Here's been several threads of “What do I need to do at the 60K service interval”. Do I just do belts or belts and pulleys or belts, pulleys and water pump? Well, I just did a 60K timing job on my '03 and here is what I found.........

The tensioner for the serpentine belt had a little play but the bearing felt smooth. The idler for the serpentine belt also had a little play and its bearing also felt smooth. These parts got reused.

The water pump showed no sign of leaking, had no play and the bearing was smooth. The pump on the car appeared to be in as good of shape as the new one I had in a box.

A couple of notes are in order here. In order to remove the idler pulley for the serpentine belt I found I needed to drop the motor some. No big deal but something that might puzzle a first timer. Second, break the water pump pulley bolts loose before you remove the serpentine belt. Otherwise you will need to use two wrenches in an area where one barely fits. More about this pulley later.

I have a VFAQ homemade timing tool. You DSMers will know what I mean. It is the tool for holding the crank so you can remove the crank bolt. If you have made this tool it still works. Just pound it flat and drill a hole so that you can insert the serpentine belt auto tension center bolt. Almost instant crank holding tool.

Both timing belts still had proper tension. Both belts still looked new. The idler pulley and the tensioner pulleys for the main belt were like new. The tensioner pulley for the b-belt was slinging grease. This pulley probably would not have made it to 120K.

I painted marks on the sprockets and matching marks on the belts. I transferred these marks to the new belts – very important. Once the tension is off the belt the stock cams on my car push the top of the cam sprockets toward each other big time. I lined up the paint marks on the cam sprockets and clamped the new belt firmly in place with little vice grips – no paper clips for me. To get enough slack down below to match up the marks down there I had to put a wrench on each cam sprocket bolt, pull them apart and shove a 2x4 in between.

Now, with everything lined up I went to set the tension and the next thing I knew the belt at the crank has jumped a tooth. So, I put it back and it happened again. This happened four times. Without the paint marks I never would have known.

There are all these various methods for setting the tension in the Factory Service manual. I just set the tension to where the grenade pin was loose and called it good. I tried the special tool with a torque wrench but when the pulley was adjusted to the correct torque setting the pin was locked in place. Dunno.

I puzzled over how to get the water pump pulley back on. It is in a very inaccessible place plus you can't see to line up the holes plus the flange on the pump hub is so shallow that, until you do get a fastener threaded, just looking at the pulley causes it to fall to the floor. So what I did is cut the head off a bolt and then screwed this stub into one of the holes on the pump flange. Now I had something to align the holes and help hold the pulley on. Tighten the pulley bolts once the serpentine belt is on.

Since I had to drain the cooling system I figured it was a good time to replace all the coolant hose. Well, not all, I didn't have heater hoses but I had the rest – 6 hoses. To get to these you need to pull the stuff over the transmission and you will still need an assortment of long nose pliers.

This job has a dramatic ending. You turn the key await one of two possibilities; engine runs great or engine trashed. I'm running great but my cruise no longer works. I guess I whacked the connection to the speed wire while doing hoses.

 

Good notes!

There should be no dramatic ending if you crank the motor over (like you're supposed to) by hand several times and then re-check the timing. Take the spark plugs out to make this easier.

I like your idea on putting the water pump pulley back on. I swear if it wasn't for that, this job would be about half as hard! My fingers still hurt when I think about doing that part.

 

I cranked the engine over (uhh, with the plugs in - good arm exercise). However, I was astonished to see how the belt could hop a tooth at the crank as I was trying to adjust the tension. In my mind I could see that happening again at startup if the tension wasn't right.