timing belt

ok, so im still looking at that 91 stealth by my house, so a report on msn autos sez that these cars had timing belt isues, and if it fails whilke youre driving, the valves are damages and repairs go well into the thousands..... so is this true and what kinds of problems have you had?

that shit happend to my stealth turbo one day i was on my wey home when suddenly the car died on me when i got it to the mechanic a screw broke and got the timing belt off it and had to replaced valves, head, piston, crankshaft i rebuilt the engine completely

As long as you replace it at 60k miles as recomended by the factory most cars are generally fine. However, if something get into the belt enought to skip some teeth, or if the belt breaks it will mess up your valves, as with any interferience(sp?) engine.

A broken timming belt will mess up the heads on any car though, not just the 3s. and no its bullcrap, 3s do not have issues with the timing belt as long as you change it at it recomended intervals. that article was probably written by someone who thinks all cars use chaindrive and thought the 3000GT/Stealth was the first ever to incorporate belt drive!

I agree with Musashi3000GT as long as you do your 60k mile tune up, I never heard that they had a problem with there time in belt if if they did there 60k mile tune up.

thanx, im alot clearer on this now, ok so since the car has 70k on it, im wondering has it been replaced yet hmmmmmmmm, ill find out tho

Yeah I finally got mine changed. It was a disaster waiting to happen. I got the car at 98k miles and don't think the timing belt was changed.I took it to pepboys, but they couldn't do it cuz they didn't have the tool to open it up, so I took it to the dealer at 138k and got it replaced. I still can't go to the bathroom cuz they didn't even lubricate me first. Timing belt, tensioner, water pump and thermostat=953

Thats about rigth for labor and parts to do the job.

It was actually more, but I told them I wasn't going to spend a grand, so they gave me a 10% discount. Well.....I guess they did give me a little KY jelly.

usually you can just pull of the timing belt cover pretty easily and see if the timing belt is starting to wear down.

usually you can just pull of the timing belt cover pretty easily and see if the timing belt is starting to wear down.

How? And what do we look for when inspecting it?

How? And what do we look for when inspecting it?

there are screws holding the timing belt cover on...so remove the screws.

what to look for? CRACKS

I took it to pepboys, but they couldn't do it cuz they didn't have the tool to open it up.

open it up? open what up? Sounds to me like a bunch of BS. but IMO, i wouldn't take your car to PepBoys. they'll just do a shitty job, guaranteed. [hey, that could be their new slogan; sounds good, and has a ring to it!]

Perhaps they needed a spanner wrench to get the crank pulley off. but that's crap b/c you don't need one: either the impact wrench method or a 'breaker bar&crank the engine' method will work. but putting the pulley back on is the trick!

Timing belt, tensioner, water pump and thermostat=953

WOW! that does sound about right, but crap man, that's a WHOLE lot of money just for a tune-up! on american (easy) cars, ya just loosen the tensioner, replace the belt, tighten the tensioner. 30 min job!