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macb Offline OP
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Folks,

I decided to replace my timing belt myself after the lower idler disintegrated and the dealer says $500.00.

I going to replace idlers, tensioner, etc;. May not do the water pump at 60K miles as only keeping the car for a year or two until I suspect my daughter (student driver) makes a mess of it.

I have most parts removed at this point and I now have the crank pin and camshaft alignment tool. I�m ready to take off the crank pulley. I sprayed WD40 on it last night to hopefully coax it a bit. I�m going to use my air gun to remove it. Can I use the crank pin tool to hold things instead of sticking a screwdriver in the ring gear (ATX)?

On the motor mount removal (I have the engine supported) do I remove the two 18MM nuts on the studs going vertical in front of the timing components?

I think I�m ready to go..

Thanks for opinions!!

MacB




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If you use a impact gun on the crank pulley, you shouldn't have to hold anything. The bolt should come right out. That is the easiest way to remove it.

As for the motor mount, remove the 2 nuts. I also removed the 2 studs, to get them out of the way.

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Water pump.....Remove heat shield/remove power stearing pump to access lower rad hose......sounds like fun, doesn't it....
Leave the water pump alone for now, 140,000 miles on stock water pump and its doing fine. Did the wife's water pump for fun...
Impact gun...yes sir
or
Tranny in gear, friend pushing hard on brake pedal, breaker bar and lots of grunting!
I have used both methods and now only use impact gun.
Do you have your Tension spring and bolt?


2012 Lotus Evora --------- 95 Mystique MTX - GONE 395,000 Kms --------- Both Zetecs '97 Contour Mtx - stock - GONE
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just put an 18mm key on there with the wrench in opening direction and turn the starter motor for 1sec max... just a little bit and the bolt will open up right away.

No gun needed, its the easiest way, otherwise u need to remove the starter on an auto tranny and stick a screwdriver in the gears (from Haynes manual).

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That is a good way for somebody to get hurt by turning the engine with the starter.

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There's another way to do it. I can't recall exactly but I remember we used a long piece of wood at some point.


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Originally posted by Dec1000:
That is a good way for somebody to get hurt by turning the engine with the starter.




Well you dont need to be there, since ure turning the crank inside the car... its pretty hard to hurt yourself, plus the wrench doesnt even move. Most mechanics use that method, thats how i learned about it originally.

BTW: side note, got my contour all fixed up. The tensioner had the incorrect torue on it and the belt is running down the center.

Thanks for all the help DEc1000

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macb Offline OP
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Folks,

Thanks for all the support!!!

I used the air gun and the crank pulley came right off without using anything to hold it. Not sure if WD40 overnight helped out.

I jacked the motor up and took off the two motor mount nuuts and then also took the whole motor mount off of the fender as well with no problem.

After removing both of the timing belt and crank pulley covers I found the lower idle pulley shattered in pieces as I suspected. I replaced all idlers, tensioner, the belt and lined things up with the camshaft/crank pin tool kit. The car runs great!

A couple things I learned.
1. You don't have to remove the water pump. I removed the three bolts on the pump pulley as noted by another poster to access the cover torx bolt. At 60K miles I didn't want to touch it if I didn't need to
2. You only need to loosen the intake cam gear to take up belt slack during tensioning. I did not have the right size reverse torx bit to loosen the exhast cam gear bolt. I would have liked to loosen both, but things seem fine.
3. Lastly, I was getting P0340 once and a while and replaced the sensor, PCM, etc. When the lowere idler was the failing component.

Thanks for the help.

Bob M.

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Glad everybody got all their stuff going good. Just for future users, I think I used a socket on the exhaust cam sprocket. Believe it was a 5/8 socket. Worked fine. The Haynes manual is not a good manuel to use when doing a timing job on a Zetec engine with the VCT solenoid. There are better directions out there.

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Originally posted by Dec1000:
Glad everybody got all their stuff going good. Just for future users, I think I used a socket on the exhaust cam sprocket. Believe it was a 5/8 socket. Worked fine. The Haynes manual is not a good manuel to use when doing a timing job on a Zetec engine with the VCT solenoid. There are better directions out there.




16mm 12point is a dead on fit


JD a.k.a Fingers "Don't Panic" '98 Contour GL 2.0L VCT ATX 88k '98 Contour LX 2.5L MTX 120k Street racing can kill just less of a chance with a 2.0
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