I originally thought my timing belt had been replaced by the previous owner on my '04 Pacifica, but a thorough search of all the receipts shows otherwise. I've got a 115,000 miles on mine, and I don't want to push it.

I have a mechanic all lined up, and he has agreed to let me bring my own parts. When he's in there, I want to do all the necessary items, so I thought I would go with a timing belt kit, similar to this one:

Buy Dayco Timing Belt Water Pump Kit without Seals WP295K1D at Advance Auto Parts


It seems to have the necessary items: timing belt, water pump, actuator, and tensioner pulley.

Is there anything else that should be replaced when this repair is done? I'm going to have the mechanic change out the serpentine belt, and was wondering about changing the tensioner pulley for that, too.

 

lower crank seal....would change that with a mopar seal not aftermarket. Don't know why but when I change seals like output seals or crank seals like those, whenever I buy aftermarket they just never seal right. Evidently motor mounts on these things go back quite a bit, so check the motor mount on the upper right side. When he takes off the serp belt, have him check the condition of the bearings (tensioner, idlers) for play/wearing. Probably check the output of the AC compressor to see how that is and alternator output. Check the condition of the harmonic balancer also. Off the top of my head, those are all things I would look at since I would probably have to remove them anyways to get to it.

 

Thanks Shep -- that's some good advice on the crank seal, and something I had not considered before.

I'm going to replace the serpentine belt along with the tensioner and idlers. Those are the original pulleys, and the car is now 10 years/115k miles old. Plus, the parts are reasonable, even buying the Gates brand.

What exactly does the harmonic balancer do, and how do you know if one is going bad?

 

It is the larger pulley that is on the crank itself. When you take off the pass. side inner fender well, its the large pulley to the left A/C compressor, below the tensioner and one of the idlers. If the pulley seems it's wobbling while the car is on at idle and the engine is vibrating a little...as long as the motor mounts and stuff are good..probably the harmonic balancer. I don't know if there is a technical way to diagnosis but that what i was taught and it has worked for me for a long time. There is a rubber isolator in the pulley which helps with dampening and over time they dry rot and crack. There is a puller you need for it but if your guy works at a shop or into cars....he might have one.

 

I bought the following kit : DNJ ENGINE COMPONENTS Part # TBK1150AWP from Rockauto. This kit comes with the crankshaft seals, a tensioner, water pump, timing belt and the tensioner pulley. The harmonic balancer is the big pulley at the bottom that 'activates' the pistons(big pulley at the bottom, right hand side when facing the passenger tire). You (or in this case, the garage) have to remove this in order the get to your timing belt.