KV6 - Timing (and ancillary) Belt Replacement.
(thanks to Tony Mercer).
This is all written from memory so the odd error may have crept in. Tony (and myself) would like to point out, he won't be held liable for any difficulties, injuries or damage should owners decide to carry out this task. Please feel free to e-mail any questions to the site and I'll pass them on.
Detailed below are some notes that should be very useful to those wishing to carry out their own timing belt change on the KV6 2.5 litre engines. It should also apply to the 2.0 litre engines as they are almost identical. It is important to bear in mind that these notes are not seen as a substitute for the RAVE CD which is a 'must have'. My advice is, unless you have experienced with these engines do not carry out this task without RAVE and the correct tools.
Items Required
- Main Timing Belt x 1.
- Small Rear Timing Belts x 2.
- Ancillary Belt x 1 (drives alternator, P/S pump and A/C compressor from the crankshaft pulley).
- Front Exhaust Camshaft Cap Seals x 2 (originals will be damaged on removal).
- Timing Gear Stretch Bolts/Washers x 6 (used stretch bolts can break during use so Rover recommend replacement).
- Engine Oil Filter x 1.
- Engine Oil.
- Coolant (replacement recommended if the existing coolant is 2+ years old).
Although I didn't change the water pump, it may be advisable, especially if you have done 90,000 miles. Future replacement will necessitate removal and replacement of the front timing belt plus 2 stretch bolts so you could save yourself some work in the future.
Tools/Equipment Required
- Rave CD.
- Bowl for coolant.
- Bowl for engine oil.
- Pair of Axle Stands.
- Trolley Jack.
- Set of Timing Gear Locking Tools (Sealey VS1290).
- Crankshaft Pulley Holding Tool (Sealey VS1292).
- Torque Wrench.
- Set of Torx Bits.
- Set of Allen Keys (preferably Allen key bits that can be used in conjuction with a socket and ratchet wrench).
- Good Socket Set and Spanners.
- A Pair of Water Pump Pliers (useful to remove the exhaust camshaft cap seals).
- A 3/8" Ratchet Wrench or T Bar (to relieve the tension on the ancillary belt tensioner).
- A piece of wood approx 20cm square to cushion the trolley jack shoe under the engine sump.
- A largish bench vice or 8" G-Cramp.
- A small piece of wood (helps when fitting the timing belt by wedging it against the crankshaft timing gear).
Procedure
Loosen the front offside wheel nuts. With a trolley jack under the front subframe jacking point, raise the front of the car sufficiently to lift the front offside wheel off the ground.
Support the front of the car on axle stands directly under the front wheel jacking points and remove the front offside wheel. Remove the underbelly panel.
Drain the engine oil and remove the oil filter, also drain the engine coolant. Please remember the enviroment and dispose of these fluids responsibly.
Remove the off-side wheel arch liner, battery (negative lead first!), battery tray and air-filter housing.
Support the engine with a trolley jack underneath the bulkhead side of the sump. Don't forget the piece of wood placed between the jack and the sump to prevent possible damage to the sump. Slightly raise the engine with the trolley jack to enable you to remove the front engine bracket components. WARNING, ensure the engine is raised and supported at an appropriate level to ensure sideways pressure is not exerted on the engine mounting bolts being remove (i.e. the bracket to engine front plate). The bolts, as well as the casting is made from aluminium and it is easy to strip threads on both the bolts and the castings.
Loosen the power steering pump pulley Torx screws. Using the 3/8" ratchet wrench inserted into the ancillary belt tensioner, lift the tensioner, hold it up as far as it will go and remove the ancillary belt from the alternator pulley. Discard the ancillary belt.
Remove the ancillary belt tensioner followed by the alternator (removing the wiring first of course.)
Remove the power steering pump pulley and then the P/S pump itself. (Leave the hydraulic connections in situ and gently pull the pump aside - towards the front offside wing).
Remove the rear timing belt covers and the rear right hand timing belt heat shield. You will need to access one of the heatshield bolts from under the car almost directly below the centre of the bulkhead. If you are a large person this will be near impossible without the use of another trolley jack to further raise the car. If you have to do this then don't forget to simultaneously raise the engine by the same distance - remember, the front engine mounting is still off the car.
Using a socket and wrench rotate the crankshaft pulley in a clockwise direction until the timing marks on the rear timing gears are in line and the crankshaft pulley is at the safe position.
Using the crankshaft tool (Sealey VS1292), hold the crankshaft pulley in position and remove it.
