Chevy Aveo Timing Belt Replacement

My 2006 Aveo recently surpassed 60k miles. The service interval at this mileage calls for the Timing belt to be replaced.

This is an extremely important service.

If the timing belt breaks (and they will) - the pistons will smash into the valves- ruining the entire engine. There is no other way around this. Many owners are changing the belt at 50k miles, just to be on the safe side....( a quick internet search will reveal stories of early failures) - but most will make it safely to the service interval. Don't press your luck. I drove mine to 62,499. The belt I pulled off was well worn. So I'm glad to have changed it when I did.

The trouble is. This service isn't cheap.
Aveo owners are all about saving money, and that means doing things themselves.

Many things are easy to figure out on your own, but not this timing belt.
So this is why I documented my swap and am presenting it to you here.

So you can save money (@$250-300!!) and have the satisfaction of a job done right- yourself!

On top of that, I'm providing links to all the parts I used, so you can litteraly get started on this task right from the chair your sitting in! Thats convienient! (and saves you gas money driving around to stores that dont even carry these parts yet).

I did it myself, and with a little patience you can too. And to make super simple...and cost effective, you can order the exact same kit I used from the same place I bought mine by clicking on the highlighted text.

For the timing belt kit I used a Contitech kit. Which at the time cost me 101.75 The price should still be dropping. Mine came in the box pictured above, and included a quality tensioner pully and idler pulley.

I also added a water pump gasket for .75 cents.

It came with the belt ( a NICE Contitech belt that appears to be of better quality than the other brands I've seen) an idler pulley and tensioner pully. Both are GMB brands. I had a chance to see tensioner from another brand and it was much more cheaply made, (with a weaker spring too!!!).

So I give the Contitech kit my thumbs up. I also ordered the Waterpump O-ring gasket since I'm not changing the water pump this time around.

( changing the waterpump requires that the cam gears be removed and thats a little more involved than I want to get right now. I'm going to press my waterpump to 110k miles of service. But since it gets disturbed I'm using a new gasket to avoid leaks. The old gasket is crushed flat and will leak once disturbed so this .75cent gasket is a lifesaver).

So without any further ado... here's a part and tool list, and the how -to.

Disclaimer...I'm not telling anybody that this is what must be done. I'm simply showing what I did, and how I saved money doing it. Follow these instructions at your own risk. Safety first.

20+ picture write up comming soon!!! 8-12-09