I guess my timing belt ran out of time. :giggle:
Me and my Dad went for a drive in the TC today. The drive should have taken us about 1.5 to 2 hours but about 2-3 miles from home the engine suddenly quit.
First thought was it was out of gas but it died too suddenly for it to be gas. I tried restarting it but it wouldn't even sputter. It was making a different noise while it was turning over. I got out and pryed back the timing cover enough to see the belt while my dad was trying to start the engine. I'm 99.9% sure the belt was not turning on the top pulley - couldn't see it very good. Time for a new belt! At least it happened close to home.
The 2.3L does have a non-interference head, right? :confused:
I think you probably would've noticed or heard any interference occurring. And yeah, you probably have it right that the timing belt is off. My 5.0's sounded totally different when they were cranking out of time.
Sorry bout that Paul.... The 2.3 is a non-interference engine...
I replaced the belt on the daughters '86 stang on the side of the road... Too cheap to call a tow truck...
Thanks Tom. But there's really no need to feel sorry. I bought a 19 year old car - I expected some things to go wrong. That's why I've only been taking the car on short drives around the neighbourhood.
Changing the timing belt is a bit beyond my ability, especially on the side of the road. The tow job wasn't expensive. I called a friend of my mechanic who drives a tow truck and he only charged me $35 for a 15 km tow (http://"http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=St+Thomas+Line+%26+Thorburn+Rd,+Portugal+Cove-St+Philip%27s,+NL,+Canada&daddr=Blackmarsh+Rd+and+albany+st,+St+John%27s,+NL,+Canada&ie=UTF8&om=1"). He lived up to the companies name 'Affordable Towing".
Anyway, my mechanic is going to work on it tomorrow. I also asked him to tidy up the power booster system that's living in the trunk.
I was about to say, at least changing the timing belt on a 2.3 is easy...after owning two 2.3-powered cars I've gotten it down to a science. Lining up all the pulleys is still the most time consuming part.
heh thats the worst part :yuck:
Yeah! I probably could have put the belt on, but it probably wouldn't be on it's timing.
I should have known that the belt was on it's way out. A couple times this week I thought I heard the engine pinging.
I should have also known that today was a holiday. Since Saturday was Canada day, most places that were closed on Saturday observed today as the holiday. I was talking to the mechanic and I told him that if the car was done by Friday I'll be happy. Thank G it's not my DD.
Done!
Replaced the belt and tensioning pulley. Cost 2 bills.
Glad to hear all is well...
So how you doing with the clutch??? Getting the hang of it???
I hope to have a video soon, so you can judge for yourself! :)