Timing Cover removal tricks?

[RustyBucket]

The F22A6 with A/C really does not give you much room to work in the timing belt region.

Is there some trick to getting the timing cover bolts off easily? In particular the forward upper one?

I can barely fit a socket in between the timing cover and engine mount and I and don't have enough room for my rachet or a U-joint in there. I also can't seem to get my 10mm wrench in there securely enough to grab the bolt.

[leroy457]

Have you tried a Jointed socket wrench extention?
This

[RustyBucket]

Have you tried a Jointed socket wrench extention?

Yup... It was great for the rear bolt, but I couldn't get the socket and the U-joint together to fit between the mount and the engine.

[batever]

The F22A6 with A/C really does not give you much room to work in the timing belt region.

Is there some trick to getting the timing cover bolts off easily? In particular the forward upper one?

I can barely fit a socket in between the timing cover and engine mount and I and don't have enough room for my rachet or a U-joint in there. I also can't seem to get my 10mm wrench in there securely enough to grab the bolt.

try putting a medium height socket on it and grabbing it with a vise grip.
or try a pivoting ratcheting head wrench or offset box wrench
try one of those ratchet extensions that is a spring that bends. <<I think this might work. But probably won't exert enough torque to break the bolt free.)

Sears has sockets that have wrench fittings on the back end of them so you can grab and turn them with a wrench. That would definitely work.

(anyways, unless you are going to just inspect the belt, you are going to be removing the alternator, taking the the power steering pump off its bracket (don't remove it completely, just put it aside and tie it in place) , and I'm guessing moving the A/C compressor off its bracket to work in the area). So my next suggestion won't be so bad in that context:

If all of those suggestions don't work I think you'll have to resort to pulling off the motor mount and bracket. That's how I've always done it (the whole 3 times I've done it, LOL).

Put a block of wood under the oilpan (big enough to spread the stress to the sides of the pan and prevent bending the pan) and lift the engine enough to take strain off the mount, maybe 2 inches, then remove the mount. (you need a 17mm socket, I believe, and maybe a 15 mm socket, too.

If you've got an engine hoist you could use that from the top instead of using a jack, I guess.


If you can't get at it even then, then you need to remove the actual motor mount bracket. there is one bolt in particular that holds it to the block, the one closest to the firewall, that is REALLY hard to deal with. That's the one that's giving you hives right now. and you'll need a 10mm (or 12mm, I can't remember) short (not long) socket to get at it and break it free--a 1/4 drive ratchet would be helpful here, but 3/8 works too.

After that, a stubby 10mm wrench does the job. You'll have to be patient as you can only turn the wrench like 15 degrees each time, then have to replace it--a ratcheting wrench is IDEAL for it.

[madmattr6]

A good ol open end wench will do...the torq for that bolt isn't much

[YK86]

I have an offset combination wrench I use for that bolt with the mount in the way. Comes in handy for other stuff too.



I use assorted tools for certain bolts when trying to get all the 10mm timing cover bolts out. 3/8 drive 10mm for the ones with lots of room, 1/4 drive 10mm for the ones that are kind of tight, and either the offset combo wrench or combo gear wrench for the tight ones.

[Shadow1992]

I removed my engine mount then the upper cover. Also, alot of cursing seemed to make it easier.

[RustyBucket]

The offset wrench could be the trick, although the suggestions gave me an idea I'd forgotten about. I have a crescent wrench in my bicycle tools which I think might just work

If it doesn't work, I now have a nice list of tools to look into adding to my collection.

I'd like to avoid removing the mount if at all possible as I'm only taking the cover off to do an inspection. It's mostly for peace of mind; I bought the car a couple weeks ago and I want to be sure the timing belt is good. The car currently has 226,000KM (140,000 mi) on it , which should be right in the middle of the second timing belt change interval. The car shows evidence of being well taken care of, so I'm not too concerned, but I still want to be sure.

[batever]

The offset wrench could be the trick, although the suggestions gave me an idea I'd forgotten about. I have a crescent wrench in my bicycle tools which I think might just work

If it doesn't work, I now have a nice list of tools to look into adding to my collection.

I'd like to avoid removing the mount if at all possible as I'm only taking the cover off to do an inspection. It's mostly for peace of mind; I bought the car a couple weeks ago and I want to be sure the timing belt is good. The car currently has 226,000KM (140,000 mi) on it , which should be right in the middle of the second timing belt change interval. The car shows evidence of being well taken care of, so I'm not too concerned, but I still want to be sure.

