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timing belt

millertime86 said:
im kinda glad i didnt know this when it broke, or else i might not have bought my svt (i was kinda just looking for an excuse to buy it haha)

the only reason im skeptical is because my mechanic wouldnt touch it, and said to take it to the local ford dealer, and they said $700, at that price i assumed it damaged something else when it snapped...

so you guys are saying you i should prolly buy the $80 timing belt kit off of ebay and do it myself instead of paying the dealership $700 to fix it, or buying another car?? =D
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Not $80...you want the more expensive Gates kit from RockAuto...
 
zorrex said:
I don't know anything about that one, but Gates has a good reputation around here. Someone else will have to chime in.
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ah i see, the gates is around $160, i dunno if i need a real good belt, i doubt im gonna have this car for more than a year or 2 more, prolly 10-15k miles more, unless the car dies before then haha
 
Cheap should be okay, but leave sleeping dogs lie.

Cheap should be okay, but leave sleeping dogs lie.

I doubt you will have any problem IF you get the right one. When I pulled the top cover to check my original one, it was very loose. Turns out the bottom idler had siezed up and melted the plastic roller so that it no longer touched the belt.

However, if you are going to only keep the car 10 to 15 k more, just leave sleeping dogs lie. If the belt breaks, then you have some work to do, its not like you'll damage the engine when it happens (on another tour, shredded a belt at 80 mph, put a new one on and 50 k miles later no issues).
 
millertime86 said:
do you think it'll last 10-15k miles though at least?
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It should, just flex it, belt it and check for visible malfunctions.

And put the timing belt cover back up so crap doesn't get in there to speed up the deterioration process.

the belt that came with mine lasted me 100 000 km and who knows how many before me, everything was clean, the sprockets were immaculate; it broke because I drive like a demented monkey.
 
millertime86 said:
ah i see, the gates is around $160, i dunno if i need a real good belt, i doubt im gonna have this car for more than a year or 2 more, prolly 10-15k miles more, unless the car dies before then haha
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The gates kit is only about $80 plus shipping on rockauto.com. :shrug: No point in going with ebay really. There is a rockauto discount code available on this forum. They take paypal too.

Edit: not sure what year you have but the gates kits go from $75-$92. Shipping is cheap and quick.
 
Get the gates kit. I used it when I did mine at ~85k when it broke (actually the tensioner wore down and split the belt into 3 sections and one rolled over on itself lol). It is the best kit for the money. My car has 101k on it now and no issues in the 2+ years since.
Might want to look into replacing the water pump while youre in there. I did, although the other one looked ok. It was suggested by alot of people when I had my thread going.
 
Frosty said:
Get the gates kit. I used it when I did mine at ~85k when it broke (actually the tensioner wore down and split the belt into 3 sections and one rolled over on itself lol). It is the best kit for the money. My car has 101k on it now and no issues in the 2+ years since.
Might want to look into replacing the water pump while youre in there. I did, although the other one looked ok. It was suggested by alot of people when I had my thread going.
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+1. Make sure to replace the WP gasket, too. The gasket has failed on me and others wayyy before the WP would go bad. I have a Cardone WP in my car and it works absolutely fine. It's like $50 w/ a gasket from Advance Auto Parts...
 
i've heard the the belts should be replaced every 60K and mine was replaced at about 60K by the previous owner, i'm just a hair over 110K now and kinda thinking i should get mine done. is it a do it yourself kinda thing or should i pay someone? how involved is it?
 
A tough job unless you have the tools. You'll need to unbolt and move the coolant take, remove motor mount (support from underneath with block of wood on jack), remove serp belt and a couple pullies that are in the way, take off wheel and splash shield (not a biggie), take off both timing covers, take off valve cover, align cams with cam alignment tool or other suitable thick sheet of metal, take off timing belt, remove pullies that are being replaced, and do everything in reverse.

It is something like that. Not completely sure about setting the timing itself. I'm pretty sure if you premark everything before you remove the belt and have the cams aligned you won't have any issues.

Oh, and the WP is behind the timing belt. When you take it off, there are 4 bolts holding it in. For removing the front hose, we found it much easier to get to the hose via dismounting the PS pump and pushing it out of the way. Undoing the clamp on the front WP hose is NOT fun and will require a lot of effort. I would suggest removing the pinch clamp and installing maybe a worm clamp because it is much easier.

Dang I should make a How-To LOL.
 
and I bought a good kit and shredded it in 600 miles

and I bought a good kit and shredded it in 600 miles

While the kit quality may have some effect on belt life, the biggest culprit is improper installation and tensioning. Too tight WILL cause a shredded belt in short order. From my experience. Use the tools, follow the TSB instructions to the letter and you will be okay.
 
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