How hard would it be for me to change my own timing belt?

[Nafriel]

I have a 2000 Mazda Protege and I'm coming up on 60k miles. I don't know a lot about cars yet, but I want to learn how to take care of my car without spending a lot of money. From what I understand, I need to change my timing belt soon, but I've been quoted hundreds of dollars (that I don't have).

I guess I'm looking for advice about how much I can expect to learn to do myself and reccomendations on how best to learn it. Anyone feel like taking a total beginner under their wing?

[Nafriel]

Wow... real talkative bunch we got here, eh? Won't anybody help me?

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From a non-mechanic, I would recommend calling various places and getting a price to do this. I did it on a 1993 Protege SOHC... and it was a pain. Besides all the scraped and bruised knuckles... there isn't a whole lot of space to work. I think the DOHC would be a few levels more difficult for me.

If ya got the Tools, a place to work, a good manual, a lot of patience and some mechanical ability... why not.

[originalmike]

Yeah, tdilisio is right. Its not that complicated, but there is no room to work in there. But if you do have the tools you will probably be able to figure it out. The first thing I would do is figure out where exactly the timing belt is then poke around and see how easy it will be to get it out and possible problems. Haynes manuals are one of the best sources on how to fix your car so that would also be useful

[Nafriel]

Thanks. Do you have any ideas what tools I would need and how much they generally run?

[originalmike]

hmm, wait, its more complicated than I thought. You're going to have to take all the other belts off then take the cover off and then the belt. But to do that you're probably going to have to remove the engine. So, i'm thinking now your best bet is to take it to a mechanic. Or find a crane to get the engine out.

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It's been several years since I did it, and the 70's really took a toll on my memory functionality. I personally wouldn't do it again. I prefer to pay someone else to bust their knuckles. A good manual should tell you what you need as far as tools.

[Nafriel]

Well, I have a manual for my car ordered and in the mail to me. I've heard from a friend that to properly change a timing belt I need some sort of laser tool to get the timing just right. Does anyone know anything about what that tool is and where to get one?

[CaptCourrier]

Hello! I was looking for info on this subject and came across this site. That does not say much for available info on the internet for backyard mechanics. First off the people who really know all the little tricks to simplify a job like this is the people who do it day in day out..the mechanics. They don't want to give away their tricks it's their livelyhood I've never done a belt especially a dohc but from what I gathered so far, it's complicated. When you remove the old belt the cams can rotate because the belt is no longer holding the cog-pulley.
At the dealer they probably have some gimmick to hold the cams in place
while you slip the new belt on. Other-wise you have to loosen all the rocker arms to relieve valve spring pressure. Like I said complicated, not mention the tensioner which they recommend you change. Do you change the crank and cam seals? Dunno...It looks like the front motor mount has to be removed, the passenger wheel,innerfender (plastic),front pulleys and cover(plastic) maybe the valve cover and more... then you bring it to TDC (top dead center) I do this by popping out plug 1,sticking a ball of kleenex in the hole and rotate the crank clockwise till it pops out (it actually makes a pop sound that's your top dead center...your timing marks should be aligned crank and cams.
Basically slip on the new one rotate the crank again a few times and check the marks.Just in case try the TDC trick again...I haven't yet changed mine but this is what I know so far, my next step is get chummy with a mechanic

[nutinwrongwitdat]

wow, that sucks. I brought my 96 dohc to a mechanic and they fucked my shit all up. It makes this loud rubbing noise. They say it's the teeth of the belt catching the wind. What a tool. My advice is, don't look for a cheap mechanic.

[pacman13]

i own a 1993 protege and its basiquely the same thing , i did my timing belt in about 3 hrs . the big pane was taking all the other belts out.
as for the timing belt itself just cut the old one out.

it was easy even tho i had access to a hoist but even then ....
YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE THE ENGINE OUT !!!!.

I also did a 626 with the dohc and it was even easyer , yes it is really tight but with some patience it can be done easily.

get yourslef a haines manual it tells you everything u kneed to know and its pretty straight foward.
take it from a guy whos a computer technician , its doable and a timing belt is like 50$ as opposed to the hundreds asked by mecanics . just consider yourself lucky that its not a honda , those are a real pane in the ass!!!!!

hope this helps

andre