HOW TO: Timing Belt, Balancer Shaft Belt, and Accessory Belt Replacement
Aug 26, 2011, 12:48 PM
#47
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Timing Belt SHREDDED in ONE year, about 10 k miles.
So my mechanic replaced my timing belt at the end of July 2010. As soon as I drove it home, I knew from the vibration that there was something wrong. This is an '03 Evo VIII. I was registered for a 3 day event at Watkins Glen about three days later, and he didn't know what was wrong, so I took a 2,000 mile round trip and spent three days scorching Porsches with that awful vibration. With the knowledge I got from this tread, I was able to tell him how to fix it by rotating the oil pump shaft one turn. Four days ago I had a catastrophic failure at 70mph on the highway and had it towed to his shop. He tells me the belt is shredded. I'm guessing the vibrations in that one week of heavy use weakened the belt and caused the premature failure. Does anyone know for sure if that is correct, or have that opinion. I can't blame him, because it was my decision to drive it in that condition, and I've known something was off recently and waited too long to take it in for repair. But, I guess I'd just like to Know. The bright side is my insurance will pay for it, but it's still terribly painful. Big reason I suspect it was the vibration is that the same thing happened on a Plymouth Laser ('93) I had sold. Different mechanic got it one turn off, and the vibration in that car was much worse than in the Evo. I put some miles on for about a year or two, then sold the Laser. After the experience above, I learned that the Laser had the same issue. I contacted the new owner and let him know, but he waited too long to fix it. A few weeks after I told him, bye-bye belt, bye-bye Laser.
Moral of story: DON'T WAIT.
Moral of story: DON'T WAIT.
Nov 14, 2011, 06:34 AM
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anthonypazsd... Thanks for the great write up! It definitely helped out me and my buddy when we replaced all my belts 2 weekends ago. Definitely not an easy project by any means, but worth doing and gaining the experience. 
Nov 18, 2011, 12:55 PM
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ok so i just had my timing belt replaced and timing belt alone. i have a weird vibration now and i dont know where its coming from. the balance shaft nor bs belt was touched? any idesa at all what it might be? i read that if th BS was 180 degrees out it would vibrate like hell... is there anything else that would cause this?
the vibration comes on at 4,000rpms and and gets worse the higher you go. for some reason it sounds like the exhaust is rattling but its not????????
the vibration comes on at 4,000rpms and and gets worse the higher you go. for some reason it sounds like the exhaust is rattling but its not????????
Nov 19, 2011, 04:22 PM
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ok so i just had my timing belt replaced and timing belt alone. i have a weird vibration now and i dont know where its coming from. the balance shaft nor bs belt was touched? any idesa at all what it might be? i read that if th BS was 180 degrees out it would vibrate like hell... is there anything else that would cause this?
the vibration comes on at 4,000rpms and and gets worse the higher you go. for some reason it sounds like the exhaust is rattling but its not????????
the vibration comes on at 4,000rpms and and gets worse the higher you go. for some reason it sounds like the exhaust is rattling but its not????????
This is the step my mechanic overlooked. and also the oil pulley may have its TDC timing marks line up but the shaft can still be out of phase.. there was a video posted earlier to show how you can check by removing the timing belt and letting the oil pulley find its tdc on its own by the weight of the balance weights on the shaft.
Athanasios
Nov 20, 2011, 07:45 AM
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It doesn't matter if you did not have the balance shaft belt changed, the timing belt also turns a balance shaft. that one is the one where you have to either stick the screw driver into the oil plug hole under the exhaust manifold in the block to immobilize the shaft.
This is the step my mechanic overlooked. and also the oil pulley may have its TDC timing marks line up but the shaft can still be out of phase.. there was a video posted earlier to show how you can check by removing the timing belt and letting the oil pulley find its tdc on its own by the weight of the balance weights on the shaft.
Athanasios
This is the step my mechanic overlooked. and also the oil pulley may have its TDC timing marks line up but the shaft can still be out of phase.. there was a video posted earlier to show how you can check by removing the timing belt and letting the oil pulley find its tdc on its own by the weight of the balance weights on the shaft.
Athanasios
Last edited by Got_Boost; Nov 20, 2011 at 07:48 AM.
Nov 21, 2011, 07:26 AM
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Dec 1, 2011, 10:55 AM
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Is it ok to tighten the bolt on the crank sprocket with an impact? The manual states a torque of 123 ft-lb. My impact could easily overtighten this bolt. Other option is spending ~$135 on the MB991385 and MB991367 SST's though. I don't know if my piece of mind is worth that kind of money 
Jan 1, 2012, 07:50 AM
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cheers for the write up, just had a question though
I'll be replacing the waterpump so I'll probably try and keep the timing belt mostly in place so I don't have to set it all again
with the auto tensioner, looks like you didn't use the long m8x1.25 bolt that pushes on to the tensioner pulley bracket to compress the piston
is it safe to just remove the 2 bolts holding it in and resetting it with a G clamp later on? won't just shoot off once you remove the 2 bolts and damage something will it?
I'll be replacing the waterpump so I'll probably try and keep the timing belt mostly in place so I don't have to set it all again
with the auto tensioner, looks like you didn't use the long m8x1.25 bolt that pushes on to the tensioner pulley bracket to compress the piston
is it safe to just remove the 2 bolts holding it in and resetting it with a G clamp later on? won't just shoot off once you remove the 2 bolts and damage something will it?
