What I learned changing my timing belt
I've got an 88 2.3 that I bought in 1992. I don't think I've ever had the timing belt changed in that time. If I have, I don't remember it. I decided to do it myself over the weekend, after watching whatever youtube videos I could and collecting the tools and parts that I thought I would need. I bought a Gates timing belt kit with the tensioner included. I bought a water pump and crankshaft seal to replace while doing the job. Aside from the usual wrenches (8mm, 10mm, 13mm, 14mm, 17mm,) and sockets of the same size along with a 22mm for the crank bolt, you'll also need a pry bar for the tensioner (Harbor Freight has a pry bar kit that was perfect), big cheater bar and large torque wrench and some clean-up stuff. You'll also need more time than you think you will, or at least I did. I spent 8 hours on this job, which of course is ridiculous, but it was my first time and I made some basic mistakes that added a LOT of time to the job. Here's what I did wrong, and right. Maybe it will help some other novice out.
Start out by setting TDC, pull the timing cover plug and get your marks lined up. Here's the deal, when you take off the crank bolt (if you don't have air tools like I didn't) your marks will move. Don't worry about it. Take off your fan from the water pump. I made my first mistake by detaching the fan blade bolts as well. Unnecessary waste of time. Loosen alternator bolts and take off serpentine belt. Put your big socket on the crank bolt with cheater bar. I had my cheater bar wedged against the pavement, but I guess you can lay it against the frame. Take off coil wire and give the turn key briefly. Crank bolt is loose and your timing mark is wrong. Turn the pulley by hand back to the mark. Take off your timing cover and crank pulley. My pulley came off easily, but you may need a pulley puller.
This is where I took off my old water pump. Pretty easy. Undo your hoses, then 3 bolts and a rap with a rubber hammer. Have a drain pan down there for the coolant. Scraping the old gasket off took a lot of time. It was pretty stubborn. Plug the hole with a clean rag while you work. Get it clean. Install new water pump.
Time for the new timing belt. This is where I fumbled around a bit because I wasn't sure how to deal with the tensioner. I eased the tension on the bolt and tried to move the tensioner. It didn't budge. I wasn't sure where to place the pry bar because I didn't want to damage anything and the back cover is plastic. Then I loosened the bolt holding the spring and tried to pry it again. It still didn't move. Finally I loosened the spring bolt some more and put a screwdriver against the spring which popped it loose. Took off the belt and tensioner and put the new tensioner in. Then I spent a lot of time cleaning all the grime in the area and on the timing cover. By this time the sun was sinking fast and I made a half-hearted attempt to remove the crank gear to install the new crank seal. It was recessed and getting something like a gear puller in back of it was difficult. I decided I didn't have time and moved on to installing the new belt. Now the headaches began.
By reading about timing belts on other models, I got it into my head that I had to line up marks on 3 pulleys instead of only 2. This was exacerbated by the fact that the auxiliary pulley had a paint mark on it and I imagined that there was a corresponding notch that it lined up with. What followed was a nightmare of installing the belt, thinking I had it right, then watching one of the timing marks move as I released the tensioner into the belt. Usually, the mark that moved was the one on the auxiliary pulley, which didn't matter. Also, when pulling the belt taut, it always seemed to line up tooth to tooth at the cam gear instead of tooth to groove. I did this dance maybe 8 times, juggling the pry bar and socket simultaneously. When you think you have it right, put on your crank pulley and timing cover to check that you haven't moved the crank mark off. You probably have. I finally got it to where I thought it was a close as I could get it. It looked half a tooth off to me. Tighten your spring bolt and tension bolt to spec and put it back together. Turn it by hand a couple of revolutions and fire it up. Mine sounded noisy at start up but smoothed out quickly. It actually runs better than before as it doesn't stall when cold anymore.
After 8 hours, I felt like I'd been in a fight, but the next day felt great that I'd done the job. If I can do it, so can you.
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