I decided to do a timing beltjob on my '00 camry. It has 91,000km on it and the schedule maintenancefactory sticker says replace every 100,000km. I felt bored so I decidedto do it early. Here are the parts I bought in advance:

Timing Belt S$45
Timing Bearing #1 S$25
Timing Bearing #2 S$30
PS Belt S$8
AC/Alternator Belt S$20



I start by putting a jack stand on the right:



I remove the splash guard exposing the crank pulley:



Next I loosen the alternator locking bolt, tension bolt and hinge bolt and remove the alternator our of the way:



Here's a pic of the ac/alternator drive belt,coolant reservoir and alternator removed. Also notice I removed all thespark plugs and put a compression gauge on cylinder #1. This is toensure when the crank is at 0 degs, cylinder #1 is TDC at compressionstroke and not exhaust stroke, at the same time the camshaft gearshould line up perfectly with the marking at vertical engine position:



Then I proceed to remove the top engine mount. Haynes manual says Ineed to jack the engine from the oil pan a bit, but it wasnt necessaryat all:



Next I removed the timing belttop cover. It was a little bit difficult to get the top cover out costhe master cylinder was blocking on RHD cars. Here's a pic with mybuddy's fingers pressing on the belt. He was on leave today and came over to chat but ending up getting a lesson in timing belt change. LOL. I was surprised the timing belt was kinda loosey loosey when I press my finger on it. Even though the beltlooked in good condition and could go for another 100k but it obviouslyhas stetched over the last 6 years. Im glad I decided to change the belt early:



I tried in vain to remove my crankshaft pulley bolt with my impactwrench but it just wouldnt budge. Haynes manual says to open theflywheel inspection cover and jam a crowbar in the teeth while gettinga long 4' long breaker bar to remove the bolt. Well my inspection coveris blocked by my exhaust and Im not prepared to dismantle my exhaust! Ithought about removing the starter motor and jamming the flywheel fromthere, but I learned a trick from my Australian Tech friend on how heremoves the crankshaft bolt. Just stick a wrench on the crankshaftpulley bolt and brace it against something solid. In my case, it wasbraced against my lower A-Arm. One blip of the starter and presto, thebolt came loose!



Here's a pic of how NOT to remove your crankshaft pulley! Haynes manualsays if it doesnt slide out, pry it out. But that didnt work. And Imnot prepared to specially order a SST just to remove a 5SFE crankshaftpulley. So I guess my S$12 gear puller will have to do.



Here's a pic of why not to use a S$12 gear puller, also pictured is abrand new crankshaft pulley in the box that cost me another S$150 formy silly mistake. If you do send your vehicle to a mechanic for a timing beltchange, make sure he has a SST for your specific crankshaft pulley!Otherwise you'll end up like me. Or worse yet, he might not tell you hechipped your pulley and just put it back without you knowing. Or maybehe might unsrupulously bill you for a new crankshaft pulley and sayyour old one was worn out. LOL. Hey that tripod looks like it came fromWar of the Worlds, doesnt it?



Here's a pic with the upper and lower timing belt cover removed. Power Steering belt is also removed at this stage. Just 1 bolt loosens the power steering pump:



Here's a pic with the timing belt removed:



Now here's a trick I learned from the Haynes manual. Before you remove your old timing belt, mark the camshaft gear and timing belt position and the crankshaft gear and timing belt position with white marker. In my case I just used white liquid paper. So when I removed the old belt, I could also count the teeth on my new belt and mark it similarly:



Here's a pic with the new belt installed with new bearings. Look neat huh? The white marks I made lined up perfectly:



Checking the alignment of the camshaft gear with the marking was perfectly aligned:



And of course, as all good owners should do, I put a label on the my timing belt cover with the date and mileage of my timing belt job:



Errr....installation is the reverse of removal. The upper timing beltcover was a pain to put on again since the master cylinder on RHD carswas blocking. But I lifted the engine a bit with a jack and block ofwood on the oil pan and it seemed to give me just enuf clearance to putit back.