After reading your thread yesterday, i was looking at the Sears website (thinking: I want to get some of these tools myself!) and the wrench sockets at sears are individually priced around $4.00 and the 10mm (or whichever one it is) would probably be perfect--just turn it with a wrench you have, or get a ratcheting wrench to go with it. A very low profile solution and reaches STRAIGHT in. As far as I know, only Sears sells this type of socket.

A nice "cheap bastard" or improvised version of this would be taking some 3/8" square steel stock to fit inside the drive side of your normal sockets, and welding a largish (say 15mm) nut to it. Then grind the nut down about halfway. Actually, you could leave the nut completely off and just use a 3/8 inch wrench on the 3/8 square stock.

You now have a wrench adaptor fitting for all of your 3/8 inch sockets. Much narrower profile than any ratcheting head wrench.

OR just weld two nuts of the appropriate size together or thread them onto a bolt with red threadlocker, (you may need to cut the head off the bolt first) tighten them wicked hard against one another and wait for the threadlocker to set as well, then cut and grind off the rest of that bolt. You now have created the same thing--just put it in the drive side of your 3/8 drive socket and you now have a surface to turn it using a wrench. One of the nuts will fit inside the socket drive side, the other will be for your wrench. They dont' have to be aligned perfectly, for this reason (you won't have a lot of driving surface area inside the drive area, but it should still work). If you have access to a welder you can weld the nuts together in perfect alignment, which would be better.

for a temporary tool, I bet you could just jam the two nuts together really tight over a bolt (using an extension handle on a wrench, and a bench vise) without any threadlocker and it would work great for most fasteners that aren't totally stuck on.

Come to think of it, I think I'm going to do that for my tool set and skip the wrench sockets from Sears. They are probably slightly lower profile than my existing sockets but I think this solution will work very well--and will work with ALL my sockets.

[RustyBucket]

After reading your thread yesterday, i was looking at the Sears website (thinking: I want to get some of these tools myself!) and the wrench sockets at sears are individually priced around $4.00 and the 10mm (or whichever one it is) would probably be perfect--just turn it with a wrench you have, or get a ratcheting wrench to go with it. A very low profile solution and reaches STRAIGHT in. As far as I know, only Sears sells this type of socket.

I'm going by Princess Auto later on today (A Canadian tool chain) and they seem to have just about every tool imaginable (and for good prices too)... I'll have to keep an eye out when I'm there. If Sears sells it, I wouldn't be surprised if they have it too.

[batever]

I'm going by Princess Auto later on today (A Canadian tool chain) and they seem to have just about every tool imaginable (and for good prices too)... I'll have to keep an eye out when I'm there. If Sears sells it, I wouldn't be surprised if they have it too.

have fun tool shopping! also, recheck my post above, as I've added some comments to it since you read it and responded.

[RustyBucket]

have fun tool shopping! also, recheck my post above, as I've added some comments to it since you read it and responded.

I like that 3/8" square channel idea you mentioned

I might have a 1/4" socket in 10mm in which case I could use the adapter to make it fit into the hex end magnetic screwdriver handle and do pretty much the same thing.

It kind of feels like I've been lacking lately in ingenuity and creativity when it comes to tool use.

[YK86]

I was just at Princess Auto yesterday lol. I love that place. Any tool that I don't use a lot comes from there (3/4" drive breaker and sockets, balljoint separator, vacuum pump, valve spring compressor, etc). Some of their stuff is quite weak (break easily) which is why my gear wrenches and regular socket sets and stuff that I use a lot come from Canadian Tire or Sears when they have sales.

They definitely have the offset combo wrench. I bought my first one there lol. It was so cheap (on sale) I just bought the full metric set.

[19dabeast85]

Ya'll are making it too difficult.

The fastest, easiest, least stressful way to get to that cover is to remove the mount. That's the easiest mount to remove too.

1. Jack with wood block against oil pan to spread load....under that end of enine only. SNUG the jack (lifting entire engine maybe 1/2".

2. Back up top, get some big sockets (17 or 19mm) and remove the mount from the engine. Engine should stay put but the rubber will flex back to normal shape.

3. Remove the single horizontal bolt holding mount to bracket. Remove mount.


This takes all of 5 min to do and will save you tons of time and heartache. It is ALWAYS easier to remove the object in your way than struggle for hours trying to work around it.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Why even remove the timing belt cover. Just take the valve cover off and turn the engine by hand.... You will be able to see the whole thing that way....


Kind of pointless anyways... Unless it is torn or cracked you cant tell the condition of the belt with confidence just by looking at it.