after all these years of doing waterpumps/timing belts with the radiator on..

[nando]

never again! I pulled the radiator this time, wow, so much easier. with the grills out of the way and the hood off, it's insanely easy to see and get to all the bolts, plus I did the crank and intermediate shaft seals as well, so I had to clean a bunch of gasket gunk off.

of course if you have A/C that will be in your way from using the opening through the grill, but it'll still give you way more space. I don't have A/C, so I did a lot of the bolts with my cordless impact right through the front of the car.

I also removed my electric fan. with the clutch fan it never comes on, and half the mounts were broken so it was just flopping around. eventually I'll put it back in with real mounts (no more radiator through-mounts!) and PWM control through the DME. :)

cliffs: remove the radiator when working on the front of the motor. much better. :)

oh yeah, I'd sort of been running a little experiment with my timing belt - I can't even remember how old it is, definitely more than 5 years. I put about 10-12k a year on my car, it has at least 50k miles on it. since my engine is non-interference, I wasn't terribly worried. it's also been removed and put back on at least 3 times (once with a new tensioner). my waterpump/alt belt broke last weekend, so I figured maybe it was finally time. anyway, the belt was still in pretty good shape - no cracks or anything. if anyone wants to use it, it's still in my garage. ;)

anyway, you can re-tension a timing belt. it won't explode, I promise. but I won't pay for your engine if it does. ;)

[Ether-D]

Oh shit. Yeah, I think I may have done it once without removing the radiator. That's pure frustration. I hate getting my knuckles cut up by a radiator...

Edit: And they say you cant re-tension a timing belt? These guys must hold stock in contitech.

[nando]

yeah, that's been a common meme in E30 circles - if you take off a timing belt (for some reason other than replacing it - say, a head swap) it must be replaced. definitely not true.

given how long I used this belt, I wonder how many failures are actually the tensioner giving out and not the belt..

[dnguyen1963]

I hear you...but if you are going to replace the water pump, timing belt is only about $20 more. The tensioner is a real possibility...

[nando]

more like $40 with the tensioner.

I'm just saying, if it's hasn't been 5 years/50k, there's no reason to replace it. if you're doing your water pump you should be doing the belt anyway since they have the same replacement interval.

[SkiFree]

never again! I pulled the radiator this time, wow, so much easier. with the grills out of the way and the hood off, it's insanely easy to see and get to all the bolts, plus I did the crank and intermediate shaft seals as well, so I had to clean a bunch of gasket gunk off.

Sounds like you've been baptized by coolant!

I think the myths surrounding the timing belt changes have just been propagated by those who are simply fearful of a broken timing belt (I count myself as one). Understandably, nothing replaces a simple checkup every once in a while.

[nando]

yes, I agree. I was taking advantage of having a non-interference M20 to see what you could really get away with.

[LateFan]

That's pure frustration. I hate getting my knuckles cut up by a radiator...

I call it the cheese grater every time you scrape your knuckles on there...I hate that.

[SmokeE30]

I always pull the radiator it takes an extra 30 seconds to get a lot more room. I also always replace the belt unless I just did it and it has to come right back off for some reason. As cheap as they are it's good insurance, I have re-used good factory tensioners over putting aftermarket ones in though.

[LateFan]

On my AUdi A4, you have to pull the whole front of the car to get at the TB and front of the block. Bumper, lights, grill, radiators & coolers.. But it's worth it, easy access sitting on a stool with the block in front of you.

[SmokeE30]

I've never understood how audi people say things you have to take the whole front end off the car off to get to are easily accessible lol

[LateFan]

Yeah, you can just slide it all out a couple inches for more clearance. I just thought I'd do the whole front because you can look straight at it to align pulley marks and that kind of thing. It was pretty easy to do. First time working on that car.

[tinkerputzer]

Good to see your m20 getting some maintenance :)

Just curious what kind of driving you were doing when the wp/alt belt failed? Mine came off during a revlimiter filled autocross run. I now take a spare. I came to the conclusion i didn't have the belt nearly tight enough. The way the bently says to tension the belt is much tighter than what i would have thought necessary. Since that occurrence i've autocrossed the car with more heavy revlimiter use without issue, but damn i was looking down a lot to see if the cluster lights were on indicating the alternator wasn't turning.

I can attest to how much nicer it is to work on the front of the engine with the radiator removed. When i was in a frenzy trying to get a new wp/alt belt on between run sessions at autocross my knuckles paid the price. When i got home my wife was like wtf happened to your hands

My engine is non-interference now too, but if i had lots of time and money invested in an interference engine i definitely wouldn't chance it.

[nando]

I was sitting at a coffee stand and it just broke. I guess it was worn out.

[dnguyen1963]

You did not share your caffeine with your engine...:)