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By Sprawn, February 9, 2012 in Performance, Engines, Engine Swaps, Cornering



I recently had a massive coolant leak from the water pump on my '92 Corolla Wagon with a 4A-FE engine. The car never had a new timing belt put in, and it started blowing loads of steam out of the exhaust, and the coolant was frothy. So I figured that as long as I was down there, I would do the water pump, timing belt, and head gasket. Everything went very well. I replaced a whole slew of cracked vacuum hoses under the intake manifold. Everything went well and easy like I would expect from a major Toyota repair (major to me, at least!).

But... I forgot to install the "service bolt" when I removed the exhaust cam. For those familiar with the design, the exhaust cam runs as a "slave" to the intake cam off a timing belt. The exhaust cam slave gear has an "end gear"... basically, the gear is split into two gears, the "end gear" has an internal torsion spring with a stop... I think this is to prevent whining or clicking between the two gears, like in a manual transmission. I can't twist the end gear by hand. I don't know how to get the gears aligned. I had the "service bolt" sitting there waiting to go as I removed the camshaft, it just slipped my mind! Any help?

  • 1 post

put your camshaft on a vice at the wrench side of the cam, used a oil wrench belt on the gear and twist it until it's aligned, and then insert your valve cover bolt.

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