Rover 75 1997cc six-cylinder front timing belt & water pump
1 Chris Flanagan at Retro Sports Cars started the job by removing the engine cover, which is secured with two 8mm bolts, although on this occasion Rob Hawkins took the opportunity to get his hands photographed.
2 The air filter housing was the next component to be removed. After undoing the Jubilee clip underneath it for the induction hose, Chris pulled the housing up and away from where it’s fitted inside the engine bay.
3 The upper inlet manifold has to be removed, so Chris detached the breather pipes across the top of the engine, along with a cruise control pipe (suspended aside) and a high-pressure fuel hose at the back of the throttle body. Fuel spurted out, but we had some clean rags to soak it up.
4 Anything connected to the throttle body had to be disconnected, including wiring plugs, fuel lines and the throttle cable. The wiring was traced back and detached from any mounting brackets.
6 Chris detached a small bulkhead panel, secured with two 8mm bolts. He could then reach down and find a steady bar bracket for the inlet manifold and undo a further two 8mm bolts to release the manifold.
7 The inlet manifold with throttle body was lifted free and the inlets on the cylinderhead blocked with paper towels to prevent debris, tools and other unwanted objects from falling inside the engine.
8 The Rover 75 was raised on the ramp, then its undertray was detached before draining 1.5-2 litres of engine oil. This is required to enable the dipstick tube to be taken off and prevent oil from dripping out.
9 Still working underneath the front of the vehicle, Chris slackened two 13mm bolts for the bottom of the oil cooler. He then removed two long 10mm bolts for the air-con pump, which were difficult to find and access from underneath with a universal joint – or via the offside front wheelarch.
10 After removing the offside front road wheel, Chris removed a few plastic trim screws for the wheelarch liner, then moved it aside, but left it fitted. This provided access to the front pulley and the 10mm air-con pump bolts mentioned in the last step.
11 In the engine bay, Chris slackened the 22mm banjo bolt for the power steering’s highpressure pipe. Some fluid leaked out, so he placed a nitrile glove around the end to prevent the fluid leaking down the engine. If a power steering pressure sensor is fitted, it needs to be disconnected.
5 Securing the inlet manifold were four 10mm bolts, which were straightforward to access and slacken. However, there were more fittings to undo before the inlet manifold could be removed.
12 The upper auxiliary drivebelt front cover was removed, secured with two 10mm bolts. Next, the offside engine mount was removed by undoing a series of 15mm bolts and one 18mm nut. The engine was supported from underneath with a trolley jack and block of wood.
13 With the engine mount removed from the offside front inner wing, the other half of the mount was still attached to the engine, so four 13mm bolts were undone to enable it to be detached.
14 Using a 3/8in breaker bar to turn the automatic tensioner for the auxiliary drivebelt and take the tension off the drivebelt, Chris carefully took off the drivebelt and placed it aside.
15 Next, the power steering pump was removed by undoing three 10mm bolts. The low-pressure hose was still attached to it, so Chris placed the pump aside on top of the slam panel.
16 The alternator was removed by undoing one 10mm and one 13mm mounting bolt. Its electrical plug was also disconnected before removing it from the engine bay and placing it aside for refitting later.
17 Two more auxiliary drivebelt pulleys had to be removed. The first was for the tensioner assembly, which is fitted to the front of the engine with two 10mm bolts. The second was an idler pulley, secured with one Torx T50 bolt.
18 We were almost ready to see the timing belt. After undoing one 8mm bolt for the dipstick tube, it was extracted, then three 8mm bolts were undone for the top timing belt cover. We could now see the timing belt.
19 From inside the offside front wheel arch, the 22mm crankshaft pulley bolt was undone and the pulley was removed. Next, the plastic lower timing belt cover could be detached by undoing its three 8mm bolts.
20 The large alloy front timing belt cover was lifted off. It was secured with two 21mm bolts, an additional five 15mm bolts and two more 13mm bolts near the top. Thanks to its size it was a struggle to free it.
21 Chris manually rotated the engine clockwise via the crankshaft pulley bolt until a marking on the bottom timing cog was at 12 o’clock, and it lined up with a marking on the oil pump. However, the engine could have been 180° out, so…
22 …he extracted the end caps for the camshaft pulleys and tried to fit the appropriate locking tools. If the tools didn’t fit, he would have needed to rotate the crankshaft 360° and try again. On this occasion, it was first time lucky.
23 The timing belt tensioner was removed by undoing two 10mm bolts, then the locking tools were taken off to enable the timing belt to come off. We noticed that the old timing belt was a genuine Rover item.
24 The idler pulley nearest the front of the engine bay was renewed by undoing its 13mm centre bolt. A little thread lock was applied to the mounting bolt before refitting it.
25 The other idler pulley, which acts against the timing belt tensioner, was also renewed. This is fitted with one 13mm bolt, and thread lock was used when refitting it. Chris checked the orientation of the new tensioner to the old one to make sure the hexagonal hole and Allen key bolt were the same. He also checked the Allen key bolt was tight.
26 We were also renewing the water pump, which is secured to the front of the engine with six 10mm bolts. Some coolant leaked out and was collected in a container. The new genuine water pump was supplied with a seal, which was dry-fitted in position. The mounting bolts were tightened with added thread lock.
27 The old timing belt tensioner could be reused, so Chris compressed it in a vice, fitted a locking pin, and refitted it onto the engine with one of its bolts. He then fitted the new timing belt.
28 Chris refitted the locking tools, then slackened the cam pulleys’ 19mm centre bolts and turned both pulleys fully clockwise. This helped to take up some of the slack in the timing belt.
29 The second 10mm mounting bolt for the tensioner was refitted, and the locking pin (fitted to it in step 27) was taken out, allowing the belt to be further tensioned. We stopped for tea, allowing the tensioner time to settle and apply tension to the belt.
30 Chris tightened the two camshaft pulley bolts to 27Nm followed by 90°. He then removed the locking tools and completed two manual turns of the engine before refitting the locking tools to make sure the engine was correctly timed up.