Nytrosfinder Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 ok so my timing belt hasn't gone yet, but I fear it is close to going with 250,000+ miles on it. Should I replace I replace my timing belts now while I am doing some serious work on the engine and front end to save me from internal problems later on down the road? Or should I let it go and pray that when it goes I don't have any serious problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 It's a 60,000 mile interval for the timing belt. There is no way the stock belt has lasted this long without skipping teeth or coming apart completely. When it does, it will destroy your engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytrosfinder Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Then it's probably been replaced at one point or several times..... Should I replace it considering I'm not sure the last time it was replaced? If it's wearing I know it's time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastpath Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 yes, replace it JIC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytrosfinder Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Generally how difficult is it to do that on a 1-10? 1-replacing a bad fuse 5- motor swap 10-rebuilding the whole car Reason I am asking is cause I have heard dozens of stories of people not able to get their cars running again cause they messed with the timing... puts a little fear into the though of replacing them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastpath Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 In your scale you would have to do timing stuff if you were swapping your motor...... I would say a 6 or 7 on a difficulty scale of 1-10 because of the amount of BS work you have to do to get to the timing stuff. There is a write up in the How-To section that helps ALOT though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) i don't know your mechanical abilities but the 1st one I did I thought it was like a 8 or 9...now as time has progressed and I've done about 8 or so TB swaps its a 1-2 for me your in an 88 so that's TBI i believe which makes it a lot easier in my opinion b/c I always loosen up rocker arms to keep the cams from turning over...you will need a harmonic balancer puller and I think that is about it as far as specialty tools. you'll want to do cam seals, the water pump and probably the tensioner. This is what happens when the belt breaks (i was lucky and only ate 3 valves): (the valve 2nd from the right is the only straight valve) Then you rebuild the top end and the timing belt job that was and 8-9 seems like that 2...its not difficult after you do it the 1st time and I mean if you've done any sort of rebuilding engines or anything like that then this should be a cakewalk One thing I can suggest is marking the crank before you pull the belt b/c almost every engine I've seen doesnt have the marking on the case for the crank pulley and then count teeth. There are some posts with the FSMs for the 1995 truck...go find it DL it and read the section in EM on replacing the timing belt. The procedure is pretty much the same on all VG engines from the 80s through the 2000s Edited March 30, 2009 by unccpathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytrosfinder Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Don't mean to brag.... but i am pretty advanced in my knowledge of cars (especially for a HS student). I take working on cars seriously. Just for the record, I just finished rebuilding my dads 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Transmission about a month ago.... And I rebuilt the front 1/2 of a 1993 Toyota Camry engine- Water pump, alternator, AC compressor....everything that runs on the Serpentine belt. I also installed a new intake gasket on a 1998 Buick Le Sabre With the supercharger.... Sever brake, trans, oil, struts, plugs and wires jobs i have done... Basically Cars are life for me... Like I said... don't mean to brag... I just wanted people to know what my experience level is..... Yeah I got a TBI and I love it.... and I heard about your situation with your valves bending... thats why i asked so i don't have to do what you had to go through.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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