Replacing the timing belt on an 8-valve Lada Kalina yourself

About the belt

Kalina uses a toothed belt that rotates not only the camshafts, but also the coolant pump. The belt length depends on the engine model. In 16-valve engines, due to the presence of two camshafts, the belt is significantly longer than in 8-valve models with one camshaft.

1 - Crankshaft gear; 2 - Water pump gear; 3 - Tension roller; 4 — Camshaft gear mark strip; 5 - Camshaft gear; 6 - Belt; A-B - Camshaft marks; C-D - Crankshaft marks;

The 16-valve engine belt has 136 teeth with a tooth width of 25.4 mm.

The 8-valve engine belt has 111 teeth with a tooth width of 19 mm.

Replacement procedure

The operation is not particularly difficult, does not require any special equipment, and can easily be done by the hands of the machine owner. In addition to a standard set of wrenches, you will need a good slotted and flat-head screwdriver. Car jack, car body stand, wheel chocks, key for turning the roller in the tensioner. When replacing, you can use any flat horizontal platform on which the machine is installed. The vehicle operating instructions recommend replacing the belt at 50 thousand km, but many owners perform it earlier, at approximately 30 thousand km.

Replacing the timing belt Kalina 8 valves will take place in the following order:

• With the vehicle installed, apply the hand brake and install wheel chocks under the rear wheels. Use a wheel wrench to remove the wheel bolts of the right front wheel.
• Using a car jack, lift the front side of the car on the right side, install a stand under the body sill, and remove the front wheel on this side.
• Open the hood of the engine compartment, since further work will be carried out there.
• To dismantle the timing belt in the timing drive, it is necessary to remove the plastic protective cover, which is secured with three 10mm socket bolts.

Timing cover

• The next step is to remove the belt in the generator drive. You will need a “13” wrench, which is used to unscrew the tensioner nut of the generator set and move the generator as close as possible to the cylinder block body. After such actions, the drive is easily removed from the pulleys.
• Now install the timing drive according to the marks. You will need a socket wrench or a “17” socket, which is used to rotate the pulley on the crankshaft until they match.

Camshaft mark

• To dismantle the belt in the timing drive, it is necessary to stop the crankshaft pulley from turning. You can ask an assistant to engage fifth gear and press the brake pedal.

If this does not help, open the plug on the gearbox housing.

Inspection window plug

Insert the blade of a flat-head screwdriver into the hole between the teeth of the flywheel and the gearbox housing, and unscrew the bolt securing the pulley to the crankshaft.

Crankshaft lock

• To remove the belt, release the tension roller. The bolt securing it is unscrewed, the roller rotates, the tension weakens, after which the old belt is easily removed. It is recommended to simultaneously change the tension roller, which is removed from the block, at the same time as the drive. There is an adjusting washer installed under it, which some “repairers” lose.
• Inspect the pulleys on the crankshaft and camshaft, paying attention to the wear of their teeth. If such wear is noticeable, the pulleys should be replaced, as the contact area with the belt teeth is reduced and they can be sheared.

They also check the technical condition of the coolant pump, which is also driven by a toothed belt. Basically, the belt shearing occurs after the coolant pump is jammed. If the pump is changed, you need to drain some antifreeze from the engine cooling system.

• Install the new tension roller in its place. Do not forget about the adjusting washer between the cylinder block and the roller, otherwise the belt will move to the side when rotating.
• Installation of a new belt is carried out in the reverse order, but before that, check again how the gas distribution marks match. You need to start the installation with the camshaft pulley, then put it on the crankshaft pulley and the pump pulley. This part of the belt should be tensioned without any possible sagging, and the opposite side should be tensioned with a tension roller.
• Installing the pulley on the crankshaft will again require securing it from possible rotation.
• Next, put the protective covers in place and adjust the generator drive.

After installing the timing drive, be sure to turn the engine crankshaft several revolutions, while checking that all installation marks match.

Setting marks

The efficiency of the motor depends on the correctness of this operation. There are three of them on the engine, which are located on the camshaft and rear protective shield housing, crankshaft pulley and cylinder block, gearbox housing and flywheel. There is a pin on the camshaft pulley that must be aligned with the bend on the rear timing cover housing. The crankshaft pulley also has a pin that is aligned with a mark on the cylinder block. The mark on the flywheel must coincide with the mark on the gearbox housing; these are the most important marks that show that the piston of the first cylinder is at the TDC point.

Mark on the flywheel

Correct belt tension

The tension roller is an important part of the gas distribution system on the Lada Kalina. If you tighten it, this will greatly accelerate the wear of the mechanism; if the tension is weak, ignition failure may occur due to the belt slipping. The amount of tension is adjusted by turning the tension roller on its axis. To do this, there are two holes on the roller into which a key is inserted to rotate the tensioner. It is also possible to rotate the roller using pliers to remove the retaining rings.

“Craftsmen” act differently; they use drills or nails with a suitable diameter, which are inserted into the holes. A screwdriver is placed between them, the handle of which is used as a lever to turn the tension roller to the left or right until the desired result is obtained. The correct tension will be when the body of the belt between the pulleys can be turned 90 degrees with your fingers, and after releasing the belt returns to its original state. If this condition is met, tighten the fasteners in the tensioning device.

Consequences of a broken belt

A design feature of the 16-valve engines on the Lada Kalina is that the valves bend when the belt breaks. This defect is caused by the absence of grooves in the pistons, but the absence of grooves is not due to a mistake by AvtoVAZ engineers, it is necessary to increase the compression ratio in the combustion chamber. Therefore, a broken belt in a 16-valve engine foreshadows a major and expensive repair in 99% of cases.

