I haven't posted in a while. I suppose that's good because I haven't had a lot of problems with my '06 we bought late last year. When we bought the Jeep, it had 128k miles. Only 132k now. I had zero luck determining whether the timing belt had been replaced. I couldn't determine whether the belt had 28k miles of wear or 128k miles of wear. I decided to replace the belt, tensioner, and idlers. At 200k, I'll do the water pump and thermostat with the next timing belt service. I ordered the parts from ID parts. I also ordered Senco hoses as the factory ones were pretty spongy. I bought a Sealy kit off of UK Ebay. I'm trying to make sure the car is reliable enough for us to use for trips. We've been taking my '03 diesel Ram up until now since I hated driving my wife's Focus.
The belt was pretty easy in all honesty. I had waited until the holiday weekend in case it took a long time, but I got it done in an afternoon. I could of had it done in four hours if I wasn't being lazy. I did quite a few Escort/Focus belts in my former life as a Lincoln/Mercury mechanic. This was my first time doing one on a RWD/4WD car. Those were pretty easy too, all things considered. A few observations though:
1. Why does every tutorial have you remove the front bumper, radiator, and inter-cooler? I was able to remove the grille, upper radiator support, and then remove the fan and shroud at the same time. I could see how having all of the other stuff out of the way would be convenient, but I had plenty of room to work.
2. Do the cam locking pins really keep the cams centered enough for when you're removing the sprockets? It seems like they're just detents in the cams unlike more definitive slots/etc other manufacturers use (Time a 4.0L Ford SOHC, that's an adventure).
3. The crank locking pin seems to be a joke. It did not lock the crank. Is there an alternative method to ensuring the crank is in the correct position? I made sure to make a bunch of marks on everything to ensure timing.
4. I've read a bunch of arguments about secondary rail pump timing. Just to be sure, I marked it and made sure it was timed. I did notice that it takes three crank revolutions to have the secondary pump end up at the same position. I guess it can't hurt to time it. I also kept the water pump at the same position. I know it doesn't make a bit of difference, but it can't hurt to put things together back the way I found them.
5. Either VM or Chrysler was smart to use pulleys for the p/s and crank that bolt on. It sure made this job easier leaving the pullers in the tool box.
Thanks to all of those who have posted information in the past about this. I was able to find some very informative old posts on the subject to give me some confidence.