Okay, my novice skills are coming to an end to what I can do on the following:

1. Serpentine Belt
2. Timing Belt
3. Electrical test for blower motor (I have exhausted EVERYTHING that I can think of to see why that isn't working)

Question: If I replace the timing belt (it has 134K on the truck, not sure if it was ever done), should I replace the water pump too?

Thanks.

Dave

 

What year/engine do you have? This impacts a lot on how much the work could cost.

Serpentine belt isn't too bad for most DIY'ers. Usually all you need to do is pop a wrench into the tensioner pulley arm or onto the bolt, de-tension the belt, and slide it off. Then put the new one on according to the routing diagram on the sticker under your hood, using the same wrench to allow you to slip the belt over the last pulley.

The timing belt/chain can be more involved since you'd have to dissect the front of the engine on most models. I guess if you were having a shop do this, you'd just ask them to put on a new serpentine belt since they'll remove the first one anyway.

Electrical bugs, as you now know can be tough to trace down. I'd expect a big bill for diagnostic time, though some mechanics might find it quite quickly. I doubt the parts/labor for the fix would cost too much, since I think you've already ruled out the big ticket items like the fan itself if I recall your other thread.

-Jim

 

Sorry...it's a 1995 2.3 4cyl 5 speed.

 

If you replace the timing belt, replace the water pump too since you already have it torn down.

What kind of tools do you have? The only hard thing with the timing belt is aligning the timing marks right, keeping them in the correct place, and removing the harmonic balancer (a good impact gun and an air compressor work wonders).