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2003 cts 3.2L timing belt replacement and the works!! PICS!!!!

125K views 66 replies 26 participants last post by  axtel2 
#1 ·
ok so Im not loading the pics untill we are done(should be tomorrow-dec 02). But they are very high quality pictures. Replacing timing belt, water pump, thermostat and spark plugs. So far Ive found that removing some of these fasteners is a joke at best. I have found a few suprises, and am glad that we decided to get these things changed! Cant wait to post the pics.

-Matt
 
#55 ·
Hi all. Thanks for all the great pics and advice. I just tackled the cam covers, spark plugs, coils, thermostat, and timing belt. It took me all day yesterday to get everything apart and make a few parts runs. On the thermostat, make sure and buy two 30mm x 3mm cross section orings for the pipe that connects to the thermostat housing. The new thermostat only came with the bottom o-ring. My car only has 30k miles on it, but being 10 years old, I wanted to change the belt. I had to buy coils also, even with 30K miles if you look underneath the coils near the boots the plastic was cracking. I first was just going to apply silicone over the cracks, but broke down and bought new ones. AC delco coils are around $100 for each side. The passenger side bank, that whole bracket assembly that goes over the cam coveris difficult with big hands, but with patience I was able to get all the bolts back in.
On the timing belt, I had some issues getting the slack out of the belt on the drivers side since there is only tensioners between the cams and on the passenger side of the engine. The trick I did, is slightly rotating the crankshaft counter clockwise(just the width of the mark on the crank at the 6' oclock position, getting the belt in place and rotate crank to just the other side of the 6 o'clock position to get enough slack to get the new belt over the tensioner. I ended up loosening the mounting bolts to tensioner and idler pulleys to give enough slack to get the new belt on. Also, make sure that on the tensioner, the two marks are close to lining up so that the tensioner can do its job. With a 5 mm allen wrench, you slight loosen the nut on the tensioner and rotate it so that the lines line up. This way the tensioner can keep up with any slack in the belt. I was so happy I didn't break off the plastic barb off the radiator, but when you are working on the timing belt, I kept finding my elbow getting close to it. lol.
 
#56 ·
I havnt been on the cts forums for awhile since purchasing my 04 cts-v... glad to see my write up actually helped people out!! :) to this last post, the timing belt kit I bought replaced the static idler pulley with an adjustable one, which scared me at first, but ultimately allowed you to take up all the slack and really get the belt set right. I did this whole job in 2 days. first half of a saturday, and finished it on sunday. It really wrenched on my nerves a few times with the vague instructions the belt kit comes with. but good luck to you guys who still need to do this and again, glad I could help!!
 
#58 ·
Thanks for the posts all, especially you, Matt. My new(to me) CTS has the symptoms P0128 code(registers on obd2 @ 156`F) with a 2/3 temp gauge my entire trip to work(highway) but inches up to 200`F(top center) right when I arrive each day. When the engine warms up, it sounds like a quiet diesel engine, and is accompanied by a tap(sounds like hard plastic against metal) from the engine on the rear passenger side that speeds up with engine rpm. It's 14`F outside so my options are limited. What would I be in for if I asked a Cadillac dealer to diagnose and replace the timing belt, thermostat, and water pump, $1500?
 
#59 · (Edited by Moderator)
just replaced the timing chain and the water pump, I removed the minimal amount of parts (upper intake plenum, intake air ducting, serpent belt and tensioner, water pump and crank pulleys, (unbolted) power steering pump are timing belt cover) If you're only replacing the timing belt, pulleys and the water pump this job can be down in 4hours or less

here are some pics












*I already did the Valve covers, spark plugs and the thermostat before.
 
#60 ·
Questions.

on the first install picture. you place a tool on the pass side cam gears, what is that for? I see it comes with the tool set?

Also. If I'm locking the cams in their place as well as the Crank, then theoretically no timing shifting should occur... so why would there be any adjusting?

