[BDCCruze]

I started mine today too. I'm about 1.5 hours in. I chose not to remove the air hose from the turbo and instead just pull that back. Some of the connectors and hose clamps were weird and I didn't want to break them, so I just removed the air hose from the MAF and pulled out the box, still plenty of room. For the clip that goes into the top belt cover I just clipped the zip tie and left the fastener in the cover. Easier to just run a new zip tie. I also pulled out the inner fender panel out.

Tomorrow my plan is to get the radiator drained, support the motor, pull the mount and bottom cover, pull the crank pully, lock everything in with my timing kit and take the belt and pump off. Unless I really screw something up the whole process should only be about 4-5 hours.

So far it has been not frusterating at all, which is nice. Brad's and the other guys videos were nice because knowing what to take off before even trying is a lot easier than just starting and constantly being blocked by something as you are trying to figure it out for yourself. That is very frustrating.

 

[boraz]

I started mine today too. I'm about 1.5 hours in. I chose not to remove the air hose from the turbo and instead just pull that back. Some of the connectors and hose clamps were weird and I didn't want to break them, so I just removed the air hose from the MAF and pulled out the box, still plenty of room. For the clip that goes into the top belt cover I just clipped the zip tie and left the fastener in the cover. Easier to just run a new zip tie. I also pulled out the inner fender panel out.

Tomorrow my plan is to get the radiator drained, support the motor, pull the mount and bottom cover, pull the crank pully, lock everything in with my timing kit and take the belt and pump off. Unless I really screw something up the whole process should only be about 4-5 hours.

So far it has been not frusterating at all, which is nice. Brad's and the other guys videos were nice because knowing what to take off before even trying is a lot easier than just starting and constantly being blocked by something as you are trying to figure it out for yourself. That is very frustrating.

im 4hrs in now (incl removing the oil filter deflector)

next step is drain and remove tbelt...

 

[TheRealHip]

What is the total time to do this?

 

[boraz]

What is the total time to do this?

lots saying 4hrs

im gonna be 8hrs (2 4hr days)...but im usually double what the internet says....an air or power ratchet would speed it up a bit

so far its easier than the delete

 

[BDCCruze]

I put in another few hours today. So far about 4 hours of actual work and I'm just now putting stuff back together. But I am going slow and taking a lot of breaks. I have the whole weekend to finish so not in a rush.

After I pulled the motor mount piece with the bushing (part on the car) I noticed one of the bolt threads were really chewed with threads missing. I went to five places and no one had the bolts. I finally just cleaned the bolts and threads out as best I could with at tap and die set.

I got the new water pump on today and will be putting everything else back together tomorrow. The top bolt on the WP goes into an oil passage. All three bolts had blue thread locker on them so I put more back on using waterpump safe blue from Permatex.

Having the cam/crank lock kit makes me feel a lot better. So far everything is lining up nicely except the crank had to be rotated backwards about a 1/8" to get aligned. My belt tensioner was way out, so the belt was stretched pretty bad at 123,000 miles.

Here's a picture of the bottom cover and the five sizes, yes FIVE different bolt sizes. I hope this helps the guy that pulls them out without paying attention where they went.

 

[boraz]

anybody got bad wear on timing belt idler pulley?...i put a new one on

 

[MP81]

Well, that definitely shows why it is recommended to replace it when you replace the timing belt...quite a bit there!

 

[BDCCruze]

@boraz

I put a new tensioner and the new idler pulley on mine, but mine was not worn like that. It actually looked quite good and the bearing was still full of grease. I did notice the tensioner pulley had a small dab of red locktie on it. I'm not going to put that back on but I did put some blue on before torquing it. So far it seems the 3 waterpump bolts, the tensioner pulley bolt, and the 2 outside bolts on the lower cover are the only things with locktite.

Got the belt on today and tension set but only had about 2 hours to work on it so didn't get very far. Even with the cam lock, there was no way in hell I was loosening the cam sprocket bolt, so I had issues holding the belt in time on the crank and fitting it over everything. Finally stuffed some paper towel in to hold the belt from slipping down on the bottom and was able to finish getting it routed the tension set.

Tomorrow after the game I'm going to put the covers back on and finish the coolant flush. Will use 4 gallons of distilled water so hopefully that gets most of it out.

 

[boraz]

@boraz

I put a new tensioner and the new idler pulley on mine, but mine was not worn like that. It actually looked quite good and the bearing was still full of grease. I did notice the tensioner pulley had a small dab of red locktie on it. I'm not going to put that back on but I did put some blue on before torquing it. So far it seems the 3 waterpump bolts, the tensioner pulley bolt, and the 2 outside bolts on the lower cover are the only things with locktite.

