QuestionHi Roland, the problem I am having now is that I beleive one of the camshafts jumped time causing the hole problem. the camshaft to the front of the vehicle is lining up with the timing mark but the camshaft near the fire wall is a quarter turn off from the timing mark. I have been using the repair guide on autozones web site to attemp the repair but it just says to line up the timing marks, is there a trick to this? when I try to turn the camshaft sprocket it feels like the valve springs hold it back. I used a strap wrench to turn it but it goes past the timing mark when it stops. any help would be greatly appreciated. also on the repair guide it says I need a special tool to adjust the tension on the timing belt, "Using special tool No. MD998767 and a torque wrench on the tensioner pulley" do I have to go to the dealer to find this or does napa or someone carry this? Thanks again for your help!
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Followup To
Question -
Hi roland, I wrote you about a week ago about my wifes car not wanting to start. its a 97 chrysler sebring 2.5 6 cylinder. the timing belt was about to break I believe it had slipped. ounce I was able to remove everything to get the timing cover off I found that the camshaft sprocket towards the fire wall does not line up with the timing marks on the back of the timing cover, my question is, what do I have to do to line up these timing marks since it does not move easily. the front sprocket is fine. just want to get this running again. Thanks for the help
Answer -
Hi Josh,
The timing belt is held under tension by a spring loaded tensioner that one normally removes when changing the timing belt. It's spring has to be compressed in a vice, locked in place with a removable pin, then when the belt and timing marks are set up in a very specfic manner, a torque is applied to the tensioner pulley with special tool and then the tensioner is installed and the pin is released. It is about a 10 step procedure. I would be pleased to xerox and postal mail you the procedure from my Chrysler manual, or it is also described in the Haynes manuals which cover the 2.5L V-6. I don't know if you can do a work around to release the belt tension enough to just move the rear camshaft pulley relative to the other pulleys. It might be more reasonable to just buy a new belt and do the whole job then to try a patchwork fix if the belt is already going. So let me know if you want the copy of the procedure and give me a postal mailing address. I suspect you may just end up frustrated by the task of readjusting the timing without fully releasing the tensioner, though I have no personal experience with the task.
Roland
AnswerHi Josh,
Thanks for the generous evaluation. I copied the pages and they are in the mailbox for pickup tomorrow. By the way, I found a Miller tool catalog from '92 and that tool cost $12.50 at that time.
Roland
Hi Josh,
The Haynes manual is about as detailed as I have seen on doing the 2.5L timing belt (ref. Cirrus/Stratus 95-on). It goes thru the steps of removal, inspection, and reinstalling the belt. It does suggest that when you have gone thru the process and the marks aren't aligned that you can remove the tensioner(after inserting a pin in piston retaining hole) with the engine at TDC, slip the belt from the camshaft sproket(s) only (keeping it taught to prevent it from coming off the crank pulley presumably), realign the camshaft mark, slip the belt back on, put the tensioner on, pull the pin and check the alignment one more time after rotating the crank pulley thru two rotations. You would need two people to hold on to the slipped off belt and to rotate the camshaft, it would seem to me.
I have not worked on the engine, but again since the history is that this slippage occurred spontaneously wouldn't that indicate that you may need to remove and replace the belt or otherwise it will slip again? According to Haynes you can call Miller tool (1-800-801-5420) for price and delivery time, or outlet to buy the special tool to adjust the tensioner bolt.
Let me know if you want the pages from the Haynes that I have and I'll xerox and postal mail them to you. Just give me a postal mailing address.
Roland
