Timing belt and tranny questions..

[disturbo]

I'm trying to get my 93 talon running again. Currently replacing the timing belt and need to know if I have to remove the crank pully to do so. Have almost all the bolts off the timing cover except for one that is right behind the pully.

Also, before this, I had been experiencing a tranny problem where it would pop out of fifth. It started doing it occationally, but now it won't stay in 5th at all. Sup wit dat?

[carguyinok]

Yes, the crank pully needs to be removed. The plastic cover is one part so you cant get it off with the pully on. #1 make sure your engine is #1 piston TDC @ the compression stroke BEFORE you remove anything. This will make the job go much faster in the long run.

[MrZ]

Distrubo;
carguyinok is correct, the pulley needs to come off. However, there's more to it than having the crank at TDC. Is there a belt on the car now? If so, it makes the job a bit easier, and of course you don't have to worry about any of the valves being bent, which is a concern if your belt broke.

Getting that pulley off is a bit of a chore. You need to wedge a screwdriver between the teeth of the flywheel and the trans case (or is it the engine block?), because it's the only way to firmly hold the crank from moving so that you can loosen the bolt on it. That bolt is torqued to over 100 ft lbs, don't remember exactly, but it's going to be very tight, and will require a large breaker bar to get it loose. I would strongly suggest you have a helper when doing this, he can hold the screwdriver wedged in the flywheel while you loosen the bolt.

Once you get the bolt loosened the rest is pretty easy. The pulley slides right off. You can pull it off without the crank lined up, remove the timing cover, then slide it back on and turn it to get everything lined up. You'll find there is an alignment mark on the oil pump pulley, and I believe there is another one on the counter balance pulley, but I don't remember for sure. Anyway, if the car still has a belt on it, you will need to turn the crank around until all of the alignment marks line up where they are supposed to. It really is best to get the Haynes manual for your Talon, as it details all of this, as well as other important steps to be sure you do the job right from start to finish.

All in all, in my opinion, the hardest part about changing the timing belt is getting the crank pulley bolt loose, and just working in the amount of space you have between the front of the motor and the fender well. It's pretty tight, and there is a bit of trick to getting the cover on and off within that space. I can't stress how important it is to have the manual. You need to do this job right, both from the perspective of aligning everything correctly, and equally importantly, getting the tensioner set up properly. I assure you, you're not going to want to pull it apart again any time soon, it does involve a bit of work. Also, If you're smart you'll change the water pump while you have everything apart, as it is nestled under the timing cover.

As far as the trans goes, I suppose you could live without 5th gear for awhile if you're dealing with limited finances at the moment, but it is only a matter of time before it will get worse, and you could cause more damage to the trans if you don't get it fixed now. I would pull the trans after you do the timing belt. Reason why is that you will need to remove the driver side engine mount to do the belt, and you need to remove the trans mount on the right side to remove the trans. That trans mount acts sort of like a right side engine mount. It gets a little bit hairy having both of these mounts out at the same time, plus you will have both sides of the car on jackstands because you need to remove the CV joints from both sides to pull out the trans. I've had the trans in and out of my car several times, so I can give you some pointers when you get to that job!

Good luck!

Mark