What engine do you have? The 3.2 and 3.5L engines are belt-timed, have an AUTOMATIC tensioner, and (although there are conflicting sources) I believe they are NON-interference engines.
I was just reading the FSM for my '98 3.2L prepping to replace an idler pulley. In big, bold capital letters it states that the 3.2/3.5L are 'not freewheeling engine designs' and warns against rotating the cams/crank with the timing belt removed.
--Geoff
Well my 3.5 from a 97 is definitely not an interference engine.
When I bought it at 108k Kames, I replaced a worn belt. At 150k kms, the tensioner went and the belt broke. I was back in business after a tow and couple of hours labour.
I've owned one car with a timing chain and interference engine -the tensioner was recalled but I bought it used - never got the notice and of course it wore down to the point where the chain went - new engine time.
James Linn
That is pretty definitive, I'd never heard that quoted before. Glad mine's a first-generation engine.
Please see the following:
Ted
Starting in 1998, the 3.2 and 3.5 are NOT freewheeling due to cylinder head changes made mainly for emissions reasons. 1997 and earlier (3.5 only) is freewheeling.
Not to mention all the money to be made rebuilding trashed engines.
Tom, You seen any of the 3.2Ls come in with snapped timing belts? At what mileage do they seem to give out?
--Geoff
I had mine go on Sunday on my 3.2 ES ~30 000 Mile ( 48 000 Kms). The blasted thing was hard to start, idled at around 200 rpm and I am like "This aint right". Shut it down, gave it a few seconds and tried to restart it. No go, It would splutter and cough but refused to turn over.
Had it towed to the Dealer today, and they're like "Here you go, The belt is cracked in 6 places, and there are huge holes in the main Serpentine belt. C$100.00 later I'm fighting them because this should have been caught at the 25
000 mile service, when they did a huge service under the hood. Clerks like a Deer > >
How do you know the belt was bad 5,000 miles ago? Did you inspect it yourself? As the owner off the car, it is your job to keep it in good condition.
Matt
Should not go at 30k miles and if it does should be covered by warranty.
caught at the 25
Clerks like a
belt-timed, have
3.2/3.5L areYes as the owner of the car I take great pride in looking after the car. My argument is that the belt shouldn't have snapped at so low a mileage, and maybe the dealer should have been more careful at inspecting it and finding a defect.
I inspect the Tire pressures, fluids and belts maybe once every two weeks when its wash time. I pay more attention to these things when the Winter Tires go on, because you do not need to be stranded at -30
I don't pull the main timing belt off the car every week to inspect it either. That's what i trust the dealer to do. A quick visible inspection is all I can do with a flashlight. My argument is this, at 25 000 the car went in for an inspection where they were supposed to look at these things. Now in 5 000 miles, the belt has fallen to pieces, caused the ASR's to shut the engine down, and caused me to jack the wife's
97 IntrepidI am not in the habit of 4 wheeling over medians or grass embankments, or cranking the engine to 6500 rpm in each gear. This is a car that is driven 90 % of the time with the autostick and shifted at 2000 rpm until the engine is warm. At that point it won't see 3000 rpm for shifts.
My Shelby Lancer ( 89k and change) on the other hand still has the original belts (Different era / Quality). I've been through several head gaskets but that's another story.
From the Service manual
24 months or 22500 miles ( I delayed to 25 000)-change oil and Filter (converted over to Synthetic 5w30)
-Check all Levels
-belts and hoses *****Oops*****
-56 point inspection
-tire rotati> Big Boy ES wrote:
And that's exactly what the dealer should do, because you don't REMOVE a timing belt to simply inspect it at 1/4 of its expected lifespan. That's not good maintenance practice because if you did enough disassembly to R&R the belt for inspection, you might as well put a new one on.
There's no way on earth that the timing belt should be failing at 35k miles, unless there was some incident that damaged the belt (and didn't you say that the serpentine belt was *also* damaged?). If it was a single damaging incident, there's no reason to think that the dealer's
25,000 mile inspection would have found anything because there was probably nothing to find at that time.Still trying to think of what sort of incident could damage both belts... thats an odd one, since the timing belt is enclosed and the serpentine belt is exposed.
I assme engine ok and you are just paying for the belt?
Kms).
Serpentine
conflicting
No sign of damage (knocking on wood for that one). The car seems to have more perk, and fuel economy has improved significantly.
DasfuhrerChrysler waived the costs of the tim> I assme engine ok and you are just paying for the belt?
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