Crank tdc pin bolt.

[Vitor Alves]

Hello everyone.

Im in the middle of a timing belt job, and i cant get the tdc pin hole torx bolt out! Its stuck. im starting to shred the head off.
Any tips? Engine is in the car.

Thanks

 

[MicKPM]

It depends on how badly chewed up it is but normally, you need something like an Irwin removal socket set:

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If that doesn't get a good grip and remove it, you're going to have to remove the radiator and potentially beat something over it or weld another bolt head to it.

 

[JamesBryan]

When you do remove it, replace with a nice stainless socket cap bolt. That's what I did on mine.

 

[Vitor Alves]

Hello.

Thanks for the replies. That's exactly what i did yesterday. With the radiators out, it was fairly easy to get the bolt out. Its still usable.

My first timing job. Hell of a job! A mess! In a good way.
The timing was horrible, previous mechanic did not knew a damn. The whole balancing hole thing, and the cams where offset from each other. Idle was slightly lumpy and low , and it felt kind of dead after 6k. Still went well though..! Will see tomorrow.

Followed the Renault dialogys (a must have!) manuals to the letter, and also alot of advice on this forum and got it spot on. The timing itself was much smoother and quicker than i thought.

Used:
Gates kits
New oem dephaser (good thing as the old one had play!)
The bolts, cam seals, and dephaser blanking plug kit from renault
Soft non OEM locking tools. They only look exactly identical.
Also put in a new oem exhaust cam stud(lots of heat!) Its 20 years and 120k miles, and i dont want to risk it.

But, the pin bolt was stuck, and the idlers bolts where threadlocked!! that held me back for some time.
Only had to do the dephaser intake cam again by putting it slightly offset (rotated to the right!), and then when i tightened it to 100nm again, it was spot on. Very common from what i read here. Also tensioner marks always perfectly aligned at first, after all the rotations.

Just a piece of advice in case any 1st timer reads this, USE the pulleys locking tool, tighten it well(this is key, really!), and follow the manual to the letter or you might bend the horseshoe! I was able to unbend mine as its more fragile than i expected (a pain in the ass) but still.. You learn as you go.
I had the horseshoe in when i shouldn't, and that's what bent it slightly. And use the flywheel TDC mark!

Tomorrow its just doing the aux belt, putting everything back together, bleeding, and off for a test drive.

Thanks to everyone on this forum.

 

[Vitor Alves]

Hello.
If you all dont mind, i have a question. I cleaned and degreased all pulley mating surfaces, except on the new dephaser itself. There was some kind of thin oil pre applied to it and i forgot to clean it! That place is always full of pressurized hot engine oil that seems to seep everywhere, it seems designed to be oily, but still.. Could it be a problem?

As my car is still stopped due to having an aux tensioner bolt hole being rethreaded, im wondering if this could be problematic?

Thank you.

 

[Vitor Alves]

I keep reading, mostly only the crank pulley seems prone to slipping, but still..
Just want an easy mind over this before i start it, thank you.