OK, so i decided to change my timing belt on my 02 Elantra GLS this past weekend as I am at 94,000 miles and had never changed any of the accessory belts let alone the timing belt. I decided I would change all three accessory belts (Power Steering, Air Conditioning and water/Alternator), the timing belt, the timing belt tensioner, and the water pump if I was going to have everything apart anyway. This should ensure I will not have to go back in there until I get rid of the car (should go another 94,000 miles). Note to those who would say I was negligent in not changing the timing belt sooner, belt wear is most often associated with age rather than mileage. Since recommended belt change is at 60K miles which based on the average driving rate of 12K miles a year, a timing belt should last 5 years regardless of mileage. (My belt still looked in great shape when I took it off).

I bought all Hyundai OEM parts which cost about 250 bucks from my dealer for the water pump, gasket, timing belt, tensioner, and three accessory belts. OEM is more expensive but nothing beets OEM in terms of guaranteed fit and function...they designed the car after all.

To anyone debating whether they can do this themselves, if you can turn a wrench and take your time, you can do it. This was by far the biggest job I have ever done and I only had hand tools (no air tools) and I was able to do this with only a few snags. Took me a day and a half to finish the job. This included stopping to celebrate St. Patricks day with some green beer and also replacing a wheel stud that broke off when removing the tire (Thanks to Dennis Hyundai of Dublin for crossthreading the damn lugnut when they did my alignment last month....F___kers!)

There have been several other installs posted so I'll hit the highlights (snags) of my experience and try to provide some tips.

1. Take your time and remove as much stuff as you can. It will take some extra time but the extra space to work in will make the actual timing belt job easier and quicker. I took out the entire radiator assembly (I had to drain coolant for the water pump any way) and the Alternator. I unbolted the P/S pump and pushed it to the side. See the amount of room to work in when this stuff is gone below:
(IMG:http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7023/dscn06720yh.jpg)
(IMG:http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/6018/dscn06746ys.jpg)

2. Removing the engine mount: You have to remove this anyway in order to change the belt but you can also use this to your advantage. I put a jack with a large baord under the oil pan and took off the mount. However, once the mount is off, you can jack the engine up higher to access things easier such as the water pump pulley bolts or drop it all the way down (to the point the jack no longer supports it...it will not fall) to access the crack pulley easier.

(IMG:http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5607/dscn06796xa.jpg)
Engine jacked up with Engine Mount Removed


3.First Snag I hit was trying to remove the Crank Shaft Pulley. I was able to get the crank shaft pulley bolt off easily by using this method. Put a socket with a breaker bar on the bolt and lay the breaker bar end on the forward car frame. Pull the Fuel Pump Fuse and quickly crank the engine with the ignition. Since the engine rotates clockwise, it should pop the bolt right out...mine did. However, once the bolt was out, the pulley would not budge off the shaft. After an hour of tugging, pulling, hitting and cursing... I posted in this forum for help and was told to use a pulley puller. Got one the next day and it came right off in two mintues....SWEET! Another tip for the crank pulley is for the reinstallation. Fitting the pulley back on the shaft can be tight. If you soak the pulley in hot water for 20 minutes prior to installing, it will expand enough that putting it back on the shaft and lining it up with the key will be a snap.

(IMG:http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/3316/009469030009fi.jpg)
Gear Puller

4. People fret too much about screwing up the timing when replacing the belt. Just be careful and you will be fine. There is no need to place the engine at Top Dead Center as HMA and other people say. Just mark the cam sprocket, belt and engine block at the same place and then do the same to the crack sprocket. Take the belt off, tranfer these markings to the new belt making sure you have the same number of grooves between the markings, put the new belt on and line all the markings up again. The cam and crank sprockets DO NOT rotate easily...they will not just rotate out of place on their own. Also, before removing the old belt, take a picture of the timing belt tensioner. It has a center bolt hole with an offset keyhole for adding tension. By knowing where (i.e. 5 o clock) the offset hole is, you can set the tension on the new belt by rotating the timing belt tensioner to the same position so the offset hole is back at the same position.

(IMG:http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/7583/dscn06819qj.jpg)
Cam Sprocket Markings

(IMG:http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/613/dscn06829jf.jpg)
Crank Shaft Markings

(IMG:http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/1148/dscn06835mp.jpg)
Old and New Timing Belt Tensioners (New is on the left)

(IMG:http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/8603/dscn06895pe.jpg)
Old and new Timing Belts (New is on the right)

5. Water Pump: This is such an easy thing to do while everything is opened up, it would be stupid not to do it.Once all the bolts are removed, just tap it with a hammer and it will begin to pop off. Have a bucket handy as the coolant that is trapped in the engine will drain right down the side of the engine. The old pumped looked in good shape but I'm sure it would not last another 94K miles. Use a drill with wire brush or dremel with similar attachment to remove old gasket material...this is important for good seal. Use permatex on both sides of the new gasket. This job is a piece of cake if you already have everything else opened up for the timing belt.

