You don't need to remove the crank pulley.

The job is surprisingly simple, once you have the car set up and ready to work on. I have had them go off one tooth (this will set the red triangle and check engine code). The cam gears are VERY easy to turn because of the VVT. So it's not like the old days when you set the timing to TDC, and took everything apart, and nothing moved. It's easy to be off one tooth.

My recommendation is to rotate the engine to TDC, rotate a few degrees back and forth to get everything nice and happy, mark with a paint pen or whatever, then replace the belt. Make sure you mark carefully so you replace it in the same position. Off one tooth will set the CEL.


Water pump is easy, other than where it is located.

Once done, as long as you haven't bumped anything, the engine should rotate freely with a breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt. If everything lines up, you are good.
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Phoenix, AZ

2005 S80 2.5T 92k 2015
Subaru Forester premium manual 10k
2013 Lexus GS 350 26k
Many past 2/7/9 models

If I pick up a cam lock tool (as they are not expensive), do I not eliminate the fear of the cams moving? This seems to me, if I lock the cams, mark the crank pulley, then it is kinda foolproof in lining everything up. The issue I had with my S40 was the CVV cam pulley moved when I took the belt off, and even with the mark, it was not clear if I was a tooth or two off on the belt (I obviously worked it out), but always felt that locking the cams would have solved any issue.

The hardest part is finding the timing notch on the crank pulley. The water pump is usually good for 200K miles, if the antifreeze is flushed and replaced with a quality antifreeze. And the water pump is a pain to R&R because of the gasket sticking to the block.

As for the cams moving, and you have VVT on both cams, the suggestion is to rotate the crank an additional 90 degrees past the timing marks and then counter clockwise back to the marks. This is supposed to take the tension off the VVTs.

If you want to make the crank easier to rotate by hand, remove the spark plugs to eliminate any compression at TDC.

The small plate at the bottom of the crank pulley needs to be removed, 10mm?, to get the belt off.

At minimum, you should get Tbelt, Sbelt, tensioner, rollers. While the belt is off, finger rotate the water pump and check it's bearings - it should be smooth to rotate.

Engine bay space is tight! Visibility is poor. After belt replacement, always rotate the engine 720 degrees while checking for valve resistance and timing marks after rotation.

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Keeping it running is better than buying new

If you have a 2.4 / 2.5 family engine, you don't have to remove the damper pulley. There is a plastic cover that wraps around the lower half of the crank sprocket that you can remove in order to slip the old belt out and the new belt in.

If you aren't replacing the cam seals, or removing the sprockets for any other reason, then you don't need a cam locking tool. BEFORE you remove the old belt, crank everything around clockwise until the cam sprocket marks align with the notches in the upper cover. Then mark the crank sprocket to the engine case with a Sharpie in a way that you understand where it should end up when going back together. I suggest making your own marks as the factory alignment marks are vague at best. Then pull the old belt off. Don't worry about the VVT business - that will take care of itself. If it was timed right before you pulled the old belt off then it will be timed right when you put the new one on.

Whenever I have done this job (only twice) my biggest challenge was the accessory belt - holding the tensioner back while getting the belt routed into place. A third hand would be nice.

Watch this video in order to instill courage. (He removes the damper pulley but it's not necessary.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK_zH8g8Fow

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Current rides: 2005 Volvo S80 2.5T, 2003 Volvo V70 2.4NA, 1973 Volvo 1800ES (getting ever closer to road worthiness)