I am now the proud owner of a 1997 Jxi convertible with 2.5 V6 with about 130K miles. The car is in solid condition, but has a few mechanical issues that I need to sort through, the most major of which is that it needs a new water pump and timing belt. I want to take this on as my first project with this car since, obviously, it's pretty important if I want to get it on the road.

As background since I'm pretty new to this site, I'm a DIYer, but I have a good tool collection and have successfully tackled some pretty tough jobs. I've never done a timing belt/water pump, but please don't advise that I take it to a shop. If I destroy the car, the junk yard is a phone call away, but I want to do this successfully and would appreciate your help!

I will have a factory service manual soon, so I'm not really looking for a step-by-step, but I would really appreciate any tips you may have as to any special tools that are absolutely essential, problems to watch out for, other parts to replace, any tough parts of the job, tricks to work around them, etc. You know the stuff not written in the manual.

Thanks!

 

oh what fun, i found it much easier to remove the upper instake and REAR valve cover, you might as well replace the 6 seals in the valve coverfor the spark plugs and you shoud replace platnumplugs at the same time.
Removing the rear valve cover gave me a lot more room to acess the back bolts of the power steering pump..( that is the hardes part of the jobto get that off & on again.)

the goofy banjo bolt for the Pump i hadun bOlt the pump then briNG ITout some ,then vise grip OR clamp it to something so i could get the brass banjo bolt off the pump itself.

TAKE a marking pen and mark thetiming belt covers ( NOTE WHEN THEY CAME OFF SO YOU DON"T HAVE TO REMOVE STUFF TO PUT THEM BACK ON)and engine mountbrackets with adjacent parts because you have to twist & turnit or them to get it out. You can easily go NOW HOW DOES THATGO BACK IN ???

timing belt tensioner needs a goffy tool with two pins i had one made at work and even then one pin broke off partially, and on my 2nd car it broke off completley. i have heard people doing this without the specail tool, not sure how they do it.

NOTE there is an O ring on the water pump that attaches to a tube,,, Iscraped out the crud and replaced it,,,NOW i have tinly leak on the other end of the tube close to the thermostat.. and i bleieve it only comes out the water pump way..

I also marked engine rotation so i could turn it over by hand the proper way wen the old belt was on ( turn it over with starter and mark it 1st )
You might as well replace power sterinng belt and a/c belt since you are in there,

 

Thanks, this is good advice. It's been a while since I posted the question and I've already started the project actually I have most of the disassembly work done. Taking off the upper intake was a big help in getting to that bolt on the steering pump bracket. I just loosened it though (didn't take it out) and was able to move the bracket enough to remove the timing belt cover. On assembly, I'll see about tightening that bolt while I have the valve cover off since you say that's easier.

I ended up buying the special tool from Miller SPX it was a little over $20 for a tool the size of a quarter, but it is certainly cost-justified for this job.

BTW, you can get the o-ring on the other side by removing the thermostat housing. That looks like a job in itself though because of some hidden bolts.

I'm toying with the idea of going the whole nine yards and replacing the head gaskets while I'm in there. I think it would be a significant amount of extra work- I'm curious what people think. Are the head gaskets likely to go soon on this engine with 133,000 miles?

(Problem is it becomes a slippery slope I could keep going and rebuild the engine LOL, but trying to figure out the best place to stop.)

 

I have a 2.5 with 133,000 and one with 172,000 both engines still going strong and I see no reason to replace the head gaskets, if it isn’t broke don't mess with it, It's not a mtce or a wear item like the timing belt/ water pump.

About the only issue I have is no heat in temps like 10 below and colder (pretty much ruled out everything. It's apartially clogged heater core. One hose hot other is not.
My oil light comes on and goesaway every now and then on the car with 172,000 miles, I put in 10-30 oiland it seems to help it quite a bit, have not checked with a mechanical oil pressuregauge since I need to move the A/c compressor out of the way to remove or replacethe oil pressure switch.

Plus I HAVE a very slightcoolant leak on the thermostat side of the metal coolant tube o ring. THANKSfor the info that it's replaceable on the stat side. W/out removing the timing belt/water pump.

 

added info, I did one timing belt at 110 and it looked worn and all went well.
2nd car i have i did belt change and it looked very good, almost thought about not changing it, but di anyway. and i had issues with the cam tensioneritself, it is adjustable so be aware of that. so if it seems the new belt is to shrt , then tensioer needs to be adjusted.

What is the part number of the Miller SPX it says it's for the 3.0 & 2.4 engine , but will it also fit the 2.5 engine are the pins in the correct spacing ?




WRENCH, TIMING BELT

PART #:MD998767


iF I REPLACE THE HEATER CORE, I WOILD LIKLEY KEEP THE CAR FOR ANOTHER YEAR OR TWO, ENGINE IS STRONG EXCEPT FOR THE OIL PRESSURE LIGHT, I THINK IT' S A BAD OIL PRESSURE SW. I DON'T BURN ANY OIL AND IT DOESN'T KNOCK. STILL PURS LIKE A KITTEN.

i HAD ABAD CRANK POSITION SENSOR GO BAD, WASN'T 100% SURE cuz IT WAS VERY INTERMITTENT ISSUE AND SWAPPED IT BETWEEN THE CARS AND IT, ONLY OCCURED ONE IN THE OTHER CAR, REPLACED AND NO MORE ISSUES IN EITHER CAR. FRO A YEAR NOW.

fyi I ALSO HAD A TRANS GO GOOFY AT DOWNSHIFT POINTS ESPECAILLY GOING DOWN TO 1ST GEAR, TOOK IT TO A TRANNY SHOP fRIEND OF A FRIEND AND HE RE-PROGRAMED IT NO CHARGEAND IT WORKS BEAUTIFUL FOR 1.5 YEARS NOW.

 

Yes, the tool fits. I got her all back together and she runs great.

I wish I knew to take it easy on the valve cover bolts though. I used a torque wrenchto try and take them to spec 88 inch/lbs and without looking at the valve covers and without making the torque wrench click, I managed to crush/deform the front valve cover. Fortunately I noticed it before doing the back and I did the back correctly. Tried to bend the front cover back into shape but it leaked oil like crazy and I had to replace it with a new one. So the pointer there is to just snug those valve covers down.

I'm glad to hear yours are running so long. I had reservations about buying a car with 133K miles on it to begin with, but with the $1000 purchase price and what will probably be about $1200 in parts to recondition it, it seems like I'll get my money's worth.

Now to fix the A/C.