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

Hi everyone,

I took some pictures and did the write-up while changing my timing belt and water pump a few weeks ago. I have about 1,000 miles since and everything's running fine, so here it is:

http://www.zubinchandran.com/timing_belt_change.html

It's way too big to post here, so please download it or rehost or print or something. There's some stuff in there that wasn't in other write-ups I looked at, such as setting the belt tension correctly.

Let me know if you can think of other stuff to add in, hopefully it will help those who've never done a timing belt change before,

ZC

Timing Belt Change Walk-Through
2006 Chevy Aveo LS
by Zubin Chandran updated 9May10
revision 1

This document ("Timing belt change instructions for 2006 Chevy Aveo") by Zubin Chandran is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please distribute it freely as long as you do not modify it or use it for any commercial purpose.


This walk-through was put together in April 2010 while I changed the timing belt on my own car. While the manufacturer recommendation is for the timing belt to be changed at 60,000 miles, there are enough reports of early timing belt failures (and significant engine damage), that it's smart to do it at 50,000 mile intervals. I've written this as one long web page so that it's easy to print and/or save.

What you will need:

• Timing belt kit w/ idler and tensioner pulleys, I used ContiTech and was very happy with it[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• New water pump gasket (even if keeping old water pump)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• New water pump (if you want to replace at same time)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Lisle 36880 DOHC lock tool (optional - makes things easier)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• J42492-A water pump tool or Sealey VS090 (optional - you can use water pump pliers instead)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Usual sockets, ratchets, and wrenches, including breaker bar and 1/2" metric sockets[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• 5mm Allen socket bit (regular L Allen wrench will NOT give enough torque)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Torque wrench (recommended, but optional)[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Floor jack, jackstand, and wheel chocks[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Piece of wood or carpet to place between jack and engine[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Fresh antifreeze[/*:m:229jp4g1]

Let's get started. You will want to position the car so that you have room to work on the passenger side by the front wheel, as well as directly in front of it. Loosen the lugnuts on the front right wheel, and then jack the car up until the wheel is about 3 inches off the ground. Support the car with a jackstand at this height and remove the wheel. Put chocks behind the rear wheels. This will give you enough room to work from both the top and side.

First, disconnect the negative battery cable with a 10mm wrench and tuck it out of the way. Then remove the air filter housing by disconnecting the hose and electrical connectors, and then removing the three easily accessible bolts that hold it in place. Instead of just moving it to the side, I would recommend you remove it completely and set it aside to get more room to work.

Next remove the splash shield, there are a total of 4 bolts. Two are as below, and the other two are on the bottom and easy to find.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt01.jpg




You should now have the crankshaft pulley in front of you:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt02.jpg



Next, remove the serpentine belt. Put a wrench on the tensioner pulley bolt as below. Pull on the wrench, this will remove tension on the serpentine belt and allow you to remove it.

http://aveoforum.comt/pictures/timingbelt03.jpg




The crankshaft pulley bolt can be most easily removed with an impact wrench (below). As you can see, you have plenty of room to get in there. If you don't have one, have someone step on the brake firmly so that you can get leverage, and use a breaker bar instead.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt04.jpg




Keep a hand on the pulley after you remove the bolt (below). It will fall off as soon as the bolt is removed, and weighs a few pounds. After setting the pulley aside, reinstall the bolt - you will need it to turn the crankshaft.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt05.jpg




We will now remove the engine mount. You will need to support the engine from the bottom first. As you can see from the picture below, I just rolled up an old rug and put that between my jack and the engine to spread out the force. A piece of wood works well too. You should jack up the engine just short of actually lifting it.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt06.jpg




Now we are ready to remove the motor mount. First remove the three bolts holding down the retaining bracket:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt07.jpg




And then remove the two nuts and one bolt from the engine mount itself:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt08.jpg




Now this entire mount and bracket comes out as a unit. If you can't remove it easily, try slightly lowering and raising the engine using the floor jack. When you have just enough pressure on the engine, the mount will come right off. At this point I like to put a jackstand somewhere underneath the engine as a backup to the floor jack - if the floor jack fails, you don't drop the engine. My floor jack is 20 years old, so it's seen better days!