Bent valves due to broken timing belt

To prevent the belt from breaking, it is recommended to monitor it every 20,000 km and check it.

This problem is not observed on 8-valve engines.

Engine VAZ 21114

This power unit is an injection gasoline engine with a displacement of 1600 cm3. This is a modernized version of the VAZ 2111 engine. The cylinder block is cast from cast iron, four cylinders are located in one row. The valve train of this engine has eight valves. The injector made it possible to significantly improve the car’s dynamics and fuel economy. Its parameters comply with Euro-2 standards.

The valve mechanism drive uses a toothed belt, which somewhat reduced the cost of the power unit, but requires high-quality, timely maintenance of the timing drive. The design of the piston head provides recesses that completely eliminate the possibility of damage to the valve mechanism if the timing belt is damaged or installed incorrectly. Manufacturers guarantee a motor life of 150 thousand km; in practice, it can be more than 250 thousand km.

The best timing belt for Lada Kalina

Choosing the best belt for Kalina is quite difficult, since when purchasing you can run into counterfeits of famous brands such as Gates and Dayco. It is these two brands that are most often counterfeited, since they are bought much more often than others. It is recommended to purchase products only from trusted stores.

From the factory, the standard belt on all Lada models is installed by Gates; AvtoVAZ gives its preference to it.

The table below shows timing belts for Lada Kalina with article numbers.

Video about setting marks on Kalina's 8-valve valve

When performing all work, do not close the hood and start the engine. If everything is installed correctly, then there should be no extraneous noise or creaks in the operation of the motor. With a well-tensioned drive, the engine should not move in “waves”, that is, regardless of the speed, the engine should not deviate from stable operation. If the belt is tensioned too much, a peculiar “hum” from the tension roller may be observed. If this happens, loosen the roller and fix everything again. Upon completion of all work, reinstall the belt and engine cover.

How long does it take to replace it?

The factory operating instructions for the vehicle recommend replacing the timing belt after a mileage of 75 thousand km. This standard is not always followed by owners, and there are good reasons for this. How long the drive lasts before replacement depends on many factors. This is the quality of the parts used, the operating conditions of the vehicle, and the technical condition of the engine. During each maintenance, the tension and condition of the timing drive should be checked. If cracks, peeling, or other damage appears, the belt should be replaced.

With a high mileage of the car, natural wear of the crankshaft and camshaft pulleys occurs, this significantly reduces the service life of the entire timing drive. The drive is also afraid of engine oil getting into the belt operating area. It softens its structure, the teeth are easily cut off. If the car has been sitting idle for a long time, it is also better to replace the drive due to its aging. Most owners and experts recommend changing the belt after a mileage of 50 thousand km.

Preparatory work

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Tighten the Lada Kalina alternator belt

Today is December 1, 2015, I replaced this belt

on the generator for a new one, mileage 60,000.

Before tightening the alternator belt on Kalina, carry out a number of preparatory work:

1. Clean the tensioner nuts on the generator from dust and dirt using a metal brush, you can spray them with WD-40 so it will be easier to turn them.

2. Prepare the necessary tools. To work, you will need a nineteen and eight millimeter wrench.

If you find that the belt is loose, do not delay the work. Please note that due to such a malfunction, the efficiency of the generator decreases, interruptions in voltage appear in the on-board network, loud “slipping” of the belt on the pulley and other unpleasant problems.

Necessary tools and accessories

To work, we will need a set of keys and sockets, as well as a 5-point hex and a key for the tension roller. The entire procedure takes approximately one and a half hours.

The Kalina engine is very similar to the eighth.

Features of alternator belt diagnostics

If one of the above symptoms appears, you should immediately check the tension of the alternator belt on Kalina. It's easy to do.

Press the belt with a certain force (about three kilograms) and use a ruler to measure the deflection. If it is more than one centimeter, then the belt requires adjustment.

A more accurate test can be performed using a dynamometer. In this case, you need to pull the belt with a force of 10 kg*s (you will see these readings on the instrument scale) and estimate the deflection distance (it should be no more than 1-1.5 cm).

STAGE 1

We drive the car into the inspection hole and lift the front right wheel with a jack. We remove the wheel and, opening the hood, let the engine cool. It is desirable that the engine temperature is approximately 60 degrees Celsius. Before getting to the Kalina timing belt, you need to remove the generator belt and its drive pulley on the crankshaft.

The generator drive device is shown in the photo below:

FIGURE 4 Installing the generator belt for 8 valve Kalina

As can be seen from the photo, the generator belt is tensioned using a roller. To remove the poly V-belt, you need to loosen the tension on this roller. To do this, you first need to loosen the rod locknut with a wrench (19). We loosen the lock nut and use a wrench ( we tighten the rod itself until the belt loosens and it becomes possible to remove it. Now it’s time to get to the generator drive pulley on the crankshaft. To do this, you need to go down into the pit and remove the engine “boot” protection on the right side. Also you need to remove the flywheel protection, which is secured with three bolts (10) from the bottom of the engine, on the gearbox housing. We remove the protection and, by inserting a flat-head screwdriver between the teeth of the ring gear and the gearbox housing, we will lock the flywheel. This is necessary so that when the bolt is unscrewed, the crankshaft does not turn. Bolt ( the key 17) is tightened very tightly, so to unscrew it, you will need to apply some force. To do this, it is better to use a socket with the same size and a pipe as a lever. After tearing off the bolt, unscrew and remove the generator drive pulley.