DIY Car Maintenance with function over finesse!!

[CitroJim]

Awesome work Pete

[mickthemaverick]

I finally got round to replacing the timing belt on the Legacy. It is on a 60,000 mile replacement schedule but it was last done at 67,000 miles so now with the car showing 122650 miles I felt I still had 4000 miles to go, but the parts were all taking up very valuable space in the garage so the best thing to do with them was install them.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the job but a couple of things that occurred made it worth this post. The job was basically the following sequence:

Drove to mancave arriving at 10.00
Put car on ramps in work area.
Removed engine undercover and radiator top cover.
Drained the coolant and replaced the drain plug.
Removed top hose and coolant reservoir for access.
Unplugged and removed the two electric fans to give working space.
Removed pulley top covers.
Removed aux drive belts for alternator, power steering pump and aircon compressor. Easy on this engine as both the aircon and alternator are fitted with screw tensioning devices.
Set engine to timing marks.
Removed crankshaft pulley, engaged 22mm socket and laid breaker bar onto nearside chassis rail, flicked the starter and the bolt came undone!
Removed timing belt cover
Marked old belt at reference points on both camshafts and the centre bearing cog.
Removed the belt tensioner
Removed the belt.
Removed thermostat and replaced.
Discovered new water pump has one outlet missing, (shown by the orange arrow in the pic), checked old water pump for end float and bearing wear, all in excellent condition so decided to leave it in situ and complete the rest of the job.

Removed and replaced the guide pulleys one by one using correct torques.
Checked the old belt marks against the factory marks on the new belt and discovered they match perfectly.
Fitted the new belt ensuring all marks lined up exactly as they were.
Fitted the new tensioner, checked the marks were still in the correct place, pulled the pin on the tensioner.
Temporary fitted the crankshaft pulley and bolt and turned the engine over two full revs. Checked the timing marks still lined up, they were.
Removed pulley again and fitted timing belt covers.
From then reversed the strip down procedure torqueing as we went.
Finally refilled with fresh coolant 50/50 mix with de-ionised water.
Replaced covers and bled the system.
Started the engine and listened to the gentle purr!!
Cleared up
Cleaned up
Went down the pub for lunch at 13.45

Came home a happy chappy and prepared to get a refund on the water pump!!

The water pump to be returned:

The parts I did replace:

[Rp0thejester]

Oh fck!!!! I've joined a jap car forum, I need to run away!! Actually, I can't, I'm french, I surrender!!!!

[mickthemaverick]

That's why we have an Off Topic Chat Lounge, because the topic being French Cars, Jap ones are definitely off it!!

[Hell Razor5543]

Oh fck!!!! I've joined a jap car forum, I need to run away!! Actually, I can't, I'm french, I surrender!!!!

According to historian Niall Ferguson the French Military is the most successful military power in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ ... _of_France

[Rp0thejester]

Oh fck!!!! I've joined a jap car forum, I need to run away!! Actually, I can't, I'm french, I surrender!!!!

According to historian Niall Ferguson the French Military is the most successful military power in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ ... _of_France

Of course they are, never fought a battle, that's 0 for 0

[CitroJim]

Excellent work Mick!

All good for our saunters now

Oh fck!!!! I've joined a jap car forum, I need to run away!! Actually, I can't, I'm french, I surrender!!!!

[mickthemaverick]

A follow up to my timing belt replacement story. I finally got an answer from the supplier of my Gates kit regarding returning the water pump for refund. In a nutshell I have to return it in its original packaging and they will give me 10% of the whole kit price as a refund!! Since the volume of the pump is probably only 20% of the box it would mean exorbitant postage costs to send it back for a mere £27.40 back. Not gonna happen. They are listed on Ebay brand new for £120 ish so I have listed mine, still in sealed package, at £50 start and 10 day sale. I can't be any worse off than paying £12 to send it back for a £27 refund!!

On a more positive note I decided to replace the wipers and discovered my car has been fitted with the wrong size blades since I got it!! It had 22" on driver's side and 20" on passenger's side. They were becoming a bit squeaky and leaving the odd streak so I shelled out £10 for a pair of the correct size, 24" driver's side and 18" passenger's, Bosch Power plus blades on a special offer! I have just fitted them and immediately realised how bad the old ones had become. All good now for the next adventures to come!

[Rp0thejester]

The fact you managed to do all that timing belt work in just a few hours impressed me, wipers being wrong has lost you alot of points

[mickthemaverick]

I don't know if this might interest anyone with some space for tools?

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auct ... 7700e2596a

[mickthemaverick]

Had an early start to get to the front of the MOT station queue this morning and was second car in. It was soon undergoing the emissions test:

MTMO

All good there so moved down to the physical inspection part:

MTMO

From what I could see all looked ok there too! Then to the bearing and bush tests

MTMO

No picture but the brakes looked good with fronts showing 84% and rears 58%

Finally a tweak of the headlight alignment as the nearside was a tad low, then the wait for the verdict followed by:

MTMO

So a new pair of rear shocks and attention to the sills over the next few weeks and she'll see me through the winter!!

[mickthemaverick]

Initial research for the shock absorbers, that's just not fair!!!

BFTW

BFTW

Who'd have thought the two letters MX could make such a difference!!

[Rp0thejester]

I was at that test centre on Saturday, it's reassuring that they don't do repairs so you know your car is being tested fairly.

[CitroJim]

Result on the MoT Mick The price of those shocks is quite a shock

[Gibbo2286]

Can you not get inserts like the old struts?