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt09.jpg




Now remove the bolts for the upper timing belt cover (in red below) and remove the upper cover which is outlined in yellow. I grabbed it at the bottom and pushed upwards to detach it. It took a little work to get it loose.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt10.jpg




Similarly, remove the bolts to the lower timing belt cover, and remove that. That came out a lot easier than the upper one. When you set the covers aside, put the bolts in the appropriate holes to keep them straight.

Now we are ready to get everything aligned, for the most important step of all - MARKING THE TIMING BELT. That's in all caps for a very good reason. If you don't mark the timing belt before going further, you can move the camshafts and then the job becomes significantly more difficult. But once you complete the next step and mark the belt properly, you can always reset to where you were with minimum fuss.

You previously reinstalled the crankshaft pulley bolt, so use a 17mm socket and ratchet on it, and slowly turn it clockwise until the triangular mark is pointed directly downwards at the notch, as below:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt11.jpg




Now look at the camshaft pulleys. They have notches in them as shown below. The notches should be pointing directly at each other as in the picture. If they are on the outside of each pulley and facing apart, rotate the crankshaft one more entire revolution and they will look like they do in the picture.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt12.jpg




Time to double check:

• Are the notches on the camshaft pulleys pointing directly to each other?[/*:m:229jp4g1]
• Is the mark on the crankshaft pulley still pointing directly downwards to the notch?[/*:m:229jp4g1]

If so, you're ready to mark the belt. Using whiteout or white paint, mark the top tooth on each camshaft pulley and the corresponding valley in the timing belt that it sits in. Draw the marks like this:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt13.jpg




Similarly, mark the belt at the crankshaft notch, like this. Note that I mark the center of each tooth, I find this easiest.

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt14.jpg




Once your belt is marked, you are ready to remove it. If you have a water pump tool, it is possible to work around the inner mount, the piece with two nuts sticking straight up. But removing the inner mount is very easy, so do it now to make your life easier. There are four bolts holding it in place, in these approximate locations (the picture is after the mount was removed, for clarity).

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt15.jpg



Before removing the belt, you can use a DOHC lock tool to hold the cams in place. I use the Lisle 36880 which sells for about $35.

Now loosen the three bolts that hold in the water pump. These are 5mm Allen bolts. You will need to use an Allen socket bit and 3/8" ratchet to turn them - you will not be able to get enough torque with an L allen wrench unless you put something on to extend it. You will be tightening and loosening these bolts several times, so spend $3 to get a socket bit - you'll be happy you did. To rotate the water pump, you can use the specialty water pump tool J42492-A, which costs about $150, or regular water pump pliers. I bought the equivalent tool, the Sealey VS090, for about $50 and it worked very well. Either way, rotate the water pump to relieve tension on the belt. If you don't have the lock tool installed, the camshaft pulley will move, that is normal. You can now remove the belt.

Water pump replacement:

If you want to replace the water pump as part of the procedure, you can now do so. To do it the correct way, remove the camshaft pulleys and then the inner timing belt cover. Then remove the three water pump bolts and the water pump comes right out. Make sure you put a new gasket on when putting in the new pump.

Note: It is possible to replace the water pump without removing the camshaft pulleys, if you are willing to work at it. Remove the bolts that hold in the inner timing belt cover so that it is loose. Now bend the bottom of the cover out so that you get enough clearance to remove the water pump. You will remove it in the direction of the rear of the car and down. Note that this takes some patience, and a lot of manipulating the water pump into just the right position to get it out. This is what I did and it worked fine with no damage to the inner timing belt cover.

After you have the water pump back in place, get the three bolts back in but leave them loose for right now.

New belt installation:

On a flat work surface, place the new belt on top of the old one so that they line up exactly. Mark the new belt in the same locations as the old one. Now count the number of teeth between the marks on the old belt and make sure you have exactly the same number of teeth between the marks on the new one. The last step is a bit overkill, but you'll be 100% sure that you have everything just right.

