How long to replace timing belt on 3.5?

Posted By: feets

How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 01:08 AM

It's time for me to do the timing belt on my 2002 Concorde with the 3.5 V6. The car has 95,000 miles. The thermostat seems to be sticking. If I'm going to drain the coolant I might as well to the 100,000 mile service.

How much time should I expect this to take? It looks like no special tools are needed but things are going to be a little tight down there.

Posted By: Bill MeLater

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 01:28 AM

2 weeks...Plus beer, Band-Aids and swear jar contributions.

Posted By: buildanother

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 01:50 AM

Remove that upper plastic panel, plus the steel body colored panel beneath it, hood latch etc. Get the 4 10mm headed bolts off of fan assem and once thats out of the way, it's a breeze. Rad can stay in, balancer can stay on, the rest you should be easily able to handle. You really can sneak the belt in and out of there w/out manhandling at balancer. You'll need a vice to push the little tensioner actuator back in and a beefy nail or something to push through the hole in the actuator. There is a little smile shaped belt shield behind balancer that has to be removed like the 2 timing belt covers. The only thing you have to get under car for is to back the 2 accessory drive belt adusters off, once you loosen the 15mm nut a couple of turns.

Beer actually might help too if nec.

Posted By: HotRodDave

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 02:09 AM

Don't atempt the cam seals with out the special tool to line up the cam gear and cam when you bolt them back together, you will get a rough idle, mabey loose a few HP. There is nothing to acurately index them with out it.

The belt it self is not too hard, just a few hours.

Posted By: gtx6970

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 02:33 AM

with air tools 3 - 4 hour job tops

as mentioned - pull the upper radiaor support tie bar and cooling fan module , and I have the tool to remove the balancer pulley rather than fight around it risking damaging the belt

Posted By: moparx

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 02:43 AM

replace the water pump and belt idler[s] while you are in there.

Posted By: feets

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 03:35 AM

I was planning on replacing the water pump, belt, tensioner, and pulley. The thermostat needs to be replaced and it'll be time for the fluids too.

I really need to tackle the knocking suspension too. The cradle bushings are wasted and something has started banging around on bumps.
This is a great car but I'm going to be cursing at it pretty soon.

Posted By: therocks

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 12:06 PM

Remember to triple check the cam timing also.Ive had a few where the cams moved off the mark when the tensioner releases.Really not a terrible job.If I hadnt just done the wifes PT Id do yours if you would have done the wifes.Rocky

Posted By: 70Coronet500Vert

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 12:14 PM

Quote:

2 weeks...Plus beer, Band-Aids and swear jar contributions.

Posted By: 70Coronet500Vert

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 12:17 PM

Cam timing can be tricky or it can be a breeze. The first time I did it, lined up perfectly, stayed lined up and I reassembled.

After the new Cloyes tensioner bolt broke and destroyed my valves, the second time I did it, the timing kep jumping a tooth or two. The dots were just off. If took 3 or 4 times to get it right.

I released the tensioner, rotated the engine twice by hand then rechecked the dots.

It's not a hard job at all. I would tell people a day simply because of the way things go when I work on cars.

Posted By: GTXKen

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/10/11 02:24 PM

I have done 4 of these now, I'd say 4 to 6 hours. Its not a bad job and like others have said replace the WP while your in there. timing is a piece of cake but its an interference motor so don't rotate the cams. after the belt is on and has tension rotate the assembly and check the timing. I take that one step further and start the motor with the covers off. On one occassion doing that I saw that the tensioner was bouncing wildly indicating that it was going.

Once you do the cradle bushings it will be like driving a different car, not sure if someone makes polly replacements, I know they do for Gen 1 cars.

I really like the LH cars, to bad chrysler never sticks with anything and insterad reinvents the wheel every time.

Posted By: Dartman75

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/11/11 02:33 AM

Banging on bumps for my 300M was ultimately the sway bar bushings. I did the endlinks while I was hunting the problem and they are supposedly a common cause of the clunks of bumps. If you see sliding makrs on thesway bar through the bushings or can move it even a tiny bit up and down in the rubber bushing, they are shot. I couldn't believe how hard they clunked and for how little they moved in the bushing.

Posted By: feets

Re: How long to replace timing belt on 3.5? - 08/11/11 07:34 PM

I had one sway bar end link go bad last year.

This time it turned out to be the inner tie rod bushings. The right side bushings were GONE. The rubber had broken up and fallen out.
That was not a fun job. I was able to get to it by turning the wheel all the way left and removing the air intake hoses. They're under the throttle body which is under the cowl. Once you get your hands on them you can't get your head in there to see anything. It's a 100% braille operation.
It took about 90 minutes to do at home on the ground and in the dark.
The knocking sound is gone and the car feels a wee bit better today.