I'm looking at the service CD to figure out what all I have to do to get to the timing belt. Is it absolutely necessary to drain the radiator/remove thermostat housing to do this?

Any shortcuts?

 

I believe you're stuck doing it. The Haynes says you do need to remove the T-stat housing to do it, and because of very tight spaces up front, you'll probably need to remove the radiator along with the fan and fan shroud. Doesn't sound like fun, but it's the right way to do it.

RP
Zach

 

The radiator, fan, and fan shroud is pretty easy to remove. You might be able to do it without removing those items, but it would be much easier with them out of the way.

I replaced the thermostat when I did mine and I don't recall anything being too hard to do.

Depending on your mileage, I'd replace the water pump while I was there if it is still the original.

 

With the fan and shroud out of the way, you'll probably have more than enough room to swap out the timing belt without removing the thermostat housing. Given the location of the upper radiator hose, it may need to come out anyway to facilitate easy removal of the fan shroud. If the hose and thermostat have never been replaced to the best of your knowledge, this would be a great time to swap those parts out anyway. Don't be suprised if you have to buy a new thermostat housing either. Ford has used a relatively thin steel one starting in the early 80s and these were prone to rusting out around the hose connections. Most parts stores can get them for less than $15-20.

 

It is not completely necessary to remove the radiator. I went through this a couple months ago on my Lima 4banger. However, it will make it worlds easier if you take the radiator out. What's the harm in loosing a few $$$s of coolant if it'll be that much easier for you? Chances are, you prolly need to flush your radiator anyways, so it's a perfect opportunity.

 

Actually just changed the hoses & coolant, radiator cap & serpentine belt this past fall, but I will drain & pull the radiator if necessary.

Wondering if I can mark the position of the upper pulley, and lower pulley/crankshaft so that I can just match'em all up again when I put the new belt on? Hoping to save the hassle of trying to figure out TDC on cyl 1 ... not much experience with that...

 

I didn't remove the radiator on mine just the shroud. I was happy afterward I didn't
that crank bolt is a real back breaker to get loose. I did it with a pipe wrench and
breaker bar and a couple of pieces of pipe, as my impact wouldn't touch it. The radiator would have caught the blow behind some cardboard I had taped too it rather then the condensor if anything had slipped. I did have the top hose off. so the coolant was down far enough for that.

 

There is a bolt that is VERY near the thermostat housing. You can get it out if you are nimble and have a good set of wrenches. Mostly, it will be embedded, and hard to loosen without doing the thermo housing. I used a screwdriver to move stuff around, and punched a hole in the housing, so I had to buy a new one.
Bite the bullet, and take it off.
You will have to remove the crank pulley to get the old belt off. The bolt is very tightly installed. If you are lucky, you will be able to pull the pulley off the nose of the crankshaft by hand, else you will need a puller.
To set the timing, the woodruff key slot in the crankshaft will be at 12 O'clock at TDC. The little finger will point to the cam sprocket mark. You can mark all the parts ,but you will still have to rotate a few turns by hand after you release the tensioner. Then check that the marks actually still line up.
I think there are good instructions at the top of this forum, or the "performance engines and troubleshooting" section for 4-cylinder engines.
tom

 

Ok, Guess I'll just go for it and see how it happens. If I run into problems, you all will be among the first to know! I have looked at the info in the tech section, and also my service CD. What's the deal with the 'belt tension tool'? Is this a needed item, or will it be immediately obvious what to do when I get it all apart?

 

The belt tension tool is just a prybar to release the tensioner. Loosen the mount bolts, and pry the tensionor to remove tension. TIghten bolts before removing prybar to keep the belt UN-tensioned.
tom

 

agryphon- do you have AC? Bc if you do..... There is a mount for the AC on the drivers side that also holds the PS pump. What you do is loosen that mount almost all the way BUT keep a few threads in and use a long screwdriver of bar to pry the tensioner using your AC mount. I didn't need the special tool when I used this method. Just pry off the top of the mount. I drew a picture in Paint for you, but I couldn't figure out how to upload it... I can email it to you if you'd like.

 

I think you have to have the picture hosted on a website, then you can link to it... I appreciate the art-work, but I think I get the idea from your description. BTW, yup, DO have A/C

Thank you!

 

Okay, I am slightly confused. Are we yakking about the timing belt tensioner or the serpentine tensioner? .... or both?
tom

 

Timing belt tensioner. On my 95 the serpentine tensioner is located in the vicinity of the alternator. You can just use the A/C bracket as a pivot to pry the timing belt tensioner out of the way.

 

I did the timing belt on my 96 2.3 L a couple of months ago. Once you get front timing belt cover off and have the crankshaft pulley off and everything lined back up, you can loosen the pivot bolt with the spring on it and the bolt that secures the tension on the tensioner. Carefully take a prybar on the idler pulley and use the pivot bolt as a pivot point and push the pulley back and tighten the bolt that secures the tensioner to hold it without pressure on the belt. The bolt securing the pulley to the crankshaft can be quite a pain, had to put a breaker bar on mine and bump the starter to get it loose.

Good Luck