So the outer ring on my pulley has slipped and is throwing my belts off, so I am going to replace it asap. I have the haynes manual and it seems easy enough, except for the two pages it goes on about making timing marks line up. Is it really necessary to do this, or can it be an easy take off the pulley and stick a new one on?

The timing marks have to line up.

Model/make/year?

If the manual is telling you to align the timing marks before you loosen the damper bolt, odds are that the timing gears are not keyed to the crankshaft, and depend on the damper to lock the gear to the crankshaft. If you loosen the damper bolt, your camshaft timing can go to shit, resulting in bent valves when you attempt to start the engine. Some engines require special tools to properly align timing components when the damper is removed.

Its a 1997 Mitsubishi eclipse spyder gs. It has the 2.4L four cylinder.


Ok, it says nothing about timing marks when taking it off, but for installation, it goes a little something like this:

Place the single timing mark on the camshaft sprocket in 12 o clock position so it aligns with the mark on the valve cover. align the crankshaft and oil pump sprocket timing marks.

It goes into much detail, I'm sure you have an idea of what it will say.

I'm no mechanic, so forgive me if I'm a little slow on the subject. I've been learning as things break on this car (and i've learned a lot! :) )

So, are all of these sprockets behind the crankshaft pulley? What are these timing marks?

From looking at a shop manual, there doesn't appear to be anything to worry about. Just remove your accessory drive belt(s), remove the bolt, remove the damper, reassemble in reverse order of removal.

Thank you very much.

One more question, though.

The manual suggests using a chain wrench to hold the pulley from turning while I remove the bolts. I've called all of the auto parts stores around here and they act like they've never heard of one before...I had the same problem with a brass hammer when I had to replace a few lug studs.

Any suggestions of anything else I might could use? I don't have any impact tools, but if I absolutely have to, I'll buy some....it would just leave me flat ass broke (really in the hole...I'd have to borrow money)

Might I find one at a Home Depot or other hardware store?

Model/make/year?

If the manual is telling you to align the timing marks before you loosen the damper bolt, odds are that the timing gears are not keyed to the crankshaft, and depend on the damper to lock the gear to the crankshaft. If you loosen the damper bolt, your camshaft timing can go to shit, resulting in bent valves when you attempt to start the engine. Some engines require special tools to properly align timing components when the damper is removed.

Intuition tells me that nothing would happen, but it's a shitty gamble if you are wrong. Better to take the few minutes and get it %100 correct than get it wrong and have your engine get destroyed.

Thank you very much.

One more question, though.

The manual suggests using a chain wrench to hold the pulley from turning while I remove the bolts. I've called all of the auto parts stores around here and they act like they've never heard of one before...I had the same problem with a brass hammer when I had to replace a few lug studs.

Any suggestions of anything else I might could use? I don't have any impact tools, but if I absolutely have to, I'll buy some....it would just leave me flat ass broke (really in the hole...I'd have to borrow money)

Might I find one at a Home Depot or other hardware store?

http://www.rx7t2.com/is300_timing_belt/images/124_2490.JPG

That's basically all it is. They may go by pipe wrenches as well, but google images shows monkey wrenches. different people call it different things. Your local hardware store should have them, possibly in the plumbing section.

Shows you how much I know about cars....I thought the big center bolt had to come out along with the four smaller ones...this makes it a bit easier I guess. I didn't realize it until I actually went and picked up the new pulley this morning.

My lug wrench fits over the center one, I'm gonna keep trying to hold it still with that one while I break the four bolts loose.

I'll let you know how it goes....


***UPDATE***

Hmmm...it went easier than I thought. I didn't even need a gear puller to get it off. My tire iron is collapsible, so I bent one arm so it rested against the brake assembly and beat the bolts loose with a ratchet and a rubber mallet. I just gotta put the belts back on now....then it is to the next project...hopefully it will be simple.

one of the power steering hoses is actually resting on the edge of the PS pulley. Why it was designed like that, I don't know. It wore a hole all the way through the hose. I just gotta replace it so I can have PS back. I guess I'll have to try to bend it away or tie it off so it won't happen again.

In case you weren't aware, and just fyi, there seem to be a lot of service manuals online for Eclipse engines. A quick google search for 4G64 manual (http://www.google.com/search?q=4g64+manual) yielded this (http://www.austarion.com/tech/4g63.pdf). (I'm assuming your engine is the 4G64) You may be able to find a complete FSM with a little digging.