Can I remove the top idler that has the water outlet on it, without pulling the whole bottom section apart again. didn't get a good seal on the part that bolts to the motor, going to try and pull it off without having to redo the timing belt, I was thinking if I put 2 spring clamps holding the belt to the pulleys I could just un bolt the pulley, re do the rtv and put it back on.

 

yep you should be ok .. use as many clamps that will fit though .. 3 or 4 wouldnt hurt just to be safe


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ehh, i don't know if i would do that, especially if you have a hydraulic tensioner. first off, i would think that when the pulley is removed, the belt will jump up and likely throw the timing off even with clamps on both cam pullies, or it will at least be a pain to depress the belt back down to re-installl the pulley. but the bad thing is if the hydraulic tensioner over extends due to trying to take up the slack you introduce by removing the idler i have seen that to cause them to fail. just food for thought. if it were me, i'd bite the bullet, pull it back down and do it right.

 

I agree with oldblue. I can see too many things possibly going wrong there.

 

You DO need to remove the hydraulic tensioner; you'll never get the water outlet back in with the belt under tension.

But you probably don't need to remove the harmonic balancer on the "bottom section." There is a lip that keeps the belt on the lower drive pulley, so unless you're really wrestling with it it shouldn't move. But do yourself a favor; set it at TDC first, so that the cam pulleys are just pointing straight up when you put the belt back on.

 

I have the spring tensioner, I took a blown up 3.0 apart to get some parts and I noticed as long as the belt teeth where making full contact the belt stayed in position. I figured as long as the belt didn't skip on the gears it should stay in time. worse case it jumps and I have to take it apart a little more It should save me a little time.