Timing belt - please explain this to me

[Philpooma]

Hi there,
I'm looking for some advise from a tech savvy person on timing belt change.
I set about this job after studying the workshop manual and the excellent guide on this forum.
One area I just dont understand is where everyone says " after putting the new timing belt on, make sure the pulley nut/bolt are not fully tight and rotate the 3 pulleys 6 times"

How can you rotate the pulleys when they are connected to the bottom crankshaft pulley which is locked via the locking tool?

I understand tightening the pulleys, setting the tensioner, then taking out all the locking tools somthat you can rotate the engine over and then re check for alignment. Have I misunderstood the instructions?

Pointers greatly appreciated

 

[imprezaworks]

@bloke

 

[bloke]

floating pulleys.

 

[bloke]

also you set tension before you tighten the pulley up.

 

[Philpooma]

also you set tension before you tighten the pulley up.

Cheers for the reply, yea, did the tension before tightening the pulleys, is the part about rotating the engine with the pulleys not tightened up incorrect? Thats the part I dont get.
Also If I want to reset the tension on the tension pulley, can You tell me what I do to reset it, as I know you cant turn it backwards, thanks

 

[Ads29]

Cheers for the reply, yea, did the tension before tightening the pulleys, is the part about rotating the engine with the pulleys not tightened up incorrect? Thats the part I dont get.
Also If I want to reset the tension on the tension pulley, can You tell me what I do to reset it, as I know you cant turn it backwards, thanks

When you first set the tension leave the cam/crank pulley bolts slightly loose, thus way you can rotate them with the engine locked up, allowing the tensioner to settle. Once this is done then tighten pulleys, remove timing tools and turn over by hand, recheck timing and go from there

 

[bloke]

is the part about rotating the engine with the pulleys not tightened up incorrect? Thats the part I dont get.

to be honest if you don't get how and why it's explained then i'd say to get someone to do the job for you.

the engine does not turn at all with floating pulleys not tightened up.

 

[Philpooma]

When you first set the tension leave the cam/crank pulley bolts slightly loose, thus way you can rotate them with the engine locked up, allowing the tensioner to settle. Once this is done then tighten pulleys, remove timing tools and turn over by hand, recheck timing and go from there

Thanks for your reply , this is still the part that does mot make sense, the crankshaft pulley is on a keyway so how can the crank pulley rotate with the cam pulleys to even out the belt tension?
I understand everything else about the process and have done these procedures correctly, I'm just hanging back on this part for the reason above.

 

[Philpooma]

to be honest if you don't get how and why it's explained then i'd say to get someone to do the job for you.

the engine does not turn at all with floating pulleys not tightened up.

Thnaks for coming back to me again , as in my reply to Ads29 I wouldnt turn the engine over without the pulleys locked up, but before I tension the belt I would just liketo understand how the timing belt can be rotated to even out the tension in the belt when it is connected to the crank pully which is on a keyway and the crankshaft is locked up via the locking tool.

Once I have understood this, I'll be able to finish.
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question , I'm hoping for a moment of clarity when I suddenly get what I have been missing, thanks bloke.

 

[105e]

Crankshaft pulley shouldn't be on a keyway, so it can rotate, although I think I have seen on here some fit keyways from another Renault, but yeah don't see how you could do it then.

 

[Philpooma]

Crankshaft pulley shouldn't be on a keyway, so it can rotate, although I think I have seen on here some fit keyways from another Renault, but yeah don't see how you could do it then.

This is clearly where my problem is. I had better recheck.
With the auxiliary accessories pulley bolt and pulley removed and the crankshaft locked with the pin, I was pretty sure that I couldnt turn the three pulleys, maybe I just need to try harder.
Out of interest how do you rotate the engine?
On most enginges its via the crankshaft pulley, do you just hand turn the timing pulleys?
Thanks for your reply

 

[105e]

I made a tool , flat bar, couple of bolts and a welded on socket that fitted in the holes in the cam pulley, then used a ratchet, found that the crank pulley bolt kept tightening itself and had to keep loosening it.

 

[JamesBryan]

There are 2 smaller holes in the exhaust pulley, turn it by that.

Also as said, the nuts may start to tighten themselves so just watch for that.

 

[Philpooma]

ads29, bloke, Imprezzaworks, 105e, James Bryan, thanks so much for taking the time to come back to me on this, its really appreciated .
Looks like I made an assumption that the crankpulley had a keyway on it, I thought that I had checked it but clearly I didnt - what a tool.
I have done all the other steps of the timing belt change OK, so will get back to finishing the job later in the week
Best regards, Phil

 

[JamesBryan]

Check, check and check again. Do that and you can't really go wrong.

Best of luck fitting the lower timing belt cover :tongueclosed:

 

[Philpooma]

Check, check and check again. Do that and you can't really go wrong.

Best of luck fitting the lower timing belt cover :tongueclosed:

Cheers James,
It was a git to remove, so I can see it being a problem going back on, I'll report back

 

[bloke]

The crank pulley can rust in place and not turn, it it does you need to pull it off and give it a good clean along with the end of the crank as well.

It should spin freely when you try it without the belt on

 

[105e]

This is the little thing I knocked up to help turn it over.

 

[JamesBryan]

This is the little thing I knocked up to help turn it over.
View attachment 193308

That's quality :up:

 

[Philpooma]

The crank pulley can rust in place and not turn, it it does you need to pull it off and give it a good clean along with the end of the crank as well.

It should spin freely when you try it without the belt on

Perfect, thanks again at least I know where I misunderstood the instructions now. I'm sure that my pulley is rusted on, I can now finish the job with confidence

 

[Philpooma]

That's quality :up:

Yea, good simple and effective!
Do you remove the plugs to turn it over? Non of the instructions say to do that?

 

[JamesBryan]

Yea, good simple and effective!
Do you remove the plugs to turn it over? Non of the instructions say to do that?

Spark plugs? Yeah i would. Makes turning it over easier.

 

[Philpooma]

Well time for an update.
Its clear now why I was so convinced that the crankshaft pulley was on a keyway. It was an absolute b**ch to initially get it turning and then to remove it from the crankshaft so that I could clean it up.
After seeing the images above of a home made tool for crankshaft pulley removal, mine looks very very shonky....but it worked.
I had to hit the aluminium section with a hammer one way and them the other repeatedly to get it to loosen off.

I can confirm that the use of WD40 is mainly a placebo effect as I sprayed loads of it around this pulley and when it came off the contact surfaces of the pulley were dry as a bone!

I do have one last question.
The timing is set now, however the horse shoe camshaft loking tool needs a slight wiggle and a push to lock in, it's certainly not a light finger fit. I have tried it twice and have it at exactly the same fit each time.
I know why this effect is happening, when you line up the camshafts using the keyways on the NS of the car, particularly the exhaust camshaft. It comes under very slight pressure from the cam lobe (as when No1 is at TDC not all the valves ie.2 &3 are at TDC).

So I know my timing is OK, but I would love to get it to be a two finger locking tool fit, but I dont see how I can achieve it. If nobody has any ideas I will put the engine back together as I know its OK.
Cheers Phil