Sephia/spectra Timing Belt How To

[1fastkia]

tools required:
- 10, 12, 14, 21 mm sockets / wrench
- 17 mm deep socket
- breaker bar
- phillips screwdriver
- 2 regular jacks
- 6 pack budlight or smirnoff

1- jack up the car and remove left tire.

2- remove two platic retainers in the cover under the fog light hole, purpose of this is to provide enough room for the fender cover to move around.

3- cover underneath the left fender to access the crank pulley. remove two plastic retainers using the phillips screwdriver, remove 3 10mm bolts that attach the cover to the crossmember (radiator support).

4- remove both alternator and power steering belts.

7- put second jack under the engine and jack it up until you can see the engine moving upwards just a couple millimeters (too much might damage the motor mounts).

8- remove left motor mount (the one by the belts) using 17mm deep socket. It will give you better access to the bolts in the timing belt cover.

5- remove timing belt cover. (6 10mm bolts)

6- with the 21mm socket at the crank pulley give the engine two full turns and align all the timing marks (small arrows pointing downwards you'll find three markings, 2 in the valve cover above the cam gears, and one one the block above the crank) TIP: I like to give the engine the two full turns, verify that everything is fine and then give it an aprox. 1/4 turn more, until i feel there is no resistance in the cam gears, then mark with a chalk stick, makes it so much easier to put the new belt on.

6- remove crank pulley

8- loosen timing belt tensioner (14mm bolt, left pulley)

that should cover everything, replacement is the inverse, should take you about 2 hours.

[rickstevens]

I took mine into a local garage to have that done - they had never worked on a kia before - it took them all day to do that

[rholzer]

I just replaced the Timing Belt and Water Pump on my 2000 Sephia this past weekend. Here are some additional things that might help you do this if you attempt it yourself. While the list of tools is correct, make sure you have a variety of ratchets and wrenches and extensions of the sizes specified. There are some very tight places that require standard wrenches to get to some of the bolts that need to be removed and other places that require extensions.

I didn't remove the plastic retainers on the cover under the Fog Light hole. I didn't need to.

There are 3 plastic retainers on the fender cover. One is hiding under the edge of the Fog light hole cover. I had to break them, they would not unscrew as intended. (Count on breaking them and buy something to replace them)

To remove the motor mount I also removed the two 10 ml bolts holding the power steering reservoir to the body. This gave me more room to remove the motor mount more easily.

You will also have to remove the motor mount bracket on the block. The timing belt cover would not come off until I removed it. Removing the Motor mount bracket from the block was about the hardest part of the whole job. I had to jack the engine down a full inch or more to get my breaker bar on the Bolt facing the passenger side of the car. Jacking it down didn't seem to hurt anything, just make sure you keep the engine supported while the motor mount is removed. There are 3 (17 ml) bolts that hold the bracket onto the block. Each one was a challenge of its own due to very limited access and they were very tightly torqued down.

You will also need to remove the Water pump pulley 3 (10 ml bolts) to get the timing belt cover off.

There were 7 (10 ml) bolts in my timing belt cover. (not 6)

The crank pulley comes off by removing the 4 (10 ml) bolts. You don't need to mess with the large bolt in the center.

To install the timing belt, start at the bottom and work your way around counter-clock wise installing on the tensioner last. Have the tensioner locked in position so that the belt is slightly loose when installed. Then unlock the tensioner, make sure the belt tightens up and re-lock the tensioner. I also wedged a piece of wood in at the very bottom to hold the belt on the crank gear snuggly while installing the belt. Make sure to line up the mark by the I (for intake) on the left pulley with the V shape at the top of the casing and the mark by the E (for exhaust) on the right pulley with the V shape at the top of the casing. The mark at the crank is an obvious V on the block and the matching notch on the crank gear is easy to find also. It is on the back plate of the gear right up against the block. They all need to line up once the new belt is installed.

I also replaced the water pump. You have to remove the timing belt to replace the water pump, so it makes sense to change it at the same time, especially since I didn't get to mine until I had 85K on it. This probably added another hour or two to the job but is not too difficult once you have the timing belt off. It took longest to scrape the old water pump gasket off of the block. Don't forget to drain the radiator before removing the water pump if you're going to do this part.

All in all, never having done this before, it took me all day to do this, probably 10 hours of work including the water pump. This was not a 2 hour job, I would estimate at least 6 hours as a do-it-yourselfer. I think the professionals allow 4+ hours.

Good Luck, I hope this helps. I know I wish I had had a little more detail ahead of time when I did mine.

[63monty]

Just a question, Anybody know if this is the same procedure on a 2001 rio? The part I need help with is lining up the timing marks, as I don't see them. I got it stripped down okay, but since I am doing a valve job I had no prayer of the cams being even close. If someone can explain this to me I would really appreciate it.

[eck1039]

i'm sure there are torque specs on all these bolts - anyone know what they are ?

[eck1039]

OK Just replaced my t-belt/water pump in the 01 spectra and it wasnt too hard - just took some time. timing marks are all lined up and the engine revs smoothly, but it idles a little rough. seems once it warms up (and the idle revs are a lower rpm than cold start) it gets more rough than when cold. i havent driven the car, just let it idle and rev it up for about 20-30 min after the t-belt was replaced to make sure the water pump didnt leak. one thing i didn't do is replace the idler pulley or tensioner pulley/spring. is this necessary to do - replace the idler/tensioner pulleys???? would that contribute to my rough idle?? or do i just need to put some miles on the t-belt to snug it up to the pulleys/gears??

[portercm24]

Oh crap, so I have my car torn apart the belt has been changed, everything lines up. The "E" was on the top right, the "I" is on the top left. The problem comes when I turn the engine over and there is no compression. Reading all the other posts I have everything set up right. There is gas, checked the plugs and all seems to be well, got fire, found that one out the hard way. Can anyone please give me another thing to check?

[1fastkia]

does it turn over? or try to?

[candoo]

well i had the timing belt done today labor was $110.00 for the job the mech said i should replace the tensioners too but mine where still ok he did have my buy two drive belts they were in bad shapecost $21.00 for both he said the water pump was still good u guy save me a lot of time and money with the timing belt stories thank you so very much i almost got my sephia ready for summer he also showed me a t belt that broke its not the belt that breaks this one had over 50 teeth missing that poor soul really waited to long agian thanks all