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

Your instructions are really great. I thought my camshaft had ceased and removed head for reconditioning and now when i replaced head and started motor it sounds like a bearing has been damaged on crankshaft as well. Has anyone any idea what is involved in removing clutch and gearbox on my Chev Aveo LT 2006. Many Thanks

I just did this job last weekend. Thought I would add a few comments to let others know what they are in for. First off, the write up here is an excellent guide. Gave me the confidence that I could do this myself. Things I found out along the way while doing the job...
1) Cam lock tool isn't a must, but it would sure make life easier. I noticed one of the cams rotate when tension on the old belt was relieved. Since I marked the belts and pulleys/gears as mentioned in this write-up, I didn't worry about it too much. My guess is that valve spring pressure on at least a couple of the valves wants to cause the cam to move unless you hold it still with a lock tool. Not having one made it very difficult, (but not impossible) to put the new belt on. This is where having the belt and pulleys marked with the white paint was absolutely a fabulous idea.
2) Others have said removing the water pump can be done without taking off the inner cover, and instead, just prying it out of the way. I tried this for about 90 minutes and was not able to get it off. Finally I said "screw it" and pulled off the inner cover to get the water pump out. This requires removing the cam gears, no way around it. The cams and the gears have dowel pins, so they go right back on without a problem. here again, the cam lock tool would be useful, to hold everything still while re-tightening the bolts that hold the gears on. My advice here is not to waste your time trying to remove the water pump with that cover in place. Maybe others have done it, but I don't think it's worth the extra headache.
3) DEFINITELY get the water pump tool and a 5mm allen socket.
All told, it took me 9 hours start to finish. A few distractions and 90 minutes lost to the water pump / shield issue mentioned above, and this could have been done in about 5-6 hours. Possibly less if I had a cam lock tool. Car started right up and runs perfect. No leaks. For what it's worth, my ORIGINAL belt (2008 Aveo sedan) had 107,500 miles on it and still looked pretty good.
Reading all this stuff about timing belts needing to be changed at 60,000 made me nervous, but after seeing the condition of the original belt I have to wonder about that a little. I don't know anything about "1st Gen vs. 2nd Gen" and just how many miles
these things are rated for, but mine looked good. Still, glad to have replaced it, and now won't worry about it for another 70,000 miles or so.

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Originally Posted by joeblow55

I just did this job last weekend. Thought I would add a few comments to let others know what they are in for. First off, the write up here is an excellent guide. Gave me the confidence that I could do this myself. Things I found out along the way while doing the job...
1) Cam lock tool isn't a must, but it would sure make life easier. I noticed one of the cams rotate when tension on the old belt was relieved. Since I marked the belts and pulleys/gears as mentioned in this write-up, I didn't worry about it too much. My guess is that valve spring pressure on at least a couple of the valves wants to cause the cam to move unless you hold it still with a lock tool. Not having one made it very difficult, (but not impossible) to put the new belt on. This is where having the belt and pulleys marked with the white paint was absolutely a fabulous idea.
2) Others have said removing the water pump can be done without taking off the inner cover, and instead, just prying it out of the way. I tried this for about 90 minutes and was not able to get it off. Finally I said "screw it" and pulled off the inner cover to get the water pump out. This requires removing the cam gears, no way around it. The cams and the gears have dowel pins, so they go right back on without a problem. here again, the cam lock tool would be useful, to hold everything still while re-tightening the bolts that hold the gears on. My advice here is not to waste your time trying to remove the water pump with that cover in place. Maybe others have done it, but I don't think it's worth the extra headache.
3) DEFINITELY get the water pump tool and a 5mm allen socket.
All told, it took me 9 hours start to finish. A few distractions and 90 minutes lost to the water pump / shield issue mentioned above, and this could have been done in about 5-6 hours. Possibly less if I had a cam lock tool. Car started right up and runs perfect. No leaks. For what it's worth, my ORIGINAL belt (2008 Aveo sedan) had 107,500 miles on it and still looked pretty good.
Reading all this stuff about timing belts needing to be changed at 60,000 made me nervous, but after seeing the condition of the original belt I have to wonder about that a little. I don't know anything about "1st Gen vs. 2nd Gen" and just how many miles
these things are rated for, but mine looked good. Still, glad to have replaced it, and now won't worry about it for another 70,000 miles or so.

