lunakov

I am half way trough the project in sub freezing temperatures.
Here are a few things that will help you with this project.
-You need a 3 armed puller to get the crank damper wheel off!
-you need a T55 torqx to get the right engine mount bolt off.
-You need a T50 torqx to get the idler pulley off to replace the water pump when you are in there, might as well do that too!
-Get your self a pair of those mechanics gloves, will keep your hands warm and keep them from getting nicked up in the tight spaces.
-The instructions are pretty good. Watch out when you jack up the engine so you don't break the connectors at the top of the engine.
I have a PDF of the manual i would like to post but it is too big to link to here.
Oh, yeah, this is a pretty hard project.....!

lunakov

Here are a few more things that I wanted to pass along as well as a picture of how to line up the timing belt.
When I took off the upper and lower torque struts I noticed they were all torn up and pretty loose. Not being sure if I was going to be able to pull of the project and not having very much money, I completely filled/glued them with regular house hold silicone from the home depot. It has made a huge difference in the performance of the car. The slight hesitation on launch is gone, I can only assume that since the motor does not rotate so much any more i am not getting that hesitation at take off from a green light.

Here is an image of how to line up the cams at the top. The instuctions that cam with my idler pully were wrong! Use these. There is a but if torque on the cams when you but the belt on, that is normal. Follow the instructions after you put the belt on, turn the motor twice, you will see for sure when you have the belt on right. The TDC for the crank is pretty easy. There is a small arrow mark on the block (about 1 oclock) and a small dimple on the crank pully that have to be lined up. Then snake the belt. I found using a silver sharpy to mark the belt to line up the cams worked pretty good.

Putting it all back together was easy. Driving a car that runs better than before it broke, Excellent!

scapegoat

More tips. The three jaw puller needs to push on the bottom of the bolt hole and not on the pulley. OTC makes pulley with shaft to extend down bolt hole while jaws grab on the pulley. Also had to heat the pulley with torch to get off and bake in oven at 450 for 15 minutes to get back on. New belts have not stretched so very hard to get on. Lock tensioner in conpressed position, take up all slack between each pulley, double check marks(because you don't wont to go through this and have them not line up) and if it still won't go on, turn engine over by hand to walk the belt on. The more you take off, the easier this job is. I just finished changing my second timing belt. This is by no means an easy job. Took a full weekend in front yard with all the right tools. Much easier to remove a/c but can be done with it in place. Someone had grea idea to mark belt and pulleys with sharpie.

DemonCivic

a full weekend? sounds like you should have just paid a professional. there is no reason it should take more than 4-5 hours.

Fivepointfive

...just finished the project. A little rough for an old geezer, but "it's alive" again. The forum was very helpful. The dealer wanted $1500 including the tensioner mod and the water pump and the other parts.
...but I have a problem: the car runs good, but it idles rough and will stall. I'm sure I have the timing correct. I'm getting an 1193 code (Inlet Air Temp Sensor). I see no breaks in the wires, but I have a tough time believing that the IAT would simply quit at the exact time I replaced the timing belt. I have a standard AMP/OLM meter. I tried this experiment: Started the car, disconnected the IAT, and reconnected it. There was no difference in how the car ran during this experiment--it still idled rough. I pulled the IAT and checked for continuity. The circuit is not complete, but I don't know how the darn thing is supposed to work. Any thoughts out there in Forum Land?

philtua

I have a 2005 PT cruiser in need of a timing belt change.
How much do you charge for changeing it, and where is your shop located.
I am in the Orlando area.

Thanks
Phil Tua
407-493-7310

scsever

Quick question for those of you that have replaced the timing belts. Do you replace the tensioner too? I nearly had my wife's PT put back together when I was told that I should have replaced the tensioner at the same time due to the failure rate of the type 1 tensioner that was originally put on. Apparently I should have replaced that with the new type. Does the old type have a high failure rate? So I've stopped at about 90% put back together and wondering if I need to tear it apart again.

Thanks,

DemonCivic

I replace everyone I do, no matter the car, just good insurance

scsever

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to go ahead and replace the tensioner and have some peace of mind. At least I wasn't completely done with the job, next time I'll know...

Thanks again,

tricialee

Hi, my 2003 PT Cruiser just stopped in the middle of the street last week and was towed to a local mechanic. The problem was the timing belt which they replaced, along with my powering steering and alternator belts while the engine was apart. Now I have no A/C. I have 143,000+ miles on the car and the A/C was replaced approximately 50,000 miles ago and has been cranking wonderful cold air. Now the mechanic is not accepting blame for the broken A/C and even charged me for freon because they had to drain it when they moved parts of the A/C to replace my belts. They insist that it was low on freon to begin with so they had to top it off.

I brought the car back this morning to complain about the lack of A/C. They are now claiming that I have a leak and want to charge me to fix it. They claim they had nothing to do with my current problem and that they can tell by a colorful fluid that they put in the system to show possible leaks. All I know is that I had great A/C when the timing belt died and now have none. I am at a loss as to what to do at this point.

Thank you, in advance, for any help or suggestions you can give me.