Hello All,

96 Corolla 1.6, 5 speed, 180 000 kms (105 000 miles), no AC. Is it realistic for a home mechanic to tackle replacing the timing belt on that ? Is it even worthwhile in terms of the savings vs taking it to typical dealership ? Any special tools required ? Does replacing the timing belt involve parts that can be seized in rust ? If I had to rate my skills in mechanic, 10 being a top mechanic and 0 being someone who can't locate the oil dipstick under the hood, I'd give myself a 5 or 6... I've replaced, rad, full brakes, O2 sensor, etc... smaller items but never had any problems doing so.... would timing belt be stretching it though ?

Looking foward to some opinions / advice on the topic.

Thks

You'll need a floor jack and a really good manual (alldata, not Haynes). You'll also need a 1/2" drive socket to remove the large bolt from the harmonic balancer. After that bolt is removed, the rest of the bolts are fairly easy. If you spend the $25 on alldata, it will walk you through every step. You can probably do it. As for savings. A shop usually charges around $300. You can buy the belt for about $50. Or, if you want to buy a belt kit that comes with a new tensioner, that goes for about $100. At your mileage, it's not a bad idea to replace the water pump at same time.

Thanks for your reply RickMN. I'll actually give it a try. Just guessing that my savings may be greater then the 300$ labor as I'm guessing the shop would charge me a fixed price for labor on water pump regardless of the fact that you have done a large chunk of the work to get to it when replacing timing belt. I checked out the library and they have the Chilton's collection... a lot more detailed then Haynes... they didn't have alldata...

they didn't have alldata...

It's available on-line through autozone's site.

According to Toyota, my 99 has a chain, not a belt. Double check that before you buy something.

Thanks... I wish I had the chain too... 96 is a belt... after my first 100K kilometeres, I had it done at dealer....