Timing Belt replacement issue

[el guapo]

I'm in need of some help. I was in the process of changing the timing belt today when I hit a snag. I could not take the crankshaft pulley off. The Haynes manual reads: "wedge a large screwdriver into the fly wheel/driveplate ring gear teeth or against a converter bolt to keep the engine from turning."

Well, I couldn't find an easy access point for the fly wheel, and I have no idea where a converter bolt would be. Do I need to remove the starter for this? Is there a cover plate somewhere near the AT fluid pan? And what is a converter bolt?

I also have the "shop" manual which shows a Special Service Tool (SST) to use, but this isn't something you can find at your local auto parts store. I called one of the local dealers, but the tools all belong the the service techs so renting one of these SSTs is probably out of the questions and buying one probably costs as much as having the dealer perform the service.

This was the only hiccup I had today. Once I conquer it, the rest of the process will be a piece of cake. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1999 SE V6/AT

[onefiend]

Can someone with knowledge or experience of how to get the timing belt off please help & reply to this guy's post. Thanks

[Stock Solara SEV6]

Here's a cut and paste from a search of "crank AND bolt". quote="Jetfixer"]Well I did it. It's not really that bad of a job, but for an aluminum engine I found everything tremendously overtorqued. I know that mainly it's from work-hardening, but I thought for sure I had pulled some threads on a couple of bolts, especially the engine mounts. Let me warn any of you who wants to change their own timing belt (on the 1mzfe at least), good luck getting the crankshaft pulley bolt out. I tried 3 air guns including a 200 psi Snap-On and they didn't even bother it. Finally I had a friend come over and hold a 4 foot prybar on the ring gear while I used a 2 foot breaker bar WITH the handle of my floor jack on it for leverage. Using those 6 ft of oomph, it still took all I had to break that bolt loose and I was picking my buddy up off the ground. And to think that the torque for re-install is 159 ft/lbs. Anyways, don't even think about changing that belt without also changing your water pump, it's driven by the timing belt and you dont want to have to go back in there in a few thousand miles if the pump fails. I bought Toyota original timing belt, idler, tensioner and water pump online from drivewire for $200 including shipping. Factoring in the cost of new power steering and alternator belts, antifreeze, oil & filter and case of Corona for proper lubrication of self and friend, I figure I spent less than $275 on the whole job. My 99 SLEV6 has 81K on it. The removed belt probably would have gone to 100k easily, but I bought the car with 62k on it and had no idea of how it had been treated. Preventive maintenance is always cheaper than repairs. I know this belt will last over 100k miles. There are a couple of shortcuts the book doesn't mention, if anyone is going to do this and wants help, email me.[/quote]

[Jetfixer]

Glad to see someone remembered my earlier post. That bolt is very tight. There is an access panel for the flywheel. 2 small bolts if I remember correctly. You'll never get enough leverage using access near the starter motor. I would not recommend that you try to loosen that bolt by yourself. Get someone else to hold a prybar on the ring gear while you use a socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt. Also, I would not brace the prybar against one of the torque converter flex-plate bolts. If you mess up the head and/or bend or shear it, it would make it very hard to remove the transaxle in the future. Good luck.

[el guapo]

Thank you all for the replies. I went to the dealer to ask where I could access the flywheel. The service manager I know went ahead and put my Solara up on a hydraulic lift and pointed it out to me. I asked how they remove the crankshaft pulley and a mechanic came over which a chain wrench. Yes, the same type that's used on large pipes. But the one they use doesn't have the "teeth" that would bite into the pulley (special order from MacTools or SnapOn).

The mechanic and service manager made me an offer I couldn't refuse: borrow the tool from him (with a $100 deposit/collateral), or $75 to replace the timing belt themselves. Can't beat it for $75, so I took them up on their offer. The idling pullies, timing belt tensioner, and water pump are all in great shape. The mechanic also checked my engine for oil sludge, of which it had none. He said it was clean inside and to keep doing whatever I'm doing (every 4K miles, with a Toyota filter).

They were surprised that I waited until 90K miles to replace the timing belt...but that's the recommendation I got from another dealer here in town (that I don't go to anymore).

Thanks again.