Monday, January 4, 2010

Kia Sedona Timing Belt "Do it yourself" ?

If you're planning to do the timing belt on your Kia Sedona yourself
GET OUT THE SWEAR JAR!


Thanks to my very knowledgeable friend, Marc (above), my 05 Kia Sedona has a fresh timing belt, water pump, and both serpentine belts. I bought a new tensioner but am returning it to the kia dealer as the old one works just the same as the new one, and the new one runs about $140 w/ tax. I bought most of the other parts at RockAuto.com which proved to be very cheap compared to local auto-parts chains. I used a dayco belt at 64.99. Most local dealers wanted over $110 for whatever they were selling. I could have purchased a Gates from Rock Auto at like $54 but thought dayco would be better. Interesting tidbit here; the OEM was gates, but I couldn't find that info anywhere beforehand. Now you know at my expense. Also, that belt is massive and wide. I sincerely beleive it would last an easy 120k miles. The original was in great shape at 76K miles.

Here's the gist of what's happening behind the plastic covers.
I didn't remember to take pictures until we were putting it back together, but these should prove much more helpful than the nonexistent pics anywhere else.

From under the van looking up

From the front of the van. Yeah DOCH are a *&%^$ to keep right unless you have a special tool for that. They have marks that you line up to be assured everything is in time and at TDC (Top Dead Center), but these things want to spring their own direction, and every tooth counts.

Showing the alternator which had to be removed to get to an engine mound bolt under it. This was a swear jar moment. Actually, it lasted much longer than a moment.
Below shows engine mount that must be removed.


The thing is there's tons of wires and difficult routing, hard to reach bolts, and no manuals available except the $200 manual from the dealer. Yikes. Actually I downloaded one from some website, but it proved to be pretty worthless and only partially accurate.
I hope these pictures help. Good luck.