Instructions for Replacing a Timing Belt on a 1990 Toyota Corolla

Toyota's Corolla has an oddly mixed sort of reputation. In the United States, the Corolla was thought of as -- above and beyond all else -- a slow if spirited commuter car. Overseas, however, the rear-drive version made a legend for itself on the mountainous back-roads of Japan. The Hachi Roku -- Japanese for "chop-sticks" -- AE96 went away in the late 80s, but its engine lived on to subsequent generations. Timing belt replacement on this engine isn't particularly difficult as timing belt replacements go; it's mostly a matter of time and patience.

Instructions

Removal

1

Slide a floor jack under the car; lift it. Drop the frame onto a set of jack stands and remove the right-front wheel. Remove the right-hand cover under the engine and the windshield washer tank. Push down on the water pump belt to keep the pulley stable, then loosen the adjustment bolt on the alternator. Loosen the water pump pulley bolts, rotate the alternator and remove the alternator belt.

2

Loosen the idler pulley mounting bolt below the alternator bracket, in the center of the idler pulley. Then loosen the vertical adjusting bolt in the top of the idler pulley. Remove the power steering drive belt by loosening the pump pivot and lock bolts and swinging the pump toward the engine. Remove the water pump pulley bolts and remove the pulley.

3

Disconnect the engine wiring harness from the No. 3 timing belt cover. Disconnect the alternator connector, alternator wire, oil pressure switch and AC compressor connector. Remove the wiring harness bolt from the wire bracket, and disconnect the engine wire from the timing belt cover.

4

Remove the spark plug wire from the spark plugs, and use compressed air to blow out the plug wells in the cylinder head. Remove the spark plugs, and disconnect the positive crankcase ventilation valve, and remove the grommets from the valve cover.

5

Rotate the crankshaft so that the pointer on the balancer stops at the "zero degrees" mark on the engine block. This step is very important when it comes to getting the belt back on, so make no mistakes here.

6

Slide a jack under the engine oil pan to support the engine; slide a wooden block between the jack pad and oil pan to keep from damaging the pan. Remove the three bolts on the right-hand engine mount, and remove the through-bolt from the mount to the frame so that you can remove the mount completely.

7

Remove the crankshaft pulley bolts, then use a crankshaft lever to hold the crank in place while you remove the center bolt. Remove the harmonic balancer with a balancer puller. Remove the nine bolts from the timing belt cover to expose the timing belt.

8

Check the position of the reference marks on the timing belt, cam sprockets and crankshaft sprocket. The dots on the edge of the timing belt should line up with those on the cam and crank sprockets, which should in turn line up with the timing marks on your engine block. If they do not, turn the crankshaft by one complete revolution until they do. Remove the timing belt guide, the timing belt idler pulley and, finally, the timing belt.

Installation

9

Provided that you haven't moved the crankshaft or camshaft, the new timing belt will slip on in place of the old. The critical thing here is to look for the two timing marks on the edge of the new belt, and to install the belt so that those marks line up with the dots on the crank and cam gears.

10

Install the idler pulley, and turn the crankshaft clockwise through two full revolutions. Watch the timing marks on the belt; they should end up right where they start on the crankshaft and cam gears. You'll also note a detente and mark on the crankshaft gear -- it should align with the reference mark on the engine block.

11

Tighten the idler pulley bolt, then check for belt deflection. It should move about 1/4-inch when you push it inward between the gears. If it deflects more or less than that, loosen the idler pulley and adjust it until you get the proper tension.

12

Installation from this point is essentially the reverse order of removal. Install the belt cover and torque the bolts to 65 inch-pounds. Torque the crankshaft center bolt to 87 foot-pounds. Install the engine mount, and tighten the bolts to 47 foot-pounds, the nuts to 38 foot-pounds and the through-bolt to 69 foot-pounds. The three bolts on the mounting stay -- the S-shaped bracket on top -- torques to 31 foot-pounds.

13

Torque the spark plugs to 13 foot-pounds. Install the plug wires, belts, pulleys and wiring harnesses just as you took them off.