Hello,

I have a 2000 Ranger with the 2.5L motor. It has 152K miles. I believe the timing belt is still original. I'm planning out the replacement job. The official Ford Service manual states that the AC refrigerant must be recovered, and the compressor/power steering bracket removed so that the timing cover can come off. For those of you who have replaced your own timing belts is there a work-around so that I don't have to open up the AC system?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Don Verbeck

__________________
2000 Ford Ranger XL, 2.5L, Automatic, Bright Atlantic Blue. Former owner of a 2006 Ranger XLT, 2.3L, 5 speed

recently I changed the timing belt w/o removing the AC hoses, just loosen it from the bracket (unscrew the 4 bolts holding the compressor down, then remove bracket bolts (4). Leave the Power Steering pump untouched.
good luck!

-Joe

Yea you can just unbolt it and carefully tie it or bungee strap it out of the way enough to do the job.

Thanks for the response folks. Unfortunately, I had the AC refrigerant recovered before I saw the replies!

__________________
2000 Ford Ranger XL, 2.5L, Automatic, Bright Atlantic Blue. Former owner of a 2006 Ranger XLT, 2.3L, 5 speed