Timing Belt Change

[Bell]

Well I'm going to attempt to change the timing belt with assistance from a knowledgable father-in-law. Now my most intensive life time car repair happend a week ago when I changed my brake pads. Thanks to a Haynes repair guide the first wheel took 2 hours, the second 15 minutes. I guess I'm trying to say that while not totally inept I am quite unexperienced.

Please forgive my non-techincal lingo.

There is a small oil leak at the back of the valve cover where there's a distrubtor looking thingy. It's driping on a coolant house that will eventually soften and break. I believe someone mentioned an O ring but I really don't know. I figured while I had taken it down that far I would change the timing belt.

So what kind of tips, info, and general comments do you have on this repair. Where do I go to find out what parts I need?

Any and all comments will be greatly apreciated.

[sammm]

You may want to invest in another repair manual other than the Haynes (The Enthusiasts manual is a good one, as is the Miata Shop Manual) before diving in. There is a bunch of info on Miata.net too. I'd start here :

http://www.miata.net/garage/timingbelt.html

[POS Racing]

The oil leak you are descibing sounds like a CAS O-Ring. Peek at this post, it did it to mine a while back, it was pretty easy!

Trussville Mazda offers a timing belt kit that includes all the goodies you should need. Don't forget the water pump!

Let us know how we can help!

[EvilSpeeder]

The oil leak you are descibing sounds like a CAS O-Ring.

Addition to your technical lingo dictionary:

CAS - Cam angle sensor. Or distributor thingy.

[channelmaniac]

O-rings? I went to NAPA and bought 'em as singles... they were cheap and I bought extra...

Holler if you can't find 'em near you.

The biggest pain about the timing belt is getting the cams lined up right. Go buy yourself a couple of large Crescent style wrenches and a good C-Clamp to hold them once you have it all lined up...

AND DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL WHEN SPINNING THE MOTOR BY HAND... You'll need to spin it to check the alignment of the cams and crank after putting the belt on. I forgot and had the parking brake on and had the car in 5th gear hahahahaha! Boy was that a #@%^@ to turn the motor by hand!

Also, which model car do you have? I have a jig for a long nose crank 1.6L that a friend made for me. This way you can lock the crank in place to get the Jesus bolt loose. (Or if brave, you can bump the starter with the socket driver set against the garage floor - UNPLUG THE COIL PACK FROM THE WIRING HARNESS IF YOU DO THAT - otherwise you risk frying the coil pack)

If you have a short nose crank you'll want to buy a new crank bolt and woodruff key.

On parts, call Town North Mazda - they are in Richardson and give discounts on parts... They are very good to deal with and are knowledgeable on the Miata.

I did 2 timing belt changes on Miatas... 92 Black & Tan, and 92 Mariner Blue. Other than taking a long time, it wasn't too bad at all.

Just make sure you put in new camshaft seals, crankshaft seal, CAS o-ring, and valve cover gasket... You don't "have to" replace the water pump, the idler pulley, and the tensioner pulley, but I'd do it anyway as you have to pull the timing belt to do those.

I don't remember the name of the place, but there's a foreign car place somewhere down Forest, east of Josey, that carries the pulleys at a good price - the guys here at the local NAPA store told me about then.

Raymond

[TurboDuane]

While you don't have to change the water pump, once you see what's involved to get there, you will find it a cheep investment to do it while your there. However this was one of the parts that gave me a hard time, as the water pump was short a gasket, then I attempted to make one (that didn't work to well...drip) So took it back apart and put in a factory gasket. Fortunately I hadn't put the car completely back together yet, but it was still a pain.

Another source of trouble for me ('90 with short crank) was that my gear puller's bolt was too long to use with the stearing in the way. So I was to either remove the stearing linkage (I really didn't want to do that) so then I went on a quest for a few days until I found the right bolt, with the correct thread at the right length. It's these setbacks that really kink up a job.

That said, It's very do-able just give yourself time.

[channelmaniac]

My 92's with the long nose crank were pretty easy to get the puller in place once I removed the bolts that held the front sway bar in place... Then I could push the sway bar down and get the puller in.

The Blue 92 was a PITA since the PO jammed an oversized key in place - that was a long story that was documented on another thread on the board.

RJ

[Bell]

FULL SUCCESS!

Thanks for everyones help.

[channelmaniac]

SCHWEET!

Didja replace the CAS O-ring while in there?

RJ

[Bell]

The distributor looking thingy?


Indeed I did.