I'm about to get to doing this myself and these questions remain unanswered. any help is appreciated, thank you.
 
#61 ·
1. I think you are referring to alignment tool? it has groves that should line up with the timing cam gears
2. first idler pulley adjust the distance between the cam 2 and cam 3 next pulley adjust the distance between cam 4 and crank, you have to loosen one of the pulleys in order to take off the belt and install new. that's how your timing will get shifted.
for the perfect timing you need to adjust both pulley with the new belt installed. or you can just put the pulley into the same position where it was with the old belt, your engine will still run as longs you have the tension set right. But the timing might be off on 2 or 4 cams
 
#63 ·
well here is a basic run down how the adjustable eccentric idlers work. This explanation without pictures might be confusing if you have never seen them, but it is pretty self explanatory once you actually get to that stage.
you have 4 cams and crank
cam are numbered from passenger side to the driver side (1, 2, 3, 4)
2 eccentric adjustable timing pulleys, the top one and bottom one
1 adjustable tensioner

after you install your new belt and removed the cam locking tools it's time to check the timing alignment via alignment tool
the engine is rotating clockwise, all the cams also rotate clockwise
1st scenario
Cam 1 and Cam 2 are off by few degrees counter clockwise from the timing mark
Cam 3 and Cam 4 are in perfectly on the timing mark
solution - adjust the top eccentric pulley, by rotating it counter clockwise (in the direction which will apply more "tension*")

by applying more "tension*" on the top pulley the Cam 1 and Cam 2 will move clockwise
by releasing "tension*" on the top pulley the Cam 1 and Cam 2 will move counter clockwise


2nd scenario
Cam 1, Cam 2, Cam 3 and Cam 4 are off by few degrees counter clockwise
Solution - adjust the bottom eccentric pulley, by rotating clockwise (in the direction which will apply more "tension*")

by applying more "tension*" on the bottom pulley the Cam 1, Cam 2, Cam 3 and Cam 4 will move clockwise
by releasing "tension*" on the bottom pulley the Cam 1, Cam 2, Cam 3, Cam 4 will move counter clockwise

*I type tension in quotes, because it's not "tension" you're adjusting but more correct you're adjusting distance

anyway this is the best explanation I could do about adjusting timing, hope it helps
 
#65 · (Edited)
I've been doing this job, have gotten the same parts from amazon as voodoochicken has, but I ran into a blocker... My timing belt kit came with a service bulletin about how to follow the included instructions or catastrophic failure will occur, but there are no instruction on the lower idler pulley that were included, someone put a piece of paper about a water pump in the box for some reason. if the instructions are only that to increase tension, the lower idler is rotated opposite the upper idler, then I'll just do that, but I just want to make sure since the other instructions I'm reading say to adjust the tensioner eccentric 3-4mm above the datum line so I just want to make sure I don't over or under tension the belt. Also what I'm not sure about is the way the lower idler pulley is installed, it seems to have some resistance if I rotate it clockwise, but rotating it counterclockwise also increases tension and doesn't have the strange resistance I encountered. Thanks for any help.

Edit-I decided to adjust the lower idler eccentric counterclockwise to increase tension that way the pressure of the belt from the crank pulling the belt across the pulley would cause a tightening action to prevent any possible loosening action. so far the car's been running top notch
 
#66 ·
i must say your post is what got me the courage to do mine instead of paying $2500- $3500 to have a shop do, but since i'm having to take so many parts apart, i decided to take my time and cleaned out the upper n lower intake plus the throttle body, clogged hoses, etc, I'm doing the valve/cam cover gaskets, lower intake gaskets, timing belt, spark plugs, water pump, thermostat,new radiator, radiator hoses, engine flush,
also ECM repair, having issue with OS2 sensor even after replacing twice. i figure since she has over 200k and still sounds and runs good i
might as well give her the full works, so she can give me 200k plus more
 
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