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100,000 on original belt, you are a very lucky man, go buy a lotto ticket. Yea, removing the water pump with the rear cover installed takes some jimmying but once you get the angle right it comes out easily. I just zip tied the pullies together. It works great. Get some real big ones and go between the spokes and they will not move. Took me 11 hrs but I took the time to clean out the water pump housing and thermostat and flush the motor which is not necessary but I did it anywho. Happy Driving! Good to hear others are doing it themselves. It isn't that bad as long as you take your time. I think next time it will take me around 4 hrs now that I know what I am doing.

Jon

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Originally Posted by 20gauge

I just did mine. The instructions were great! IT did take me 12 1/2 hours, but I also changed the valve cover gasket, plugs and wires at the same time.

Issues I did find, use an impact wrench. I just couldn't get the bolt loose any other way. Also, I had to rotate my engine 2 sets, (2 turns is one set), in order to get every thing matching. The first set left me at 1/2 a tooth off. Lastly, I just found it easier to loosen 2 screws and remove the top right screw on the water pump. It made the tensioning much easier. Yes! Get the darn tool the is just not enough room to use regular wrenches or maybe my hands are too big. Either way, get the tool!

One question for all. I also replaced my serpentine belt, but either a pully or tensioner is beginning to squeak. What are the part numbers for each? I would like to replace them before any issues arise.

Thanks for the help!

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If you don't have AC, check the idler pully on the serp belt. Mine went bad at around 40 thousand. It is 8 bucks to replace and really easy.

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Originally Posted by joeblow55

Lot's of good info here...enough that I feel pretty comfortable doing this job myself. I did have a few questions though.
1) with all the adjusting, tightening, loosening, etc of the water pump, it makes me wonder how to keep it from creating a leaky seal or bad gasket ?
2) someone asked where is the best place to drain the coolant, and how much to drain to prevent a mess when removing the old water pump ?
3)If the water pump tensions the timing belt, what the heck does the idler pully do,...(assuming there is one) and if there is, is there also a tensioner on the idler ?
4)Assuming I should "do it all at once" given that the mileage is 98,000...what is missing off this list ?
Timing belt, idler pulley, water pump, water pump tensioner, serpentine belt
5) last but not least, someone replied above somewhere that after reassembly, and rotating the engine 2 complete revolutions to distribute the tension on the belt, that the marks will probably not line up ? Why, and wouldn't that be a real problem ? I don't get it...

thanks for the replies

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Their is a drain plug on the radiator for coolant. It is plastic. Use an adjustable wrench and you can drain the whole engine and radiator. It is on the passenger side under the bumper.

Thank you to the author of this detailed write up as it helped me alot with replacing my timing belt/waterpump.

thats so much for this i have a 05 with almost 110000 my guess on factory belt bc ive had it since it had 70000 and i have a all data print out but its useless

I just wanted to chime in with a HUGE "thank you" for this tutorial! My husband and I changed the timing belt and water pump today on my 2007 Aveo, and it went very, very well! This write-up was our main info. We were planning to do it last weekend when we changed the serpentine belt, but didn't have an impact wrench for that dang crankshaft pulley bolt. (It was a b*tch even with the impact wrench, though - really the hardest part of the job.) We did use the cam lock tool, which I recommend to anyone who (like me) is nervous about keeping everything in the right place.

I was horrified at the thought of removing the cam gears, so we didn't remove the rear TB cover, just bent the cover out and maneuvered the old water pump out and the new one in. It was tricky but not difficult. We're a couple of nerds with just a little automotive experience between us (oil changes, brakes, valve cover gaskets) and we were able to do this job perfectly. We did have an experienced friend checking in on us every hour or so, but we did all the work ourselves. I was SO nervous starting it back up, but it didn't skip a beat! I'm really proud of this job and looking forward to doing more of our own maintenance, especially now that the 5-year warranty is up.

--Val

UPDATE 2/6/2013:
Three weeks and 3,000 miles later and everything is still PERFECT! We took a road trip to Atlanta and got the best gas mileage ever! (I also changed the plug wires and replaced the intake hose the same week we did the belts.)

Zubin Chandran,
Thank you SO MUCH for the instructions.
I never would have known about the marks on the Tensioner! The car is quiet again!

what if the belt was already off when I started this project. not able to make marks on old timing belt to compare to new belt! what is the best way to set the belt to cam gears? Have replaced belt (twice) and still get a real rough idle going to have to do it again. checked marks and all was lined up. what am I doing wrong?