Put the new belt in place and make sure your marks line up exactly before moving to the next step.

Properly tensioning the new belt:

The tensioner pulley makes it easy to get exactly the right tension on your new belt. First, familiarize yourself with the tensioner pulley. I show it here out of the car:

http://aveoforum.com/pictures/timingbelt16.jpg


As you apply tension on the belt, pointer A will gradually move towards pointer B, and with even more tension, move on to notch C.

Okay, on to the actual work...

With the water pump tool or pliers, rotate the water pump until pointer A lines up with notch C. Tighten the water pump down. Make sure your markings on the belt and pulleys still line up exactly! If not, you need to remove the belt and try again. Then using a 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar, rotate the crankshaft pulley clockwise exactly two turns. When you are done, the crankshaft notch should again be pointing straight down, and the two camshaft pulley notches should be facing directly at each other. Obviously your markings will no longer match up. You are doing this to evenly distribute the tension in the belt.

Now, loosen the water pump bolts. Once again using the water pump tool, relieve tension until pointer A aligns exactly with pointer B. Tighten up the water pump bolts. You are done!

Putting everything back:

The rest is straight forward. Replace first the lower and then the upper timing belt covers. Replace the engine mount. Install the three bolts that hold the mount to the frame and the two bolts and one nut that hold it to the engine. Tighten the two bolts and nut that hold it to the engine to 40Nm. Then tighten the three bolts that hold it to the frame to 55Nm.

Put the crankshaft pulley back and tighten the bolt to 95Nm. Then turn it another 30 degrees plus 15 degrees You can either put the car in gear or get someone to step on the brake to keep the crankshaft from turning while you do this. Finally, install the serpentine belt, the shield, the wheel, and finally the air filter housing and it's associated hose and cables. Don't forget the negative battery cable.

Fill the cooling system with new antifreeze and crank it up. Make sure you check for leaks regularly during the first few hours of driving.

Very nice write up Zubin!

I hope you don't mind I reposted it here.

Thanks, Daox! Looks like it uploaded fine.

Very good write up guys. A lot better one than I've seen on some other site... :D After reading this I might actually do it myself when the time comes for it...

The time is now for me and I was trying to do it earlier with another write up and got slightly lost, plus didn't have another jack or stands to use the one I had the car up on or anything to hold the motor up, but this write up is exactly what I need to tackle it later, possibly tomorrow. Thanks for the write up and great job. Wish me luck. :)

Are there major differences between 04 to 06?
I will be doing mine very soon, and if I can I will definitely make use of your write up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by byron84

Are there major differences between 04 to 06?
I will be doing mine very soon, and if I can I will definitely make use of your write up.

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No difference whatsoever.

How much was the tensioner with the idler and tensioner? I already had to change my tensioner around 30k mile mark so its still relatively new so itll be extra tensioner. But im at 50k miles already so will be needing to do it later this year

Thanks for posting it I pray I never have to do this but I know with your instructions I can do it. Your step by step instructions along with the pictures are way better than all the other instruction sites.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reddemonx92

How much was the tensioner with the idler and tensioner? I already had to change my tensioner around 30k mile mark so its still relatively new so itll be extra tensioner. But im at 50k miles already so will be needing to do it later this year

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The timing belt kit I got from eBay was around $80 shipped for the whole kit. It might be a bit more if you decide to get a Gates or Contitech belt, but either way I think it's better to change everything at the same time unless you really want to go back in there another time.

In my case I also changed the water pump which was about 60 bucks shipped.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dragonwarrior2016

Thanks for posting it I pray I never have to do this but I know with your instructions I can do it. Your step by step instructions along with the pictures are way better than all the other instruction sites.

