[eyspy]

I am replacing the timing chains in my 2001 GV with the 2.5 litre V6 (bugger of a job!!)

Anyway, I am at the stage where I have t sign up all the little arrows. The idler sprocket has to point to the centre of the crankshaft ECT...
The instructions in the workshop manual say "Turn the crankshaft to meet the following conditions" Good....hmmmm how do you bloody turn the thing ??
I tried putting a spanner on the camshaft and turning that way but only get so far and it wants to slip around.
Tried putting the Crankshaft pully bolt back in and turning clockwise. All that did was move so far then give me a hernia trying to move it any further.

Is there a trick to this ? Something I may have not undone yet, or is it a case of sheer brute force overcomes mechanical stubbornness ?

I was hoping to get this all done in the next day but now I am stuck, PLEASE HELP

[fordem]

Did you take the plugs out?

[henno]

fordem wrote:

Did you take the plugs out?

^ This. The most common mistake made is not taking the plugs out and struggling to overcome the cylinder compression at TDC.

[eyspy]

errr.....(sheepish grin)....No

[eyspy]

whoops......

[eyspy]

OK, got all six plugs removed. Put the crankshaft polly bolt back on and turned clockwise and got more movement but only managed to get the arrow to move about 1/4 the way and then it's "Turn in to the HULK" because it's not going anywhere.
Is there a massive amount of resistance expected or have I done something else stupid ???

[ninjamoses]

You don't have it in gear do you?

What are you using to turn the crankshaft bolt? It has some resistance, but a breaker bar and socket should get it moving easily.

[eyspy]

In gear....will go check....

[henno]

It's not that hard, so something is stopping it if you can't move it with just a breaker bar and a little bit of elbow grease as moses suggested.

[eyspy]

Lesson 1. Take spark plugs out!

Lesson 2. Don't let kids sit in the car whilst work as they do things like" Lets put the car in gear"

OK, it was in gear and now I can move freely. The problem I have now created is that before I realised all this I tried to turn the crankshaft by screwing back in the crankshaft polly bolt, and putting a socket on it and turning it that way. Because car was in gear and plugs were in I put a huge amount of pressure on it trying to turn it. Now before I proceed I want to undo that crankshaft bolt but it's do bloody tight !! I put her back in gear to offer resistance but when I turn counter clockwise to undo the nut I am on the verge of giving myself a hernia !! I tried putting a spanner on the cam to lock in place and then turn the crankshaft bolt, but still bloody hard !

Any suggestions please ......

[ninjamoses]

Good to hear it was an easy fix
Don't try and lock the camshafts to undo the crank bolt - you'll be putting a shitload of strain on everything (chains/gears etc).

For a manual trans car putting it in gear is the best bet by far to lock the driveline. I'd suggest just either a bigger breaker bar, or a decent impact wrench is invaluable in situations like this. Will get it off in an instant while putting the minimum amount of stress on everything.

If all else fails, the old breaker bar resting against the chassis and cranking the starter motor is the oldest trick in the book. That said - if you've still got the timing chains etc off/not aligned I would ****NOT**** do it this way. H series are an interference motor, so you will get pistons meeting valves if you turn the crank over without the timing setup properly.

[eyspy]

Thanks to everyone who has responded and tried to help. Believe me it is very appreciated as I have never done this job before.

I managed to get it undone by putting plugs back in and in gear again. Now I have managed to get all the timing chains, sprockets, tensioners and right bank of cams off. All the new stuff is sitting there ready for putting in tomorrow. All I hope is that all the arrows and marks in my manual all line up as they are meant to and fingers crossed I should have no more drama.
If I ever have to do this again it will be easy having done it this time. What makes it slow and frustrating is trying to read the manual and follow instructions. If I have any problems lining up marks I will be back here for your valuable help..... Cheers

[Scrawny]

I usually use a paint marker pen and add my own marks and/or make genuine marks easier to see. Won't help you now though

[eyspy]

Scrawn wrote:

I usually use a paint marker pen and add my own marks and/or make genuine marks easier to see. Won't help you now though

No, unfortunately. I will have to rely on the manual

[ZUZUKI]

For future (and someone else contemplating this), yes, the 'breaker bar on the crank bolt & giving the key a quick flick' trick works, but I have seen that go all sorts of wrong, mostly relating to the breaker bar & socket slipping off & going flying.
A bit more work, but safer options are taking out the starter motor or removing the lower bellhousing inspection / access tin plate & shoving a large screwdriver or prybar into the ring gear, locking it against the bottom of the block or bellhousing.
On a GV V6 manual, the clutch slave cyl needs to come off, then the tin cover comes off & wedge appropriate tool on P/S.
Good luck, Michael V.

[AckerDackerly]

I have used a vice-grips to stop flywheel rotation on a 1.6 (we don't have manual V-6 Vits in the USofA for some bizarre reason).

Another trick to loosen big bolts is to slip a thick-walled iron pipe over the end of an older, sacrifical ratchet-style socket wrench to increase leverage. I say "sacrificial" because cheap 3/8" ratchets can be bent or damaged with this technique.

I hope that this helps!