'd suggest that if cost isn't a consideration then changing as much as possible is the best option. This has absolutely nothing to do with who does the work - Jeep or anyone else who knows what they are doing under a JK bonnet.

If your going to take it to jeep to do then this whole thread is of no value to you, however if you are going to DIY - then knowing its possible might be usefull.

Do you have a service manual or any other info on doing the job, I haven't been on the tools for about 15 years and am wanting to do this myself but would like some info first, also when you say the belt came from double black do they sell them or did Bill just supply one purhased from a dealer.

We sourced it ourselves. A genuine belt is $450!!!!!! Ours is $120.

as DBOR mentioned, aftermarket stuff is a lot cheaper.

my old man had his belt and tensioner redone with jeep parts (and not at the dealer) and it cost a bomb - albeit a kj, but essentially a similar thing.

MM - all credit too you, a job well done!

So are these available thru double black? I looked on your site and couldn't find them, if so how much posted to vic 3797 if not can you let me know where yu got it as I need one now thanks. Geoff

mate call any auto one shop they all carry them check the jk parts thread, it gives the details of aftermarket parts for all belts.

I checked the local auto one store today and they didn't have a listing for it. I checked the thread and couldn't find any info for the timing belt if there is something there can you give me a link please.

The press release states that on this VM engine the timing belt change interval is rated up to 140,000 km?

you're right. auto one supply the serpentine belt, oil filter and air filter, but not the timing belt. i bought mine years ago when i made up a full spares kit of belts and hoses and filters. the timing belt was genuine. i guess DBOR could give the source of the belt then.

We sell pretty much everything for the JK. We just havent been able to list everything on the website!

I'll give you a ring thank's Bill.

As you can see the price difference is pretty significant and now that we all know that its possible wihout special tools and / or black magic it could be an attraction for some to DIY.

Of course even if your using another mechanic or genuine Jeep service why let them charge you $450 for a belt you can supply for $120 ?

There's also the information value - if your in the middle of nowhere you can change a timing belt without Jeeps involvement - assuming your carying a spare.

mate did you have to take out the radiator and intercooler, or was there enough room to work without it? and was it thn just a case of removing a couple of pulleys and the timing cover , or was it more involved. i took a look under the bonnet and put it in the too hard basket, but obviously there is a way because you found it.

The radiator and intercooler etc etc all stay in place - you don't disturb any of the engines "sytems" or loose any oil / coolant

The washer bottle, electrical,and mechanical fans, the fan shroud, airbox, "fan belt" and harmonic damper need to come off to give you access to the two piece plastic timing cover.

YOu need to unplug the air mass sensor and temperature sensor on the airbox, the washer bottle pump and the electric fan ( which is buried in the shroud )

Once the shroud and fans are off there's actually heaps of space ( about the same as the standard petrol engined installation ) to work.

A mirror on a stick is usefull for viewing the alignment of the common rail high pressure pump and crank timing marks without too much head twisting - but not essential. I didn't use one, but would have if it was handy.

thanks mate, gives me a bit more confidence. bit like working round the shroud on an old kingswood. pain in the butt, but do-able

I was quoted $617.79 + gst by my local dealer. That is only the belt.

Bill, can you get the tensioner and water pump aswell.

i understand the shroud has 4 studs holing it in place, two up top and two on the bottom. on old holdens with a full shroud we used to take it out and cut in half, so there was a top and bottom half, then re-install it. next time we had to work on it, we just pulled the top half off and everything else was easy. doyou reckon it's possible to split the shroud on the jk in a similar way to make it easier next time, or is it not worth it.

I don't believe the assembly is suffieicntly rigid to be cut in half as per your suggestion, but i trimmed about 5mm off the shrouds bottom which made it MUCH easier to slide up past the mechanical fan. Personallly i'd do this first next time.

Well this has generated lots of interest ( obviously the prices of getting the belt done at a dealer makes more people than me unhappy... ) So i'll add some more information that migh help as people seem to want to do this.

A little info on the timing marks......

The crankshaft belt sprocket is marked on its side with an oval detent which aligns with a mark on the engine. This mark on the engine is at the 3 oclock position.

The injection pump has a dimple on its face that aligns with a mark on the front of the engine at about the 4:30 position

The top cam pulley is not marked in any way, you need to use a paint pen and mark it when the crank and injection pumps are alligned with their respective marks. There's a protuding edge on the timing cover that makes a good "pointer"

The engine may have to be turned over with a socket on the crank bolt to get it to the point where the crank and injection pump alignments marks are both alligned at the same time as they are differerent sizes and come into alignment every couple of engine revs if you follow. Once these are correct then you can mark the cam sprocket as described.

If you can't identify the marks on the crank and injection then don't remove the belt. its not difficult but if you've never done anything like this before its probably not for you or get a mate who does understand a little about timing marks etc to give you a hand

The tension side of the belt is on the passengers side, so when your fitting the new one make sure there is no slack on that side and the belts "teeth" are engaging the sprockets.

The tensioner side of course doesn't matter as this slack will be taken up later.

Actually a service manual is available on another thread... this contains the CRD engine ( which the original / flakey downloaded one didn't ) so anyone who's looking at doing this now has access to the full set of Jeep instructions.

Note the special tools are NOT REQUIRED ( if your carefull ) and you dont need to replace the seal over the exhaust cam as your not fitting the special cam locking tool that requires its removal. You also don't need to remove the cam position sensor as the manual suggests.

