So I started on my timing belt last night, and already have encountered some issues. I haven't even gotten that far, which stinks:
First off, to drain the coolant system, I unscrewed the plastic drain plug on the bottom of the radiator, but it sheared off with most of the bolt in the radiator. I drilled a small pilot hole in it to use an easy-out thingy, but that didn't work either. I gave up on trying to pull the rest of the bolt out and just drilled a hole through it so i could at least drain the radiator. Anybody have any ideas for me on that? I was thinking of just plugging the drain hole up with some epoxy or abs weld, and using the bottom radiator hose to drain the system...Good idea or bad idea? I'm lost.
Second of all, I'm using the haynes manual and some stuff i've found online. The haynes says to align to TDC, and some of the things online say 1 1/2 teeth before TDC (from the cam sproket). Which is correct/best, and why? I'm kinda thinking the 1 1/2 before because I've read it several places.
Third of all, my manual says to remove the pulley on the crank, the one that goes to AC and alternator with the four bolts. I'm not sure if i can get to those bolts becasue I have the power steering pulley in front of it. The manual doesn't address the p/s and I not want to just start pulling off nuts and bolts withthought knowing what I'm supposed to do. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

The information you need for the timing belt is at www.clarks-garage under camshaft-timing belt removal and installation. You will have to remove the power steering belt and the Alt/airconditioner belt. also the upper and lower timing covers. What you want to do is loosen the bolts on each end of the tensioners, loosen the lock nuts and then crank the tensioner to remove the belts.
I dont remove the crankshaft pully when I replace my belts. Once you set the engine to TDC you should see the cam is aligned at the mark when you replace the belt, set it the same , at TDC.
I would plan on pulling the radiator out at some point and fixing the drain. Since it is empty, or will be, and if you havent done belts before, it may be a good time to do that now. It will give you more room to work.
But like I said read the procedure at clarks-garage and it will be alot more clear what you need to do.

 

thanks. Yeah, I might want to pull the radiator out too, cuz it feels kinda funny...the top isn't attatched to the car, it just wiggles around a bit. Is it easy to pull?

 

I do not remove the crank pulley either, it is a tight fit, but you can squeeze the timing belt on with a long screwdriver without any problems though that narrow gap. Fingers are obviously too big to get in there. To remove the belts, just cut the belts in half and remove them. For the plastic drain plug, get a chisel (or small sharp screw driver) and a hammer, and rotate it out by wedging the chisel on the plastic plug then tapping with a hammer counterclockwise. It will come out. New plug is about 5 bucks. Do not try and epoxy something on there, it will leak eventually. Radiator is easy to pull as well.

Just follow clarks timing belt instructions, it will walk you right through the process exactly.

 

good idea with the chisle, and the radiator came out easy, actually, it wasn't really fastened at all, it just kinda sat in there. Is that normal?

 

No, it should be fastened by 4-6 screws (i can't remember the exact number off the top of my head)

 

http://www.cannell.co.uk/Manuals.htm De manuals

Well I used one of those tools they have at Sears and it worked!