Lanos 1.6 DOHC timing belt DONE....some details

[cmcon98]

OK, so I replaced the timing belt in my friend's Lanos 1.6 DOHC on Saturday. A few of you asked me to tell about it after it was done, so here goes.

First, don't try this on a Daewoo unless you're a good mechanic with lots of tools.

It basically goes like this: Disconnect the battery. Don't skip this step, you will be working with metal tools near the alternator connections.

Remove the airbox and connecting pipe. The hose from the connecting bellows to the airbox will be rotten and fall apart. Replace it. Remove the RF wheel and plastic splash shield from inside the wheel well.

Remove the alternator belt and the power steering pump pulley. You need to pry the engine toward the battery about 1/4" with a crow bar or 2x4 in order to get the pulley out from between the engine and body.

Remove the crankshaft pulley bolt and pulley. Remove the top and bottom timing belt covers. Be careful they are plastic. The lower cover has two bolts and a small clip near the bottom. Don't forget the clip or u could break the cover.

Belt is now exposed. Line up the timing marks on the camshaft sprockets and the crank sprocket as shown in the shop manual. If you call Daewoo in CA, they will fax you the pages from the shop manual if you are intelligent and nice.

Now loosen the three allen bolts that hold the water pump on. You will have to rotate the water pump to adjust the belt tension. Rotate the pump to loosen the old belt as shown in the manual, using a big pair of channel lock pliers. The manual shows a special tool to do this, but it's not needed. The loosened waterpump will drip coolant, have a rag handy to catch it or you will end up laying in it hen you adjust the belt. Remove the two bolts from the power steering pump. Thisis necessary becaust the belt is slipped behind the pump to remove it. Remove the old belt.

Install the new belt making sure that the timing marks are where they should be. You may want to buy a tool that holds the camshafts in alignment; available at Auto Zone, etc. for about $20. On the car I worked on, the timing marks on the cam sprockets were a little off to begin with, so I had to be very careful to get them back exactly as they were when the new belt was installed. Tension the new belt by rotating the water pump, following the exact procedure in the manual. This is critical. Reassemble everything in reverse order, installing a new alternator belt in the process. (Might as well, it's only about $15).

Once all is reassembled, make sure yo haven't left any tool in the engine compartment and start her up. The key to this job is to check, double check and triple check when aligning the timing marks and setting the tension. A mistake here could destroy your engine as soon as you try to start it. So be careful. Hope some of this is helpful to you Lanos owners out there.