Holden VZ VE 3.6L V6 Timing Chain Install Kit Procedure DIY

The wiper module comes out after you loosen the 10mm bolts and the electrical connector on the underside of the motor.



On the passenger side you can remove the other small portion under the wiper cowl that leads to the cabin air filter that's located in the passenger corner behind the battery.





With all of the wiper crap out of the way, the padding on the back side of the engine will come off by A) removing the 13mm nut or B) Ripping it all to pieces, I recommend just removing the nut for a clean repair job.


After that, move on to the PCV hoses that enter each side of the intake plenum. Spray them down with some wd40 or something to lubricate them as there is an o-ring that can be damaged otherwise.



You can use a flat screwdriver to pry it out but don't get too carried away. These are kind of long and you'll have to first remove the 10mm bolts that hold the PCV hose to the plenum. Excessive flexing of the PCV hoses on higher mileage cars can cause them to break. The engine bay temps and exposure to oil make convoluted tubing brittle over time.



The rear of the passenger valve cover is the other end of the PCV system. The hoses from the plenum lead to the back and join as one. From there it leads over to the valve cover and clips on to the PCV Orfice. It's a rather simple disconnect tool again providing that age and heat exposure aren't big factors for you.

From under the car, you'll need to remove the "drip pan" and the right front wheel as well as the forward, lower portion of the fender liner. I couldn't find a drain for the radiator but the lower hose is easy enough to access now so I simply removed it.




Prior to removal though, I noticed some coolant and signs of old coolant leaking on to the lower hose and the framework. Come to find out the upper clamp was broken and partially missing. From the top you couldn't even notice it since it appeared to be in place:







A closer look at the upper radiator hose revealed that it too had a broken spring clamp:


I've dealt with a lot of spring clamps over the years but I've never seen two broken on the same car. This guy was lucky it was just a small coolant leak from time to time and not a hose being blown off going down the interstate.


With the antifreeze draining, I moved on to the power steering pulley. This was easy to remove using a kit made just for the job.












Once you assemble the tool over the snout of the pulley you'll use a 1 inch wrench (I think) and a 14mm socket on a breaker bar. The pulley is pressed on and so removal isn't going to allow for it to simply slide right off. With the right tools though, it's not a big deal.


Next was the crank pulley. Take a 3/4 inch socket on an impact gun and the crank bolt walks right out. Next you'll need a second puller kit. I'm using a Matco kit that is used for steering wheels and pulleys.






If you can't thread the kit bolts right in then you'll need to first clean the threads out with either a thread chaser/cleaner or a tap.

In order to remove the timing cover you'll also need to remove the valve covers which means pulling the coils out. Leave the spark plugs in until you're ready to rotate the crankshaft in later steps. This will keep debris from falling down in there.

I marked the variable valve timing solenoids so that I would put them back in the same spot. They all appeared to be the same but when in doubt...



The actuators/solenoids are pretty long and while you can leave them in and remove the cover, I did not because they extend in to the head a little ways and I didn't want to damage them with an excessive angle when removing the cover.


There are very fine screens on these guys, keep them clean and out of the way of the rest of your work. A clogged screen can lead to VVT failure..




I purchased 2 new seals for the solenoids but the design is different and it's not as crystal clear which way is the right way to install them. The old ones are shown below:


Extreme caution should be taken when removing the cover. After the bolts are all removed (including the one from the driver's side, top of the p/s pump bracket) the only thing holding the cover on is RTV. BUT... it's held on really good so don't try and pry the thing off from one spot alone. I used a long flat-blade screwdriver (some may refer to it more as a pry bar) and used the bolt of each camshaft to pry against the cover slowly and gently. I did NOT stay on one spot too long and as soon is it started to loosen in one place, I put a wedge in there and moved to another to keep prying.

Now... one thing to keep in mind is that antifreeze runs through the front cover and goes to the water pump. If you DID NOT remove the water pump then you can expect at LEAST 6 quarts of water to dump in to the timing chain area when you pull the cover off. What you can do is drain the antifreeze, pull the water pump and then elevate the rear of the car and continue to let it drain out of the pump opening. Once it's stopped, lower the rear, raise the front and proceed with cover removal.


With the cover removed you will see every where that the oil drains and possibly even some signs of coolant "seapage" as seen in the center/upper/right portion of this timing cover.

If you have to reset the tensioners at any point, it's not hard. Twist and push in at the same time in order to collapse the spring and lock it in place.




From there you can insert the piston portion of the tensioner back in to the tensioner housing. You may encounter some hydraulic pressure resistance. Try twisting a little and rotating the hole thing around some to make the oil move which will let the piston go the rest of the way in. Once the tensioner is bottomed out, the pin STILL will not go in. You will need to press the piston in a little more and rotate a little more which will allow the flat to line up with the spot for the pin to slide in and hold it in place.

I probably should have mentioned already that if you remove the spark plugs then the engine will rotate easier. You will be able to determine if you're fighting cam lobes or trying to bend valves with them out. If you encounter too much resistance it's probably valves.

Double check and then triple check all of your timing marks. The angles I used for most of the pictures I've provided were done holding a camera down and shooting blindly. For every good picture you see,there's ten more that were out of focus or not aimed right. Point being... use a mirror and a flashlight and after you've triple checked everything, do it AGAIN!!

Once you're CERTAIN you have the timing lined up, remove the retaining pins in all of your tensioners and rotate the engine. Once you rotate it... things will never line up again unless you have the desire to spin the engine over by hand a few hundred times. So you can see the need to make so many checks. With the links lined up properly, rotate the crank pulley only, do NOT use the camshafts to rotate the engine. You will notice some clatter from the tensioners as the chain takes up slack or puts slack in. This is normal. What is NOT normal is if the chain jumps on a gear. Make sure you're watching for that. Also... use fresh engine oil at the least on all of your chains and guides. I used Permatex Engine Assembly lube. I recommend engine assembly lube as well because I honestly believe oil starvation caused this and other chain failures more so than bad chains/guides. Personal opinion though.

Kit came from www.revhigh.com.au
www.revhigh.com.au/#!timing-chains-v6-alloytec-sidi-36l/c1lie


With the timing cover cleaned up I went to prepping the valve covers. The spark plug tube seals did not come with the new valve cover gasket set however, new bolt grommets did. I went to the dealer for those, which they only had two in stock at the time.

The valve cover below is for the passenger side which has the PCV orfice in it. This orfice can be purchased new from the dealer but they may not have it in their local depot. It's less than $20.00 and I'll post up all my parts, pricing and sources later.




On the note of the PCV system... the valve cover design as well as the gasket and cylinder head design really make it look like it's hard for it to suck up any oil.

The underside of the orfice:


In the head:


The Orfice:


I mean... it would have to be a pretty gas-like vapor heavily laiden with oil because I just don't see how it would slosh or get spray right up in to the pcv orfice.