the good and the better bad..

[Plymouthy Adams]

I tore into the engine on the Concorde..I just knew the timing belt was broken..but it was not only had jumped time..I had been experiencing a rattle that I could not locate just prior to the engine quitting..yeah I know driving on borrowed time but knowing it was a non destruct engine should the belt break even at 6200 RPM..I drove it as I was into the remodel of the house. Long story short..I found the noise..and the reason for the timing jump..the timing belt idler bearing disentergrated..being an entirely enclosed chamber.could only find two bearing balls..the rest are powdered metal..what a dusty mess..never a growl or whine or whirl from the bearing..just went to clicking then a rattle then gone..

Parts have been pulled and on the shelf awaiting my pick up after work..one of the bennies of having a business account..even though I am not in the business per say..manager set that up for me as he knows I rarely make a special trip for parts and get them on the way home 9 out of 10 times..

[mackster]

I am surprise you had enough power to drive around...and no over heating from being out of timing???? the bad doesnt sound good, but it was better than what I expected!

[P-12 Tommy]

I tore into the engine on the Concorde..I just knew the timing belt was broken..but it was not only had jumped time..I had been experiencing a rattle that I could not locate just prior to the engine quitting..yeah I know driving on borrowed time but knowing it was a non destruct engine should the belt break even at 6200 RPM..I drove it as I was into the remodel of the house. Long story short..I found the noise..and the reason for the timing jump..the timing belt idler bearing disentergrated..being an entirely enclosed chamber.could only find two bearing balls..the rest are powdered metal..what a dusty mess..never a growl or whine or whirl from the bearing..just went to clicking then a rattle then gone..

Parts have been pulled and on the shelf awaiting my pick up after work..one of the bennies of having a business account..even though I am not in the business per say..manager set that up for me as he knows I rarely make a special trip for parts and get them on the way home 9 out of 10 times..

I changed a timing belt on my '96 LHS I used to have. 3 hour job. How many miles was on yours? I changed mine out at 100,000 miles.

Tom

[Plymouthy Adams]

It has 150,000 odd miles on it, I was about 48,000 above the recommended timing belt change...it is about one of the easiest engines to install a belt on..only thing you need to remove is the electric fan from the radiator and then total access...only if all the cars were this simple...it is not a time consuming job by any means..the 3.5 is one of the most dependable strong running powerhouses out there..sure wish there was an adapter for rear wheel drive outside the Prowler setup that is..

actually if you really wanted, you can change the timing belt and if you take it apart right, there is never a need to readjust the AC or Alt belts..can be done without disturbing the tension settings.

don't you just love the harmonic balancer...no key way..just stick that sucker on...

Edited November 6, 2009 by Tim Adams

[Plymouthy Adams]

turns out I found the reason for the timing belt to jump (bearing eaten up) however the noise was still there...ole twofold problem.....after studying the situation I figured about the only thing it could have been was the belt whip slapping the pivoting idler against the hydraulic ram..at about 1600 plus RPM it got much quieter..breaking out my stethoscope I found the rattle most prominant at the hydraulic belt tensioner..this evening I tore it back apart...I replaced the hydraulic tensioner and wha-la..no more rattle....me happy camper...I also changed my battery..before I parked it I could tell it was getting a bit on the weak side... I charged it as it had been sitting a few months, well this evening it was only good for a few engine starts before petering out on me..

Edited November 6, 2009 by Tim Adams

[P-12 Tommy]

That's good news Tim! It'll be good for another 100,000 miles.

Tom