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If you have a friend with experience + this guide you will do just fine I'm sure

So I just replaced my timing belt, tensioner, water pump, and idler pulley with the help of this guide. I do have a few questions though:

A few things that I noticed when turning the car back on. Upon first turning on the engine, I noticed a "click-click-click-click" noise coming from the passenger side of the engine. However, after a few minutes, it disappeared, and I have not heard it since. I also noticed that when I revved the engine that the revving noise had a more "crisp" sound to it than before. My guess is that the latter might be from the belt being fresh and new (vs. the crusty and worn out old one), and the former might have been something getting seated correctly. Any thoughts on this?

Despite the initial noises, I've taken the car for a spin, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. No leakage, no smells, no hesitation, explosions, or anything like that. No more clicking noise either. I just want to make sure that everything is okay...

maybe the clicking sound was from the water pump?

good job, it runs!!!! :P

Very good write up. I should be able to tackle this myself in an afternoon.
One question though.
Can anyone be more specific as to what specialized tools are needed or at least helpful for this install.
There is talk of a water pump tool, where can I find this? Is there a part number for it?
Any other tools I need to be aware of?

mines an 04 aveo auto and it pretty much is the same thing the only difference is if you have an auto tranny you need an impact wrench to take off the harmonic balancer

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
Thats a hot write-up.

Hi,

I follow your write-up to replace the timing belt on my 07 Aveo. I also replace the water pump too. I'm running into a situation where the timing marks on the crankshaft and camshaft are out of alignment right after I turn the water pump counter clockwise to loosen up the belt. The attached pictures show the marks are no longer aligned. Do you know how I can realign these marks.

Thanks,

Did you rotate them back in the same direction or all the way around in the opposite?

I rotated them back to where they were, just a tooth back. However, now I'm running into a seemingly misfiring problem afterward. I replaced the timing belt on my 07 Aveo5 LS. I also replaced the water pump, timing belt tensioner, and idler. After putting everything back in, I fired up the engine. The first sound I heard from the timing belt housing was a squeek. This last for about 10 sec. Next thing I notice was that the engine ran fine for 30sec and began to shake intermittenly as if it's misfiring. The engine ran for about 30sec and shut off. I restarted the engine and it ran for 30sec and shut off. I don't know what's going on now. I'm going to reopen the timing belt housing to see what's going on. I'm suspecting that the belt has slipped. Now if the belt had slipped, does it mean that the valves were bent? Also, could you please show me how to retime the engine if the belt had slipped?

Re: Yomama post for the water pump tool.

Don't Stress too much about the "special tool" needed for the water pump. I fashioned one from a piece of scrap steel by cutting the water pump shape using a hack saw. its just a home made wrench but it worked fine for turning on both the old and the new water pump.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 04LSforever

Re: Yomama post for the water pump tool.

Don't Stress too much about the "special tool" needed for the water pump. I fashioned one from a piece of scrap steel by cutting the water pump shape using a hack saw. its just a home made wrench but it worked fine for turning on both the old and the new water pump.

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care to post some pictures of your home made tool?

Here are a coupe shots of the tool. To make your own, just get the 'hex' dimension off of the new water pump (should be about 1 3/4") and cut it into a piece of scrap (about 2 1/2" into the scrap). Make sure your scrap is wide enough (about 3 1/2") so that there is still enough 'leg width' (about an inch) left to torque the water pump. This is 1/8" thick plate. Keep as compact and flat as possible to be able to maneuver it into position.
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...b/103_0180.jpg
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...b/103_0178.jpg

Nice tool. I'm sure it costs less than a specialty service tool from GM!

or you can get one online for about $18. Look for this model number LIS13500.

Thanks for the write up ,changed my belt 10 days ago.

Thanks so much for the instruction, great job! I was a little intimidate but with the instructions it was a breeze to do, much easier than I expected. I used a strap oil filter wrench to hold the cranckshaft pulley while using the breaker bar to lose the nut, Napa has the DOHC timing gear lock tool for $39, and I used a large whench to move the water pump, it took 8 hours total time. I got the belt changed on my ride at 60k, it looked good still but its one those things u don't want to risk a fail. Anyways, thanks again. O:)

Nice Job. I used a pair of regular vice grips on my WP and they fit and worked just fine. Your car is the same year and color as mine. My write up is very similar, I like your belt tensioning instructions. much better information I than on my write-up (see my sig. below) Using a ton of tie-wraps is a great way to keep cam pulleys from drifting.

