1997 Ranger Timing Belt Replacement
 

Hi,
I thought I'd share some insight to hopefully avoid someone making the same mistake that I made.

The timing belt on my truck broke so I thought I'd fix it. No big deal, take a couple of hours. TWELVE HOURS LATER......

Here is what I learnt

1. When aligning the timing marks, DO NOT align the diamond to the triangle for the cam timing. It must be a triangle to triangle alignment.

Yes, the is a triangle for the cam alignment. I found it after checking about 4 times as the truck wouldn't start. It was extremely faint and I had to clean the plate to see it. :-banghead

2. Use a puller to get the harmonic balancer off. Do not try to knock if off as you will probably break it.

Everything else was very straight forward.

Regards,

Glenn

no kiding where were you two months ago when i took half the motor apart thinking the valves must have hit the pistons only to find out after two days work there are two differternt marks. I wonder why and who was the a-hole that put two marks on there anyway

Sorry to hear that.

When the belt broke I thought that I would have to service the head, but I managed to find out that there is enough clearance between the piston and the valves.

Regards,

Glenn

This must to be timing belt weekend. Just finished repacing my which broke coming home from work friday afternoon. Died setting waiting on the light to change. Had to have it towed home. Used AAA insurance for the first time. Best investment I ever made. While replacing I notice that the water pump had coolent coming out of the weep hole. Went ahead and replaced it allso.
I don,t spend that much time in the Ranger section but I did do a search in this section and I did find all the data I needed.
Just wanted to say thinks for sharing.
I spent four hours out there today and when I started it was 26 degrees and when I finished it had warmed up to 29 degrees with a wind chill of 15 degrees.

My truck broke down the exact same way. I was waiting for a left turn light, went to accelerate, then nothing. Waited 2 and a half hours for a tow truck, sitting freezing in the truck, then had to work on it in the cold.

Great way to spend a Saturday. :)

Glenn

its 76 deg in southern california

how many miles you got on your rangers ? are the belts suppose to be replaced at a certain mileage ? dont want my 97 to break on me.

I think it is after 60,000 miles.

I had 119,000 when it broke.

Glenn

Rub it in why don't ya.

Glenn

better consider myself lucky, i got 187,000 miles on it. engine has never been touched except spark plugs at about 100,000, 3 batteries etc. just normal wear and tear. think i'll get the ford house to do mine, since it is 23 deg out.

Hi,
You might want to consider getting the water pump replaced while you're at it, especially with that amount of mileage.

It should not add much labor at all to the cost, probably an extra 10 minutes to replace, plus coolant and the cost of the pump.

Glenn

thanx ! i wouldnt have thought of that. mite as well since its close to the timing belt !!! prob not very expensive either, and would save a lot of labor later on !!! thanx.:-drink

I had about 205000 miles before it broke. One caution i didn't know was on the 2000 ranger 2.5 the timing belt drives the engine oil pump. If your driving on the freeway at high speed and the belt brakes you lose oil presure so if your not sure why the engine died it would be a good idea to put in the clutch or take it out of gear . . but not forse the engine to continue turning until you come to a stop and then keep in mind when you do that you will then loose power stering.

I have a 96 3.0L, does that have a chain or belt? I've always thought it had a chain, but how do you know?

Nocode 95 and later all ran the same engine for the 3.0 it has a chain set.