3.2/.5L Timing Belt Replacement

["LHS"]

First things -

Factory Recommendation for changing of the timing belt is 105,000 Miles.

The 2G 3.2/5L engine is an Interference engine. Without really getting in to it, it Means if the belt (or one if it's components) fail, the engine will commit suicide.

This is not an overly easy project. There isn't much more too it than turning a ratchet, but it is a big ordeal. I have done it twice now. Once on a 1G, and once on a 2G. The 1G took over 12 hours, the 2G took about 7 hours. Your results may vary.

I recommend collecting the following parts before beginning the project:

Timing Belt
Timing Belt Tensioner Pulley
Water Pump
New Serpentine Belt
New A/C Belt
at least 1 Gallon of coolant
Band-aids.

Ok, onward we go:


First step, Is to remove the radiator cross brace. This piece is diffrent across the LH line, but the purpose is the same. Should be 4-6 bolts holding it on:


Removed:



Next
Remove the Serpentine belt, and the three bolts holding on the belt tensioner:



Next
Remove the A/C Belt, by loosening the tensioner from below the car. My socket is conveniently stuck to the bolt in question here:


Next
At this point, I would recommend removing the fan shroud. It is only 4 small bolts and an electrical connecter. I didn't do it until much later, but if i were going to do this again, i defintley would do it. It makes it so much easier to work in here.

Anyway, there are 15 or so small 10"mm bolts holding on the black part of the timing belt cover. Remove them, and remove the black cover.:


And the remaining screws over the aluminum cover:


There is a 3rd piece of the cover, that is behind the crank pulley. You don't absolutly have to remove the pulley to do this job - But i can't see how to remove the pulley without removing the radiator also.

If you are planning to remove the pulley, do so now, otherwise, you can poke your socket wrench through the spokes of the pulley to remove the 3 bolts behind it

The three parts of the timing belt cover:



At this point, you should a pile like this going :


Next
With the cover open, put a ratchet on the crank pulley bolt, and turn the engine CLOCKWISE! to line up the timing marks.

I don't have a good picture of this, but on the camshaft pulleys, there is a mark stamped in them, and on the front of the engine, there are two dots on each side almost straight up from the cam pulleys.

You want the cam pulley marks to line up someplace in between the two dots.

Once your all lined up, we are ready to continue:

Next
Remove the old belt. Cutting is the easiest way. Do not attempt to crank the engine any more past this point.

I jumped ahead in the pictures at this point, but there are two more items removed here, which are the timing belt tensioner, and the pulley.


The pulley and it's bracket are only held on by one bolt, which i had to get by going through the crank pulley spokes. The tensioner itself, is accessable from below the car, and is held on by two bolts.
The tensioner: (ignore the pin for now, we will come back to it later)


At this point I put the new belt in under the crank sprocket. I could have waited, but I was trying to see if it is actually possible to do it with removing the crank. This part took me the longest to do. The trick was to start on the passenger side of the sprocket and work your way around.


Next
Replace the water pump.
There are 6 bolts holding on the pump, remove the pump, but be prepared to catch the coolant that is going to come out (I lost maybe 3/4 of 1 gallon.


New and old pump next to each other:


Make sure to install the new o-ring that came with the new water pump and that the mating surface for the gasket is clean.

Then install the new water pump.

Next
Install the new Tensioner pulley onto the tensioner bracket. Again, no good pic of this. Just remove the center bolt, and it will come right off.

Here is the bracket and pulley from a 1g - which is identical to the 2G:


Install the new pulley, and reinstall the bracket back into the car. At this point I had all that done, and had already routed the belt around everything:
Notice the fan shroud is gone now


Everything is back in, except for the tensioner....

Next
You are supposed to use a bench vise, but i used a big C Clamp, and had no problem. You need to compress the tensioner back in to the casing. There is a lot of pressure on this thing. The Haynes manual says it may take as long as 4-5 minutes for the tensioner to bleed down. Once it is compressed, use a small drill bit or small allen key and put it through the holes to keep it compressed.
The C-Clamp I used:

Note which way i put that allen key in there. There is a notch in the engine for the pin to come through when installing the tensioner, but it's only one side:

Must be almost flush on the backside:


Next
Line up the belt so that all of the slack is over the tensioner pulley.
Double check your timing marks.

Install the tensioner, by bolting it in from below. I found it difficult to do even with the tensioner compressed. I only grabbed maybe the first two threads on the bolts, and then just used them the get it in there all the way.

Tensioner installed, pin still in place:


Pull the pin out now. When the pressure is applied to the belt, it tends to turn the cams slightly. My passenger side cam turned back just a little bit, but enough to take it out of the comfort zone. I had to remove the tensioner and start all over again. I move the cam wheel a little further the opposite direction, and when I tightened it the second time, the belt pulled everything in to be perfect.

Now, turn the crank by hand (easiest way is with a wrench on the nut in front of the pulley) CLOCKWISE two full rotations. Double check your timing marks.

Advice
Don't leave the keys in the ignition the entire time your doing this, or you will be here:


Takes a Mopar to jump a Mopar?

I started the car with the timing belt cover removed, just to make sure all was well before closing it up:


Sweet!! It's alive!

Button it all back up, and you are done!


Congratulations. Only 100K miles until you have to do this again!




Questions and comments are appreciated!

[SilverSpecial6.1]

Nice write up! When I hit 100K miles (which will probably be in about 15 years lol) I will look to this write up! But I may have to change (84 months is it?) it for age tho...

[Dodgaholic]

This is an awesome how to! 5 stars for this thread...

[DrDodge]

not bad at all,, but just a note to those that have a vise to compress the tensioner,, go slow, compress to fast, and you will be buying a new one,,

[Scooter-Man]

I would recommend changing the water pump first, before the new belt is installed. You can see some old coolant on the new belt.

You left the Radiator in, I did also. I would HIGHLY recommend a piece of thick cardboard in front of the radiator to prevent fin damage.

Before the old belt is removed, I make each cam Shaft pulley with several timing marks. This way you ensure the cams are completely aligned with the new belt installed. I generally rotate the engine twice, check timing marks and repeat about 3 more times for piece of mind.



Another LH Lives!!

Late!

[LUISA]

so no cam lock tools were used for this job???

[DrDodge]

Originally Posted by LUISA

so no cam lock tools were used for this job???

no there insent,, and no animals are harmed in filming this project

[LUISA]

Originally Posted by DrDodge

no there insent,, and no animals are harmed in filming this project

Insent...meaning??? lol

OTC-7999 Chrysler cam lock tools to hold the cams, from bending valves....

[00R/T]

If only the cam lock tools weren't specialty and hard to find. A set would make me feel much better.

Anyway, great how-to! I think I may yank my radiator because I'm replacing the hoses anyway. I'm not sure I want to deal with unbolting the hoses for the coolers though. I've had troubles with one leaking in the past.

[LUISA]

toolsdiscounter.com has them for~$39.00USD bud!,