Abstract
A timing belt is an essential component of a modern engine. Without it, you'r car isn't going anywhere. Even though the 5SFE engine is non-interference, it's still in the owner's best interests to make sure the timing belt is replaced periodically.
I hold no responsibility for anything that breaks during or after a rebuild or any personal injuries as a result of following this guide.
Acknowledgments
I'd like to thank the members of celica.net, celicatech.com, and mr2oc.com for providing support for my cars, my father for tolerating the messes I've made in his garage, and baktasht of MR2OC for hosting this tutorial.
Tools needed
Variety of 3/8" drive and 1/2" drive sockets, handful of wrenches, jack, jack stands, container(s) for coolant, 1/2" drive breaker bar, various hand tools, torque wrench(es) that torque from 0-80 ft-lb .
Recommended optional tools
Timing gun, 2/3 jaw puller*, 5/16" ID tubing, small mirror, flashlight, leaf blower, old towel to protect your car's body, tarp, PVC piping.
*Autozone rents this out. They may also have a timing gun.
Parts needed (online prices)
Timing belt - $26
Recommended parts needed (online prices)
Water pump - $73
Cam seal - $5
Front main seal - $6
Oil pump o-ring and shaft seal - $15
#1 idler pulley - $69
#2 idler pulley - $40
Idler pulley tension spring - $3
Coolant - ~$12 per gallon
Distilled water - ~$1 per gallon
Alternator belt - price unknown
A/C belt - price unknown
Time needed
It technically took me 24 hours from start to finish since I lost a couple things, but normally it should take a lot less. Set aside a weekend to do this.
Let's get started...
1. Jack the car up using either the pinch welds or a rigid part of the frame. For the front, I used the swaybar brackets (probably not the best idea), and for the rear I used the lower crossmember.
2. Go inside the cabin and set the thermostat setting to as high as it will go. Pull out the front trunk accesories, remove the radiator cover, and find the service hoses. Attach one hose to the heater core bleed valve and the other to the radiator's bleed valve. Suspend them somehow. If you don't have the hoses, buy a couple yards of vinyl tubing at a hardware store. I believe they're 5/16" ID. Get tubing with a 1/16" thick wall. Open the bleeder valves and the radiator cap.
3. Get down on the ground and find the drain plug located near the passenger side. I recommend buying/using some of that 5/16" ID hose to attach to the plug. It makes draining much cleaner. Open the plug and wait.
It will drain fairly slowly, so take this time to remove the rear passenger-side wheel. Place the wheel aside or use it as an backup support in case the jack stands fail.
From just draining the radiator, I got less than a gallon of coolant out of the 3.5 gallons we're supposed to have. There's three other drain plugs, but I didn't bother with them. There's one on the engine block and two on the coolant lines under the transmission/piping tunnel. I later on found out that pressurizing the system from the fill cap would force more coolant into the radiator and drain the system better. I used a leaf blower.
4. Remove the coolant hose attached to the thermostat housing. Set it aside. Optionally, you can remove the entire t-stat housing. It'll possibly help later on.
5. Remove the RH engine side panel. There's 2 screws and 1 bolt.
6. Remove the c/c system, if equipped. There's 3 bolts on the linkage (left) and 3 on the actuator (right). Some are tucked away.
Pull the wiring off the strut bolt. Set the c/c system aside or take the time to disconnect the throttle cables. If you have a hydraulic prop rod, you will have to temporarily remove it to get the cables out of the way.
7. Loosen the A/C idler pulley bolt (bottom). Loosen the adjusting bolt (top) until there's enough slack to take the belt off.
8. If you're replacing the water pump housing, remove the 3 bolts that hold the idler setup in place. There's one bolt tucked below the pulley.
9. Go underneath the car and loosen the alternator pivoting bolt. Go back up and loosen the other pivot bolt. Loosen the adjusting bolt until you can take the belt off.
10. Support the engine from the oil pan by using a jack and a block of wood.
11. Remove the two bolts on the engine stay (green). Loosen the engine mount through bolt (red). Don't try to remove the bolt yet.
Go underneath and remove the two nuts on the engine mount. Get back upside. There should be little pressure on the engine mount now so the through bolt and mount should some out easily.
12. Lower the engine as much as possible and remove the lower bolt of the engine mount bracket. When done, jack the engine up as much as possible and remove the three remaining bolts.
13. Remove the upper timing cover.
Previous owner: "The timing belt was replaced about 50k miles ago." Liar. I'm glad I checked it when I did. This belt was probably the original belt, and I was at 192,000 miles.