Got the belt on today and tension set but only had about 2 hours to work on it so didn't get very far. Even with the cam lock, there was no way in hell I was loosening the cam sprocket bolt, so I had issues holding the belt in time on the crank and fitting it over everything. Finally stuffed some paper towel in to hold the belt from slipping down on the bottom and was able to finish getting it routed the tension set.

Tomorrow after the game I'm going to put the covers back on and finish the coolant flush. Will use 4 gallons of distilled water so hopefully that gets most of it out.

yeah i did new tensioner and idler

i went the 'no locking tool route' put marks on the block where the 3 gears were, crank never moved, fuel pump moved alot, cam gear backs off a tooth or so when you take the belt off

i stuffed a wedge down in the crank belt area to keep it on the gear while fumbling away up top

yeah there was red loctite on my tensioner bolt, i dont own red loctite cuz anytime i used it at work, always needed a torch to get things undone, so just used blue

 

[BDCCruze]

Finished mine up tonight. Drove about 35 miles without issues. Took around 8 hours total. I still have to put my inner wheel well back in and the front bottom cover, just didn't have time to completely flush the cooling system so I will do that tomorrow after work.

One thing I noticed is I can't get to the white bleeder plug on the top of the radiator, way to much in the way. Does anyone know an easy way to get to it?

 

[justin13703]

When I did mine I was actually amazed how simple it was considering this kind of stuff on newer cars is usually a pain. Me and a friend of mine got the whole thing done start to finish in about 3 hours, if we had to do it again probably 2 or less. The trick here is...

BUY THE LOCKING TOOLS! Yeah they’re expensive and it sucks to have to buy something like that to only use it once or twice, but it keeps you from having to check pulleys/alignment before, during, and after putting the belt on. Yes it can be done without them, but it really is worth it to use them.

 

[boraz]

i had a heck of a time with the timing belt tensioner....the lil arrow wouldnt move, couldnt pry it

the angle i was goin at didnt match the video, removed it compared to old one, reinstalled and it magically got into position

putting everything back together was legit easy

will do again myself in 100k miles.

 

[BDCCruze]

I too had issues with getting the arrow up on the tensioner. I think if the bolt is too tight it won't move, then when you press up on it, the arrow doesn't move until the last second.

The document I have says book time on this job is 2.5 hours (not including the waterpump). I think it could be done if you knew exactly what to do and worked straight through without stopping to look at it and say "what the **** have I got myself into" like I did about a dozen times.

 

[boraz]

I too had issues with getting the arrow up on the tensioner. I think if the bolt is too tight it won't move, then when you press up on it, the arrow doesn't move until the last second.

The document I have says book time on this job is 2.5 hours (not including the waterpump). I think it could be done if you knew exactly what to do and worked straight through without stopping to look at it and say "what the **** have I got myself into" like I did about a dozen times.

it was freaking me out....the tensioner itself was sliding, didnt look like was much more distance for it to slide before the pin would be free, i was just gonna measure how far it was over against the videos, then it worked....i did have the bolt looser that time

 

[electrozap_29]

Here's a kit off amazon very similar to what I bought when I did mine. Makes it fairly easy and gave me piece of mind too. Not a bad job to do all the in all.Highking Tool Diesel Timing Locking Kit for GM Vauxhall Opel SAAB Alfa Romeo Engines 1.9/2.0 CDTI https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WCNYHMP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tlsSDbE7SHXC8

 

[BDCCruze]

Here's a kit off amazon very similar to what I bought when I did mine. Makes it fairly easy and gave me piece of mind too. Not a bad job to do all the in all.Highking Tool Diesel Timing Locking Kit for GM Vauxhall Opel SAAB Alfa Romeo Engines 1.9/2.0 CDTI https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WCNYHMP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tlsSDbE7SHXC8

That's the one I have. Worked well.

You only have to use the black screw and the circle bar for the crank, and one of the two larger bolts with the spring tension for the cam. I suspect the 1.9 probably have to lock both cams? I'm not sure what the rod with a handle on the left and the rectangle thing on the right are for.

 

[electrozap_29]

That's the one I have. Worked well.

You only have to use the black screw and the circle bar for the crank, and one of the two larger bolts with the spring tension for the cam. I suspect the 1.9 probably have to lock both cams? I'm not sure what the rod with a handle on the left and the rectangle thing on the right are for.

Maybe if you had to retime the cams on a 2.0? That's the only thing I can think for the other spring loaded pin🤷‍♂️