Another thing to remenber, once u put the new belt in and release the timming gears the marks may not align, why? because the tension on the belt has not been adjusted yet, once u adjust the tension and do the 2 complete revolutions on the crank it will align perfectly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daox

New belt installation:

On a flat work surface, place the new belt on top of the old one so that they line up exactly. Mark the new belt in the same locations as the old one. Now count the number of teeth between the marks on the old belt and make sure you have exactly the same number of teeth between the marks on the new one. The last step is a bit overkill, but you'll be 100% sure that you have everything just right.

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Thanks for a great write-up. I originally thought the marking and counting was overkill, but am glad I did it just for the peace of mind. The replacement belt was fine, but on a cool night wouldn't relax very well from the bizarre shape it acquired during shipping. I did manage to mount it correctly by feel, but would have been very apprehensive over being a tooth or so off if the marks had not been there for confirmation - like I said, a fortune in peace of mind.

I installed the new belt and idler on our 2004 HB with 45K miles the night before taking it on a 1,000 mile run. Both a trusted mechanic and the local Chevy dealer had said not to mess with it until 60K, but of course neither had any knowledge of the early timing belt problems. The OEM GM/Gates belt I removed was in pretty good shape, just starting some light surface cracks on the backside. The original owner did maintenance by the book at a dealer for the first 30K miles, so suspect he got it changed out in the GM early replacement program as there was some hose insulation damage indicating the upper timing cover may have been off before.

Would have liked to have changed the tensioner and coolant pump, but couldn't afford the additional time if there had been any snags... and I seem to find at least one snag under these sorts of time crunches. So guess I'll be changing it again around 75K unless the pump starts leaking sooner.

Can the tensioner actually be replaced without removing the cam sprocket? It was late and I didn't take a hard look at it, but didn't appear I could get to all three bolts with the cam sprocket in place. Is that correct? I had the cams locked, so didn't take time to check if I could get to the bolts by rotating the cam, using crowsfeet, or some other option.

Thanks for this fantastic write-up, as well as all the additional replies and input.
I just did the job this past weekend. It took me the whole weekend (about 5 hours Sat afternoon and another 7 hours Sun) but i don't consider myself "fast" at this kind of stuff but I try and be thourough anyway.
Both the serpentine belt tensioner and the timing tensioner where cracked rights through and ready to snap (which likely would have taken out the timing belt). I replaced them with Continental made in Germany timing belt, pulleys and tensioners and OEM serpentine belt. While I had the coolant out i also did the thermostat.
Didn't end up using any special tools. To remove/install the waterpump just used chanel-lock plyers. For the cam sprockets just let them move but they only moved a couple of teeth. I followed the instructions of marking all the points on the sprockets and the cranck pulley AND on the old timing belt and when transfered over the marks to the new timing belt was very easy to line up the cam sprockets again to how they were originally.
Definitely wouldn't say this is an easy job, takes some time and there are a few things that require dissassembly, but after getting it all done was a job well done.
a few notes:
- for the water pump removel, the inner timing belt cover can by bent out just like mentioned in this original post to remvoe the pump and install the new one (at first I thought maybe not possible when I saw it but I was able to get it done with not too much fuss).
- definitely want to unbolt the power steering line that passes over the outter timing belt cover and cam cover to allow it to move enough to remove/install the outer timing cover.
- if changing the serpentine belt tensioner, removal is easier then the instal. You may need to find someone with small hands to put the bolts in for you as that part is VERY tight to access. After I got the old one out and had the new one in place ready to be bolted on i got my 4' 11" wife with her tiny hands to thread in the bolts for me and then I was able to continue on and torque them with my wrench.

