TechWrench
Senior Member
Finally did Timing belt, and other stuff.
Finally found the time, and a long enough stretch of good weather to do the Timing belt project on my '03 Limited. I knew going in, it was going to be a bit of a PITA because of the age and miles on the beast. Probably why I kept putting if off. It has 284,000k on her, and because I am the 2nd owner, the actually time/miles it was last done is somewhat vague. The PO didn't keep accurate records, and not all work was done at a dealership. So, I was pretty sure it was LONG overdue. But, since I have to do the work outside, I had to wait for the right opportunity. I had ordered a timing belt kit from an ebay seller, over a year ago, so it had been a while waiting on the ideal time.
I won't bore anyone with all the gory details, but to say it took me over a three day period to finish the job. Because of other problems to deal with, I was only able to work 5-6 hours a day on the job. That, and problems with rusty bolts/nuts, and other problems that cropped up, it took a lot longer than I originally thought it should have. I don't remember who originally posted the suggestion, but I found that using an old serpentine belt to 'lock' the crank pulley in place while loosening and then tightening the crank pulley and cam pulley bolts worked amazingly well, and made that part of the job a lot easier than I expected.
The biggest unexpected problem was the alternator. When I unbolted it to gain access to the water pump and belt tensioner assy., I left the wiring attached, and just moved it to the side, out of the way. When it came time to re-attach it, if found that the ground cable connector had corroded through and broken loose. The stud on the alternator was so badly corroded, I couldn't re-attach a terminal to it. So, thanks to NAPA, I now have a 'new' remanufactured alternator. In a way, it was a good thing it broke when it did. If that cable had come loose on the road, I would probably have been stuck in a bad way.
So, after many issues to fix/solve, I finally got it all together, and it started right up. The old timing belt was still working, but it had many small cracks on the back side surface, so it was definitely over due to be changed.
I'm not as young as I once was, and my back is not happy with what I put it through the last three days, but now I get to relax it for a while. :cheers:
Finally found the time, and a long enough stretch of good weather to do the Timing belt project on my '03 Limited. I knew going in, it was going to be a bit of a PITA because of the age and miles on the beast. Probably why I kept putting if off. It has 284,000k on her, and because I am the 2nd owner, the actually time/miles it was last done is somewhat vague. The PO didn't keep accurate records, and not all work was done at a dealership. So, I was pretty sure it was LONG overdue. But, since I have to do the work outside, I had to wait for the right opportunity. I had ordered a timing belt kit from an ebay seller, over a year ago, so it had been a while waiting on the ideal time.
I won't bore anyone with all the gory details, but to say it took me over a three day period to finish the job. Because of other problems to deal with, I was only able to work 5-6 hours a day on the job. That, and problems with rusty bolts/nuts, and other problems that cropped up, it took a lot longer than I originally thought it should have. I don't remember who originally posted the suggestion, but I found that using an old serpentine belt to 'lock' the crank pulley in place while loosening and then tightening the crank pulley and cam pulley bolts worked amazingly well, and made that part of the job a lot easier than I expected.
The biggest unexpected problem was the alternator. When I unbolted it to gain access to the water pump and belt tensioner assy., I left the wiring attached, and just moved it to the side, out of the way. When it came time to re-attach it, if found that the ground cable connector had corroded through and broken loose. The stud on the alternator was so badly corroded, I couldn't re-attach a terminal to it. So, thanks to NAPA, I now have a 'new' remanufactured alternator. In a way, it was a good thing it broke when it did. If that cable had come loose on the road, I would probably have been stuck in a bad way.
So, after many issues to fix/solve, I finally got it all together, and it started right up. The old timing belt was still working, but it had many small cracks on the back side surface, so it was definitely over due to be changed.
I'm not as young as I once was, and my back is not happy with what I put it through the last three days, but now I get to relax it for a while. :cheers:
