Ok....the job is done. My wicked crank bolt came off and I really didn't have any other problems after that. One thing I do notice now that the job is done is a noise that wasn't there before, at least as loud as it is now on a cold start up. It's most noticeable on a cold start up and kinda sorta there once warmed up. It's sort of a growl and it sounds like it's most likely coming from the front of the engine where I was working. I'm relatively confident it was there before, but I know it wasn't as loud as it is now on a cold start-up. Should I be concerned? It's noticable enough on a cold start-up my wife even made comment...the engine sounds a little louder. Here's a quick run down on what I did:

*Struggled w/crank bolt....eventually impacted it off, at one point when I tried using the piece of wood bolted to the crank, when it wedged on to the ground and didn't break the bolt free, it was lifting the engine as much as the motor mount would allow.

*Replaced the water pump because I had it all apart.

*Obviously replaced the timing belt because I was approaching 90K miles.....I followed the belt tension setting procedure to a tee according to my Haynes manual.

*Inspected the idlers and oil seals...all looked good so none were replaced

*New P/S belt...didn't replace A/C & Alt belt because it's new as of last year

*Flushed cooling system

*Replaced upper / lower rad hoses

*New plugs / wires

 

It is tough to help you based on a description of the noise. It is possable that it is being cause by the belt being tighter than the old one and that it will go away as the belt wears in a little bit.

 

I did a lot of looking around on the web last night after I posted and it looked like on possibility could be "belt slap" from the belt being to loose instead of to tight. The username "Toyomoho" actually made reference to the term in one of my original posts. Does anyone know much about this? The noise according to the belt slap theory is the belt is actually a little too loose and it's slapping against the timing cover. If that's the case I think in order to fix this I'd have to take the upper cover off so I can get to the tensioner and snug it up a bit. Ugh, why does this stuff have to be so involved.....as much as I compain and am frustrated, I love it to death. Thanks to all have posted, I really like this forum and I appreciate everyone that has offered suggestions and help.

 

What brand of belt did you use? Some belts just make more noise the others and whine.

This could be caused by a differance in the design of the teeth.

 

Sorry I didn't specify, but you should've assumed I would take your advise and use Toyota genuine parts. Yes, the belt and the water pump were both Toyota genuine parts. Oh....and another thing, when it's a cold start and I hear the noise...it's most prevalent between 1500 RPM and 2500 RPM's...roughly...I know the sound pretty much goes away if I rev it over 3k.

 

If it sounds like a whine most likely just belt noise. It does seem to quiet down after a time but takes a while (about 15K miles).

You can try a few things, one is to loosen the belt a little. Yes, loosen. There should be an access port in the belt cover for tensioner bolt. Unloosen then tighten the bolt to remove any belt tension beyond the spring.

Some owners add even more tension using a pry bar on the tensioner but have never tried this.

Not sure what is going on. There apparently have be changes in spocket tooth design over the years, the result is a change in belt tooth design. A round verus squared off tooth or visa versa. The result may be one belt design now fits all engines with varying noise results depending on year.

 

I'm pretty sure this isn't a "whine". In my opinion a whine is a higher pitched noise. This is more of a lower pitched growl, for lack of a better term. Now you're telling me something I didn't know...I can adjust belt tension through the cover...cause that'd be pretty sweet. Now that you mention it, I recall what I thought was just an inspection window that had a plug in it. I never removed it. My wife currently has the car and I'm not around it, but I think to do that you would just have to remove the front mount and possibly the alt / ac belt right? I should be able to bothloosen and tighten belt tension from this access hole right?Thanks for the tip, I might mess with it tonight. We're getting a ton of rain right now here in Illinois and I'm not sure how dry it will be by the time she gets it back in the garage and I get home.

 

Ok, an update to all those that are riveted by my timing belt story....I'm pretty sure that when I was doing the tension procedure...SOMETHING MOVED JUST A LITTLE BIT! When I got the upper timing cover off, it seemd to me that there was a lot of slack in the belt. The moment I loosened the idler pulley belt, the pulley moved...and it shouldn't have moved at all. So, this time, I re-tensioned it and I actually was putting just a little bit more tension on the belt with a special tool I wrigged up. So, I'm relatively confident that was my suspect noise. I did start it with the upper cover off just to make sure by adding that extra bit of tension I didn't over-tighten it and cause it to start "whining". It didn't whine or growl...so for now, I think we're good to go.

 

The noise is gone then, the belt was too loose? Good job!

 

I followed the belt tension setting procedure to a tee according to my Haynes manual.




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