QuestionHey Roland:
Kevin here again. I know you get hundreds, thousand of e-mails, so I am gonna refresh your memory. I am the person with the A/C questions, and I recently gotten it recharged and it works fine.
I got a few questions to shoot at ya. On the climate controls, what does the system does when I slide the bar all the way over to the symbol of the car with the circled arrow in it? (I guess the recycle function) My a/c seems to blow harder in that function.
What are (if any) the symptoms of a failing timing belt? I bought this car from a dealer whom bought this car from an auction. I know if I get it looked at, I might as well get it changed. I was told if I get the timing belt changed, I might as well change the water pump also.
AnswerHi Kevin,
I suspect that on the a/c blower you are perceiving the moving air when it is pure cold unmixed with any warm air from the heater core or very much external air. When in the non-recycle mode the air is a mixture of external and internal air which is split into two stream one crossing the a/c condenser the other the heater core so that you get a warmer mix that would cool your hand less noticeably if placed at an outlet so you would imagine the air to be blowing more softly.
You can easily check the condition of the timing belt by removing either of the round covers at the front end of the engine that sit up high on each bank of cylinders. Look for any frayed belt backing and also observe for any separation of the treads or for any teeth that are loosening from the backing. The belt may last for 100,000 miles if the engine is driven at moferate rpm's, and fortunately it it fails then there is no damage to the engine, just the inconvenience of breaking down while on the highway. And with the V-6 3.0L where the water belt is built-in to the block (though removable) when you replace the belt it is a good time to replace the qater pump also because the labor to get the pump is very little beyond what has to be done to change the belt. The labor cost of the belt job is high enough to take the slight extra time to do the pump at the same time (compared to the cost of the pump mechanism itself which is a small fraction of the labor cost.) Another way to check periodically for the belt's condition it read the spark timing using a xenon light. It it varies alot as it idles, or if it varies more than a degree or so from reading to reading as time goes on that would be an indication that the belt is beginning to loose its integrity.
Roland
P.S. You accidentally sent the same message twice, but to get the duplicate queston off my role I have to send you a form note that is a bit discourteous. Please pardon.
