In this and the next page we will illustrate how to replace the timing belt on 1993-1997 Geo Prizm. The vehicle we are working on is a 1995 Geo Prizm equipped with a 1.6L engine, the engine code is 4A-FE, this is a Toyota engine, it can also be found on 1993-1997 Toyota Corolla.

Even though this engine is a DOHC design, when we went to buy the timing belt component kit at the parts store they showed it as SOHC because it only has one camshaft sprocket, the second camshaft is gear driven by the first camshaft.  Pay attention when buying the timing belt for your car, if your vehicle has 2 camshaft sprockets the steps on this page won't apply.   

   

    

    

    

    

    

    



    

    

  

   

   

   

   
 

 

 

 

 To be able to perform this repair, it is necessary to remove the right wheel and the splash guard from the wheel well, set the parking brake and place wheel chucks on the rear tires for added safety, loosen the wheel lug nuts as shown in the image, next lift the front end of the vehicle with a floor jack and set it on jackstands, remove the passenger side wheel.


















 Disconnect the negative battery cable, remove the two bolts that secure the wiring harness located above the valve cover and slide the harness over the front of the valve cover                  

 

 

 

 

 Next, disconnect the spark plug wires from the spark plugs and set them aside.


















 Disconnect the vacuum hose and the PCV valve.
















 Remove the 4 nuts and 4 washers that secure the valve cover in place and remove the valve cover.















 Remove the upper timing belt cover and set it aside. 














 Loosen the bolts that secure the alternator, next, using the belt adjuster located on the lower side of the alternator, release the tension from the belt and remove it from the vehicle.















 Loosen the AC belt tensioner retaining nut.





















 Release the belt tension by loosening the adjusting bolt as shown in the image, remove the AC belt.


















 Before removing the power steering belt, loosen the bolts at the water pump pulley, don't remove them yet, just loosen them for now.



















 Loosen the upper and lower power steering pump bolts and slide the pump toward the engine to release the belt tension, remove the belt and set it aside, remove the water pump pulley retaining bolts.
















 Remove the bolts that secure the splash guard in place and remove it from the vehicle.

















 Set the timing mark on the harmonic balancer on TDC as shown in the image.















 To make sure that the car is in its TDC compression stroke align the orifice on the camshaft sprocket with the dot on the camshaft bearing cap as shown in the image.


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