Gonna change timing belt soon, need advice...

My advice let the dealership do it. I say this for a couple of reasons: they will guarantee their work, they know what they are doing, and they can let you know if there are any tell tell signs of other issues coming. I just had mine done and their service is essentially a front engine rebuild. I always like to do my own maintenance but it made more sense to let the dealership do this one.
 
takumi said:
Just wanna make sure I understand you correctly...

Although the kit you purchased came with the tensioner, you elected to get a tool to compress the stock tensioner on and not replace it?

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Yeah, exactly. The tensioner is hard to replace, and there's not much in there to wear out. It's basically a spring.
 
takumi said:
Just wanna make sure I understand you correctly...

Although the kit you purchased came with the tensioner, you elected to get a tool to compress the stock tensioner on and not replace it?

Yeah I'm gonna replace the thermostat. also since the engine has 244,xxx miles on it, I would like to replace the camshaft seals and crankshaft seal, but I have not been able to find photos/how to and documentation on how to do that.
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with not knowing when or if anything has been replaced, I would definitely change the tensioner. however hard it is to replace, its easier than doing it again later...
 
I agree with you.

Right now I'm in the information gathering stage. I will order a complete kit from AirCabinMan within the next few weeks. Once I get the kit, I will replace everything. I will also try to replace the 3 seals if I can find the info on how to do that. I'm prepared to do the complete job. I'm gonna spread the work out over 2-3 days if necessary.
nevada said:
with not knowing when or if anything has been replaced, I would definitely change the tensioner. however hard it is to replace, its easier than doing it again later...
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I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I've read that a seal puller works great to get at the cam shaft and crank shaft seals. THIS is the one you want.
 
nevada said:
with not knowing when or if anything has been replaced, I would definitely change the tensioner. however hard it is to replace, its easier than doing it again later...
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You won't likely ever have to replace the tensioner. If you've had your timing belt serviced at the dealership it has never been replaced. It's not part of the normal timing belt change. The only reason the FSM calls it out for removal is so it can be compressed to get the new belt on, and the tool I mentioned takes care of that without taking it off.
 
Hey guys for the timing cover is there a gasket that needs to be replaced that goes behind this timing cover?
 

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jeremyc74 said:
You won't likely ever have to replace the tensioner. If you've had your timing belt serviced at the dealership it has never been replaced. It's not part of the normal timing belt change. The only reason the FSM calls it out for removal is so it can be compressed to get the new belt on, and the tool I mentioned takes care of that without taking it off.
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ive changed a ton of timing belts on all different vehicles. they do go bad, and they do leak. it would be silly to not change it. especially after that many miles, and not knowing it its ever been done before.

as far as whether the dealer does it or not, I have no idea. most timing belt kits come with the tensioner included, that makes one think it is in fact part of that job...
 
takumi said:
Hey guys for the timing cover is there a gasket that needs to be replaced that goes behind this timing cover?
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IIRC, the upper cover is plastic; the lower is metal. On the upper I replaced what was there with some 1/4" foam weatherstrip tape which was quite similar. But leaving as is would have probably been fine. I think I just bolted the lower back up.
 
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nevada said:
ive changed a ton of timing belts on all different vehicles. they do go bad, and they do leak. it would be silly to not change it. especially after that many miles, and not knowing it its ever been done before.

as far as whether the dealer does it or not, I have no idea. most timing belt kits come with the tensioner included, that makes one think it is in fact part of that job...
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The people selling you the kits make money by selling you as much stuff as possible. The FSM states to inspect the tensioner, but they don't replace it unless something is wrong with it.

You say it's silly not to replace it, and I say it's silly to replace good parts that don't need it and require a lot of additional labor. Matter of personal opinion I guess. Considering that these trucks will go 200k miles sometimes on the original timing belt and tensioner, and the fact that I've never heard of anyone having trouble with one requiring its replacement, I'd say the mileage is a non-issue. This is a part that only moves about 1/2" over it's entire lifetime. It's just not going to wear out unless it wasn't properly manufactured.
 
TheDurk said:
IIRC, the upper cover is plastic; the lower is metal. On the upper I replaced what was there with some 1/4" foam weatherstrip tape which was quite similar. But leaving as is would have probably been fine. I think I just bolted the lower back up.
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The lower is plastic as well. The metal part is the center section with the pulley on it.
 
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