Thanks again for all the great input, not sure if I would have got through the job without this write-up.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the particulars:
2005 Aveo LT Hatchback Automatic Transmission
105,990 Kilometers

you need a serpentine belt BBAADD

+1 on the thank you for the write up - I'm printing it out right now and will reference it on the weekend while changing my timing belt.

Just did this earlier tonight!

I did a water pump, idler pulley, tensioner, serpentine belt, motor mount, plugs, wires, oil change and a lot of those belt related parts were totally trashed at 205,000km. The last time this was done was at 95,000 km under warranty, and it looks like they just stuck a belt on and called it a day.

Runs smooth, and I will not have to get an upset call from the wife on the side of the road. Thanks for the write up.

What was your total investment in parts/tools/coolant? I had taken my car to the shop this morning, prepared to plunk down $350, but got a phone call a couple hours later saying that the water pump would have to be replaced as part of the procedure due to the fact that the pump seal is an integral part of the unit (I have a 2009 with the 1.6 ECOTECH engine) and that the total cost would be over $800 instead!! Needless to say, I put the brakes on that process real quick. If anyone has done an 09 timing belt change, give me a shout..Also, is there a Chilton or similar manual for the 2009 and later model Aveos out on the market now that anyone knows of?

how many miles do you have on your 09??

for petrified.rabbit: found out from a different GM dealer that change is to be done at 100,000 miles, as you had said earlier, I had to verify because it was such a large difference in mileages..the service advisor I talked to was amicable and called back when he promised to do so..this dealership may be out of the way, but based on the conversation alone, I'd feel far more confident taking my car there than the previous dealer, because the other advisor acted like he didn't know where to get this information and tried to give me a half-hearted answer...Anyway, I can relax for the next 46,000+ miles, and know what it will cost and how much time I expect the car to be down for when that day comes...

Yeah, 1st gen is 60k miles, 2nd gen is 100k miles, I have no ideal who is saying otherwise :D We need a sticky bad....

I was bad with my 04 Sedan. I pushed the timing belt to 91K and took it to the dealer and paid the $698.00. They did the timing belt, Idler pulley, tensioner pulley and water pump the also did the serpentine belt. The upside to this is that they warranty the work for 12months/12000 miles which made me feel better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NYChevoo

The upside to this is that they warranty the work for 12months/12000 miles which made me feel better.

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Thats worth the "extra" money alone. Even with @ $300 in parts and the labor rate what it is you got a decent price in the first place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daox

Timing Belt Change Walk-Through
2006 Chevy Aveo LS
by Zubin Chandran updated 9May10
revision 1

With the water pump tool or pliers, rotate the water pump until pointer A lines up with notch C. Tighten the water pump down. Make sure your markings on the belt and pulleys still line up exactly! If not, you need to remove the belt and try again. Then using a 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar, rotate the crankshaft pulley clockwise exactly two turns. When you are done, the crankshaft notch should again be pointing straight down, and the two camshaft pulley notches should be facing directly at each other. Obviously your markings will no longer match up. You are doing this to evenly distribute the tension in the belt.

Now, loosen the water pump bolts. Once again using the water pump tool, relieve tension until pointer A aligns exactly with pointer B. Tighten up the water pump bolts. You are done!
.

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Hi, my 04 Aveo's tensioner failed in the driveway this weekend and I am doing the repair at home. I am replacing the tensioner and timing belt per this write-up with great hope that no valves are bent. I am stuck at the point above and could use some help. I have the timing belt on, the water pump bolts are loose and I need to apply tension to the belt. By what I am reading, I need to turn the water pump gear itself, but the belt has to be pushed aside slightly to get pliers around them. I just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly, so any help you can provide would be great.
Also, in another write up I have referenced, (Timing belt) it shows his crank shaft gear at the notch on the inner cover, about 8 o'clock, but you advise that it should be pointing straight down, about 6 o'clock. My inner cover's notch is at 8 o'clock so I am unsure which is correct. Please advise. Thank you again for your help.