this is my first post and it is a really dumb question. On my 2000 montero sport, when you remove the crank pulley bolt, do you turn counter clock wise? Facing the engine from the front of the vehicle? Reason i ask is because i broke the 2 holes on the crank pulley for the special tool, and it got me thinking that i was turning the wrong way!? Im going to do the starter trick now that the special tool is useless, so I want to make sure I have the breaker bar in the right place.

thanks for the help in advance

 

yes, its a normal bolt. Left to loosen, right to tighten.

 

Before I start a new thread, can someone tell mw what the size of this bolt is, so I can go buy the socket. I thought I read it was 1 1/16" but not sure. Also its a 2001 3.0 sport. How do you find TDC as it doesnt have a distributer? I didnt see one to buy so assumed it does not have one. Haven been under the hood much yet, but need to replace girlfirends timing belt. Do I need to remove spark plugs to change the timing belt? I didnt get my wires in and dont want to have to remove the spark plugs without them as I see it is a PITA.
Also I only bought the belt and water pump. Should have I bought a tensioner and whatever else. Please help.

Search function not working.

 

I have to say in all honesty, if you need to ask all those very basic and simple questions, you probably shouldnt be attempting this repair.
if you mess it up, you will destroy the engine.

 

This is the most useless forum. THe hydralic tensionor had failed so I cant get it back together. Sorry if I sounded like an idiot, but Ive never worked on a montero and the manual tells me to use the distributer to find TDC, but I just used the tick marks.

 

Let me suggest you go get yourself a Chilton Repair Manual to start with. It will explain how to reinstall the timing belt (if you had that off, if not while you are in there you should do a new belt).

On all belt driven or chain driven engines therelationship of the cam(s) rotation to the crank rotation is critical to operation, and as the poster mentioned, you can severly damage the valve train and/or pistons if you get it wrong.

This is a very generic explanation of timing set up. I don't know whether the details all apply to your engine. That said, for what it's worth:

If you haven't messed with the timing belt/chain, then the#1 piston will be at TDC when the crank pulley TDCtiming mark aligns with the timing pointer.Without knowing anything else, you can install the distributer with the rotor pointing at the #1 wire terminal. Try to start. If it fails to start right up or misfires, then you are one crank rotation out of sequence. Turn the crank until the markers align again, and the distributer rotor points to #1 wire. Pull the distribter out. Now turn the crank one more complete rotation back to TDC, reinstall the distributer with rotor pointing at the #1 wire termianal again. It should be right and fire at the proper time!

 

I forgot the last step. Adjust the timing with a timing light per the manufacturers recommendation.

Get that repair manual if you are going to do your own work! It's the cheapest $20 you will ever spend.