All will be clear when you read the relevant sections :-)

So now there's no excuse if your mechanically inclined.

MightyMouse,

Thanks for the info mate.

I have been planing on changing mine myself and was ready to have to nut out how to do it without the special service tools. Now you've done the nutting out for me it will be a lot quicker. I am planning on pulling the radiator and the intercooler when I do. Only because I want to clean them.

New belt just arrived from DBOR, thanks for the great service guys, now to go and start pulling it apart ( I couldn't get the link to work for the manual from the other thread so will see how I go ).

2 questions for anyone that has done this. Is the fan lh or rh thread and how did you hold it to stop it from spinning.
MM PM sent Never mind I got it in the end buy wedging a large screwdriver against it to stop it spinning. Everything is off and I can see the belt, I have rotated the engine so the bottom 2 marks line up and I have marked the inlet cam sprocket, now to work out the timming belt tensioner ( MM any tips on this ) and put new belt on. Anyone want to see pics while its apart?

Just finnished install of new belt, wasn't half as bad as I was expecting and the tips from MM definately helped, I trimmed about 10mm of the bottom of the fan shroud and this made the install a lot easier, also must thank Bill at dbor for supplying the belt and faxing the pages explaining tensioning the timing belt. Anyone considering this yourself go for it if your confident and have done similar work before.

read in a manual somewhere, the easiest way to get the shroud off was to remove the serpentine belt then undo the shroud. push the shroud back against the engine, exposing the fan. then remove fan and pull the shroud and fan out together. re-install was the opposite. but removing the shroud first if it's possible is certainly an easier way to go.

just a thought. how much would the cooling be affected if you were to cut the wide top bit off the shroud. it would leave the fan blades exposed, but make the front of the engine far more accessable. would the cooling air flow be that much affected as to be an important issue?

I am very curious as to how one can perceive the life expectancy if a Timing belt tensioner let alone any pulley/bearing, this foresight is worth millions?

Is one thing to not change such an important component of an engine (each to their own) but to advice others of this as being a good thing and to play down it's importance to those not as mechanically minded.... should be frowned upon.

Does the cost of a simple component such as a Timing belt tensioner out weigh the cost of a cylinder head rebuild? If the tensioner is not changed first time around during first belt service will it make it to the next interval? only way to find out or know is if it does make it or Bang!

Timing belt tensioner failure is the primary cause for belt failure and does generate alot of $$ for workshops.

Rage away!

The thread was started because a task that seems to be difficult or impossible for a moderately competent home mechanic and supposedly requires special tools according to the Jeep service manual, can actually be done without too much pain.

As a sub set of that the fact, cheaper timing belts can be had, at what i consider a significant saving, wether or not individuals choose to replace the belt only ( which was the case ) or the idler/ water pump seal etc etc is entirely their choice.

Even if you choose to buy a replacement idler, the savings on the belt are significant - throw in the labor savings and its attractive for a certain group of owners.

Its not a thread for the unskilled - people who even consider doing this are going to be pretty well informed mechanically and can make their own decissions as to what gets done and wether they tackle it at all.

This has been a great thread to read and the person who started it and went ahead and did it well done..like me you will give anything a go...Well done when it comes to doing mine I will give it a go just like you did and the savings is out of this world.

Now if DBOR has fuel filters for the diesel JK that alone would be a saving.

I did the rear pads on mine and it only took 5 minutes each side pads were only $110.00 from Autobarn..plus they are now starting to get in some aftermarket stuff for the JK best thing is if they don't have it in stock they will try their best to get it for you.

Guys, I can get anything you need just got to put em on my site!!! Email me your enquirys!!!

And finally a little about tensioning the belt.

The belt tensioner has a central bolt that locates and locks it up and a hexagon hole where you insert a Hex key to give you leverage ( no other function... ).

With the tensioner fitted, but not locked up, look up from under the vehicle and you'll see an inverted U shaped slot, in the tensioner base, pointing straight down.

Use the Hex Key to rotate the tensioner body and you'll see a steel pointer on the tensioner body move as you start applying torque. When correctly tensioned the pointer should align with the centre of the inverted U shpaed slot to within 1mm

When its set up - lock the centre tensioner bolt, and turn the engine over with a socket on the crank bolt a couple of times. loosen the tensioner centre bolt a little and ensure the pointer is still in the centre of the U slot. If it isn't just repeat the adjusting process till you get it right.

When its confirmed to be correct lock up the tensioner centre bolt - done !

You can set the tensioner as many times as is necessary so if it doesn't seem to work for you first time - there's no issue with doing it again ( and again ) till your comfortable with the process.

Thanks for the detailed write up.

But can I also suggest that seeing you are saving money going after market that you also replace the tensioner, genuine do a kit that has both i can supply price I'd needed, but if the tensioner fails you can be looking at a huge bill to replace the engine trust me vm is not cheap.

Thanks - tensioners apparently are also available but the owner specifically wanted just the belt changed so that's what was done.

There's no doubt that different people are prepared to spend differing amounts on maintenance, some want to go even further and replace the water pump seal as well as, as well as etc...... Personally I'm not in favor of this unless your loosing coolant - i think there are some things better left undisturbed :-)

But as i've said - given a moderate level of mechanical aptitude the DIYer can do a "belt change" with a VERY substantial saving over a dealer.