Timing belt change on 2006 Aveo LS: My new detailed write-up

[djmarch]

When I tore into this, I was hearing noise coming from under the timing belt cover and knew I better change the belt as I was reaching 52,000 miles on the replacement done at a GM dealership. When I removed the covers, the belt had quite a bit of slack between the cam sprockets. Upon further investigation the tensioner indicator was at pre-install, and the water pump bolts were not tight. The old belt shown cracks between the cogs, so looks like I caught this just in time. I did not replace the water pump at this time, only re-placed the O-ring. I guess I'll pull the water pump again and turn the gear to see if I can see any wobble.

[avguy]

When I tore into this, I was hearing noise coming from under the timing belt cover and knew I better change the belt as I was reaching 52,000 miles on the replacement done at a GM dealership. When I removed the covers, the belt had quite a bit of slack between the cam sprockets. Upon further investigation the tensioner indicator was at pre-install, and the water pump bolts were not tight. The old belt shown cracks between the cogs, so looks like I caught this just in time. I did not replace the water pump at this time, only re-placed the O-ring. I guess I'll pull the water pump again and turn the gear to see if I can see any wobble.

What you just wrote changes everything I had been previously thinking - my mistake in assuming you had replaced all 4 parts. And this new information makes your belt-walking problems very easy to diagnose. Your description of what you found indicates that the previous install was a hack job. With the belt having been running loose as you described, nothing was operating according to design, and the bearings in the WP and the 2 pulleys were likely stressed by the out-of-spec movement. At his point, I urge you to install a new WP, idler, and tensioner pulleys. I believe if you do that, there will be no more belt-walking.

[djmarch]

What you just wrote changes everything I had been previously thinking - my mistake in assuming you had replaced all 4 parts. And this new information makes your belt-walking problems very easy to diagnose. Your description of what you found indicates that the previous install was a hack job. With the belt having been running loose as you described, nothing was operating according to design, and the bearings in the WP and the 2 pulleys were likely stressed by the out-of-spec movement. At his point, I urge you to install a new WP, idler, and tensioner pulleys. I believe if you do that, there will be no more belt-walking.

Yes...avguy...Pulled the water pump out and the shaft wobbles in the casing...Wow...It's an AC Delco water pump at that. Thought the water pump would hold up until the next belt change by just changing the O-ring. Didn't take notice when I did...Shame on me..To all Aveo owners, replace the water pump as well when changing timing belt, idler and tensioner after very 50,000 miles. Terrible design..On top of that, you should never have an O-ring rotate against any surface.

[avguy]

Glad you found it! You are REALLY fortunate in 2 ways. First that you did the job before the whole thing blew up (which sounds like it was really close). And second, that the belt was walking off like it did. If the WP hadn't been quite as bad as it was, you might have not know about the problem and just buttoned it back up. If that had happened, something would have surely failed not too far down the road. All you lost was some time, and had some anxiety attacks. Might be a good time to buy some lottery tickets

[djmarch]

Glad you found it! You are REALLY fortunate in 2 ways. First that you did the job before the whole thing blew up (which sounds like it was really close). And second, that the belt was walking off like it did. If the WP hadn't been quite as bad as it was, you might have not know about the problem and just buttoned it back up. If that had happened, something would have surely failed not too far down the road. All you lost was some time, and had some anxiety attacks. Might be a good time to buy some lottery tickets

Thanks avguy....Now that I've done this job, I'd recommend every Aveo owner that's mechanically inclined to do this. Don't be intimidated. It's not that bad of a job, since this is a routine maintenance on these cars. My suggestion would be change everything at intervals of 50,000 miles. Not 60,000...And buy quality parts.

[djmarch]

Got my new water pump from Rock Auto during the week and and got the aveo running today. Runs like a top, Idles between 8-900 rpms. but shifts real hard when going in R and D...Trying to figure out why this is happening when all I did was replace the timing belt and accessories. Never did this before the swap.

[06blackLT]

My '06 LT is at 96,000. Just did the timing belt and water pump yesterday with a friend. Took a total 8 hrs from start to test drive and I was working slow and methodically. I even had to work around a stripped timing belt cover bolt. This is the best write-up I've ever seen. Thank you so much.

[utapesgeometriam]

Just wanted to say thanks for the excellent write up! I'm a decently competent mechanic and was able to complete the job in a little under 4 hours, taking a break here and there because it was HOT today.

The Aveo is a 2006 which belongs to my sister, who has been neglecting routine maintenance beyond oil changes since she bought it in 2009. I changed the timing belt, tensioner, idler pulley, and water pump with the Gates TCKWP335 kit. Also did the valve cover gasket and serpentine belt. The factory original parts had over 131,000 miles on them! The idler pulley had a visible crack in it and the belt was pretty loose.

I've tried to explain to her how lucky she was that I insisted on changing the belt before she drives the car across country next week, but to no avail.

Thanks for sparing me the cost of a repair manual!

[buckwill]

the lisle water pump tool for this job can be had from oreillys for 19 bucks, part # 13500 Lisle,, also not in any post on any site did anyone say which way was off for the crank pully bolt, it is normal right hand thread, lefty loosey, righty tighty,, so go ahead take it off just as any normal bolt,, u know some are right threads,, some are left,, this is right hand ,,im just finishing up my daughters car,, gave it to her,, did not want her driving across country with an unknown number of miles on that belt,, buy thwat 20 dollar lisle tool make it part of your aveo kit,,, thanks for the write up,, cudn have done this job with out it,, oh the number is 13500 lisle,,, buck

[Bigf1shy]

Thanks for the write up. I bought a fixer upper 2004 Aveo for 800$ two weeks ago. I noticed there was a noise coming from the timing belt area so I ordered a timing belt kit just because the previous owner didn't know when the timing belt was replaced and he had it for 35k miles. When I got inside I noticed that the crankshaft gear was bent from one of the teeth and it caused the belt to wear out from the middle. Good thing I caught just in time before it snapped.
I went to autozone and oriellys to rent the water pump tool but they didn't have it so my dad came up with this idea to use a small combination Wrench and large screwdriver to apply tension to the water pump using the ridges in the pump.