Re: It's very hard to change a timing belt on mazda 323 ??
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September 29 2003, 7:43 PM
You can do this yourself but need to understand the following: The timing belt must be positioned exactly right, not even a tooth off, or else your car will not run right. You must line up the timing marks correctly before removing the old belt and get no 1 cylinder at TDC. When you remove the old belt, the cam sprocket will have tendency to move slightly out of position because of the pressure of valve springs on the cam lobes. You must line up this sprocket (or two cam sprockets if you have a DOHC engine) properly with a wrench or your belt will be off by several teeth. You need an air impact wrench to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt. When replacing the timing belt, they also recommend replacing the cam sprocket seal and the crankshaft front seal. Some also recommend replacing the timing belt tensioner as well.
After you install the new timing belt, turn the engine over by turning the crankshaft pulley bolt with a wrench clokwise at least twice and recheck the timing marks and make sure they all align. You need a good shop manual to see how the timing marks need to align. Also, never turn the engine over (either manually or with the starter, once you remove the timing belt. In case of this Mazda, you probably have noninterference engine, but if you do this on an interference engine, you may damage the valves and/or pistons.
After installation of a new timing belt you need to check the base ignition timing to make sure if has not change. It should not if you istall the belt correctly.
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peterj
Re: It's very hard to change a timing belt on mazda 323 ??
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September 30 2003, 8:17 AM
A good second check is to mark each pulley and the old belt with a white out marker. Put the new belt next to the old belt and transfer the marks exactly. When you put it back, all the marks can be lined up again easily.
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Djmyth
alot harder than they say
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August 17 2004, 8:21 PM
Out of the car changin the timing belt is easy but in the car calls for more measures i just swapped a motor and did it outside the car. now in the car u dont have much room so u have to remove panels and a few other obstructions so ya its worth replacin ureself cause its expensive ta get done by a garage
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