Remove the oil cooler union connections to the oil filter housing. This can be a bit tricky, a good open ended spanner is a must.
Remove the ancillary belt idler pulley (Torx screw) followed by the dipstick tube bolt from the engine side. Press the dipstick tube collar and lift the dipstick tube out of the sump.
Remove the bolts securing the oil cooler to the engine and remove the coolant connections from the cooler. Remove the 2 front bolts securing the A/C compressor to the engine front plate (Note: the rear bolt is difficult to access and contrary to the Rave CD, does not need to be removed). In other words don't remove the compressor, just focus on getting the 2 front bolts out. They have 10mm bolt heads but access is tricky.
Remove the front timing belt covers and then remove the large aluminium casting (I think it is called the engine front mounting plate) which covers the front timing belt. It also serves the purpose of supporting the alternator and steering pump. This casting is extremely difficult to remove and requires careful incremental raising of the engine until you can just wiggle it out . It may be necessary to push the timing belt along the timing gear teeth, right back towards the back of the right hand timing belt cover. This can be done with a small piece of wood and appropriate pressure.
Remove the rubber blanking plug from the timing belt tensioner. With the Allen key bit in the socket wrench insert it into the off centre hole in the timing belt tensioner pulley, turn the tensioner pulley in a clockwise direction to relieve the tension from the tensioner. IMPORTANT - do not loosen, unscrew or remove the tensioner pulley.
Remove the timing belt tensioner and you can then remove and discard the timing belt.
Remove the 2 exhaust camshaft end cap seals with the waterpump pliers. Just grip and wiggle/rotate until they come out.
Compress the timing belt tensioner carefully in a vice (or in my case the G-Cramp) and insert the locking pin from the Sealey VS1290 tool kit and put it aside.
Position your new timing belt loosely over the 2 main front timing gears and then place the front camshaft locking tools in place on both front timing gears and the front of the exhaust camshafts.
Loosen and remove the front timing gear stretch bolts and insert new bolts in place but do not tighten them yet. You can then, with the locking tools still in place, turn the front timing gears in a clockwise direction as far as they will go which is approximately 10 degrees.
Install the timing belt in an anticlockwise direction starting at the crankshaft end and wedging it in place against the crankshaft timing gear to prevent it slipping. Keep the belt run as tight as possible and when you reach the first timing gear turn the gear in an anticlockwise direction to maintain a good tight tension on the belt until you reach the tensioner pulley.
With the locking tools still in place, tighten the timing gear stretch bolts to the correct torque and then turn by a further 90 degrees.
Now install the timing belt tensioner and release the locking pin.
Fit the rear timing belt locking tool on either pair of rear camshaft gears and remove the bolts (remove a pair of gears and timing belt as one assembly).
Remove the locking tool and separate the belt from the gears. Clean the gears up and place a new timing belt on the correctly aligned gears. Tension the belt using the tensioner tool from the Sealey kit.
Again, install the locking tool onto the pair of gears.
Place the Sealey rear timing gear locating pins into the the pair of camshaft ends being worked on and install the pair of timing gears with locking tools as a complete assembly over the pins located on the camshaft ends.
Rotate the front exhaust camshaft ends using a spanner on the front camshaft locking tools until the rear camshaft gear pair fits precisely into the camshaft keyed ends.
Install new rear camshaft stretch bolts, torque up then tighten by further 90 degrees.
Repeat the procedure with the other remaining rear camshaft belt and gears.
The rear right hand pair of gears is the most difficult to remove, replace and tighten up due to restricted access. The lower one is close to the ABS unit so take care. You may also have to remove one or two coolant pipes to remove and replace the lower bolt unless you have a 3/8" socket, wrench and step up connector for your torque wrench.
Now for the classic Haynes line........ Reassembly is the reverse of the above!!! (don't forget to replace engine oil, filter, sump plug and coolant).
And there you go.......simple really!! The areas where I experienced most difficulty were:-
- Oil cooler removal and refitting
- Engine front plate casting removal and refitting
- Aircon compressor bolts removal
- Timing belt tensioner removal and refitting
- Right hand rear timing gear reassembly and installation on camshaft ends
- Right hand rear timing gear heatshield removal
Most of these difficulties were down to restricted access and were addressed by incrementally moving the engine up or down as necessary which Rave does not tell you to do.
Anyway, as I've said previously, this is not rocket science and is achievable to the mechanically minded providing you have the right tools.
Tony Mercer
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