(IMG:http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2059/dscn06848nq.jpg)
Coolant draing from Pump

(IMG:http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3362/dscn06850hm.jpg)
Old and new pumps (new pump on right)

(IMG:http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/489/dscn06871yb.jpg)
Mounting surface before removing old gasket

(IMG:http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/2862/dscn06909zl.jpg)
Pump and new timing belt installed

Everthing went back together as easy as pie. I would definately try this again if I have another vehicle requiring this.

well done! thanks for the all the information you have given for other owners of this model and for taking the time to post it here :liebe011:

Wonderful post. Thank you! :clap:

I'm going to tackle this very soon. Any more tips are :00000732: . I did this with my Neon and this look very similar. Great tips reb162 :liebe011: .

This post has been edited by Jon_Elantra02: Jun 23 2007, 06:43 PM

This is probably the best writeup I've seen. It should have all the information you need.

Thanks for the write-up, and especially the pictures.

I have one small disagreement with your suggestions. Regarding the water pump, you said to put permatex on BOTH sides of the gasket. I believe this is a mistake, and will make removing the water pump much more difficult the next time. You have essentially glued the water pump to the block. Remember how easily it came loose with just a few hammer taps? Well, not the next time!

Instead, use permatex only on the accessory side of any component; never on the block or head side. That will be enough to hold the gasket in place while wou position it, and get the bolts started. Also when you remove a component that has had the gasket glued only to the component, (and not the block or head) clean up is much easier. You avoid having to bust knuckles trying to scrape off that old goo that remained behind. You simply take the piece to your workbench and clean it there.

All in all a very complete write up. How about a thread devoted only to DIY write-ups like this one?

As a retired mechanic of 30 years all I can say is "VERY GOOD".

Can anybody tell me why you replace the water pump because it does not interfere with the timing belt?.

I changed the water pump because it made sense, not because I had to for the timing belt. I figured I had 90K miles on the car and I did not want to be doing this for another 90K and the water pump is a no brainer (simple) to do if you already have this kind of access. This is the same reason I changed the other accesory belts and the tensioner. Bottom line is I'd rather be drinking then be back in that area of the car again so it was worth the few bucks.

I just completed this job on my 02 elantra w/ the help of this post...thanks a bunch. Not too bad, just took my time and was careful about everything. Certainly the biggest job I have done on a car. Used the engine starter trick to loosen the crankshaft pulley bolt...worked like a charm. Then the pulley came right off, no puller needed.
I replaced all of the accessory belts, and the ac belt was really chewed up. Also, I decided to not replace the water pump at this time...book says it's under warranty for another 4.5 yrs since I am the original owner.
Sorry to ramble, im just so excited to have completed this job.

and I'm having a hard time removing the Crank Shaft Bolt out, tried a socket on a ratchet then impact gun... nothing so far, I was wondering how long should I cranking the motor up, I tried it couple of times and what's happening is the Crank Shaft Pulley rotates but the bolt is not coming out... HELP :(

ok, false alarm, I got my belt off and now I'm taking a break :) it's 90 degrees out there :/

FINISHED and everything works ;) now it seams it's an easy job :) and by the way I left an alternator as it was mounted, just loosened bolts, the same with radiator, when I looked at it, it seamed like much more additional work and I didn't have any problems with those parts during the job,

big thanks for your post reb162

This post has been edited by PeterFLA: Oct 24 2007, 08:43 PM

great thread,helped me out changing the belt on my dads 02 elentra gls....I have the new belt on just need to assemble everything...he has 60,000 miles on it and I am putting the new timing belt along with new accessory belts...gotta finish it tommrow :beer:

I have a mystery bolt left over....has me going WTF because I dont have any empty threads on the engine now

im a ****,it was right in front of me :banana:

you dont have to mark the belt/cam gears with the crank gear with a pen. look on the cam gear and you see a lil hole turn the crankshaft with the bolt still in, the crank pulley still on and the bottom cover still on. On the bottom cover you will see some marks and it will be labeled "T", align the crank pulley with the "T" and the lil hole in the cam gear with the red dot on the side of the head. This is TDC. You do NOT have to remove as much as things as you did, you made more work for yourself removing the radiator. The age old replacement of the water pump while doing the timing belt is also a waste of time and money on this particular engine. These pumps only get replaced when they actually go bad which is rare on these cars. You did not have to completely removed the alternator either. only loosen it and swing it up to take tension off the accessory belts for removal. Other then that good job for attempting it yourself and not bending any valves.

Does anyone know if this procedure would be the same for a 2003 Elantra GT (manual)?

thanks

Yes, they all have the 2.0L Beta II engine.

Just a couple of points for others attempting a tbelt: The timing marks are there for a purpose, use them, it doesn't take any longer. If you get coolant on the belts it will degrade them. No sealant is required for clean, dry surfaces. Tension the belt with a hex wrench in the socket provided, not too tight not too loose. You don't gain anything by removing the alternator, radiator etc. leave them in place or replace the clamps if you do remove the hoses. To get the crank pulley off slide a screwdriver/small prybar behing each side and gently rock side to side. No puller is required.

Great run down on this service. I was a bit concerned about trying this myself, but your step by step detail make it look relatively simple. I'll be doing this on my 2005 Elantra in the coming weeks.

Thanks!