I bought this vehicle with 129k miles, 07 Pacifica with 4.0L SOHC V6, 6sp auto a couple weeks ago; contacted the previous owner and the timing belt had not been serviced. I was able to negotiate the price down a lot because of it, so I didn't mind. Bought it in North Carolina, drove it home to northern KY and parked it for good until I could replace the timing belt and related components. 130k scares me on a interference engine with belt designed for 100k.
Long story short, what a breeze. Chrysler really has service in mind when they designed the thing. Removing upper intake (throttle body stays with it) involved taking out the airbox, a couple vacuum hoses and a hose clamp, a few electrical connectors and about 8 easy-to-reach bolts. It's not required for timing belt service, but makes it much roomier in the engine bay, and necessary to change the OEM spark plugs and I'll do the valve cover gaskets (I think a spark plug well is leaking) while I'm at it. I'm not a fan of intake removal to access spark plugs-- that seems to be more common on newer vehicles, I've run across it before. Access to timing cover only required removal of harmonic balancer, serpentine belt idler pulley and tensioner-- one bolt each. Replaced water pump, belt, tensioner & tensioner arm/pulley. All were easy to access with the passenger wheel taken off. Drained coolant from block and radiator. Took a couple tries with the new belt to get in perfect time-- the rear pulley has to be off about 1/2 a tooth, but once you release the tensioner pin and rotate the engine, it picks up the slack and goes where it needs to be. I ran into the same thing on my Honda Odyssey.
I did a major bonehead move (worst thing is I've done it before!) by trying to removing the "crank pulley" using a generic 3-jaw puller. I will never call it a "crank pulley" again, it's harmonic balancer to me from now on. You can't grip it from the outside pulley, I did this on my '85 Ford pickup and it separated the pulley from the inside. $100 error. I did the same darn thing this time without even thinking about it, and it pulled the pulley off the rubber, but nothing else. A new OEM Chrysler unit is on the way, cost $100, I think I'll have this lesson learned finally. I ended up using a special Chrysler HB removal tool from Autozone. Worked great.
After inspecting the old belt, it could have gone another 50k+ easily. You could still read the Chrysler logo and OEM part number. No cracking, just minor feathering between the belt ribs on the inside. I was really surprised by this, other vehicles whose belts I've replaced at 100k looked much worse and had visible micro-cracks around the ribs. Could be because this is a really wide belt, at least a 1/2" wider than the timing belt on my 3.5L Odyssey. The tensioner was seeping oil, as was the tensioner pulley, they were both fairly wet outside of the seal. Water pump was nice and tight, but I didn't want to chance it lasting another 100k.
Can't finish putting it back together until the new harmonic balancer gets here, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be replacing serp belt and radiator hoses, the lower rad hose will be the hardest part in all of this-- looks like I'll have to remove radiator fans and possibly power steering pump to get to it.
Long story short, what a breeze. Chrysler really has service in mind when they designed the thing. Removing upper intake (throttle body stays with it) involved taking out the airbox, a couple vacuum hoses and a hose clamp, a few electrical connectors and about 8 easy-to-reach bolts. It's not required for timing belt service, but makes it much roomier in the engine bay, and necessary to change the OEM spark plugs and I'll do the valve cover gaskets (I think a spark plug well is leaking) while I'm at it. I'm not a fan of intake removal to access spark plugs-- that seems to be more common on newer vehicles, I've run across it before. Access to timing cover only required removal of harmonic balancer, serpentine belt idler pulley and tensioner-- one bolt each. Replaced water pump, belt, tensioner & tensioner arm/pulley. All were easy to access with the passenger wheel taken off. Drained coolant from block and radiator. Took a couple tries with the new belt to get in perfect time-- the rear pulley has to be off about 1/2 a tooth, but once you release the tensioner pin and rotate the engine, it picks up the slack and goes where it needs to be. I ran into the same thing on my Honda Odyssey.
I did a major bonehead move (worst thing is I've done it before!) by trying to removing the "crank pulley" using a generic 3-jaw puller. I will never call it a "crank pulley" again, it's harmonic balancer to me from now on. You can't grip it from the outside pulley, I did this on my '85 Ford pickup and it separated the pulley from the inside. $100 error. I did the same darn thing this time without even thinking about it, and it pulled the pulley off the rubber, but nothing else. A new OEM Chrysler unit is on the way, cost $100, I think I'll have this lesson learned finally. I ended up using a special Chrysler HB removal tool from Autozone. Worked great.
After inspecting the old belt, it could have gone another 50k+ easily. You could still read the Chrysler logo and OEM part number. No cracking, just minor feathering between the belt ribs on the inside. I was really surprised by this, other vehicles whose belts I've replaced at 100k looked much worse and had visible micro-cracks around the ribs. Could be because this is a really wide belt, at least a 1/2" wider than the timing belt on my 3.5L Odyssey. The tensioner was seeping oil, as was the tensioner pulley, they were both fairly wet outside of the seal. Water pump was nice and tight, but I didn't want to chance it lasting another 100k.
Can't finish putting it back together until the new harmonic balancer gets here, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be replacing serp belt and radiator hoses, the lower rad hose will be the hardest part in all of this-- looks like I'll have to remove radiator fans and possibly power steering pump to get to it.
