Just wondering if there's an easy way to take a sneak-peek at the timing belts on these things. I don't want to have to tear it all apart just to find that they're in good shape. I have no idea what the last owner had done to the car, but it appears to have been very well maintained, and I want to keep up with it.

My check engine light comes on at start up, goes off after a minute or so, then comes back on and stays on once the engine reaches operating temp. Sound like anything particular? Otherwise I'll go thru the list I got from doing a search on the CEL earlier.

My intake boot has a tear in it right where it clamps to the throttle body, about half way around. So I do need to replace that. Suppose it's a dealer or junk yard-only item.

Just did a R. front axle and wheel bearing R&R. Not a bad job. I'm impressed with the way these cars are put together. Too bad they had to make the outer CV joint part of the axle though. That seems kinda dumb.

Well, yeah, there are a couple of inspection plugs on the timing belt covers. You pry off the rubber plugs and you can stick your fingers in to feel the timing belts. Engine off, of course I think it'd be nigh near impossible to see in there, even with a mirror. But these inspection plugs are most useful to determine if the belts are broken -- not what condition they're in.

 

How many miles??? How many miles have you put on it? Might as well just change the belts it you're not sure.

 

>> My intake boot has a tear in it right where it clamps to the throttle body.

 

Then you're by-passing your air filter, and bypassing the MAF (Mass AirFlow meter). This screws up the ECU and from there, your fuel mixture. My bet is that's the source of the CEL. It should be easy to find a replacement at a junkyard.

 

-- Mark

The only disadvantage to having your belts snap is being left by the side of the road. No harm is caused to the engine because the valves don't interfere with the piston travel. It took me about 3 hours to take the covers of of my GL, but that was a first time and I kept stripping the nurled nuts in the plastic because of corrosion. I put the covers back on with zip ties to make it a faster job in the future. If every thing goes well, I think that taking the covers off should take less than 3/4 of an hour. I think that you're supposed to change the belts every 60k miles. And with the intake boot, if its in the rectangular section, just use duct tape

Thanks:)

The car has just over 131k on it, but I've only put a few hundred on it so far. I think I know the dealer that last worked on it, so may see if they have any records for repairs the PO did on it. Otherwise, I'll just go ahead and put new belts on it just to be safe. We kinda live out in the sticks, and the wife drives it the most. Don't need her getting stranded.

 

"Then you're by-passing your air filter, and bypassing the MAF (Mass AirFlow meter). This screws up the ECU and from there, your fuel mixture. My bet is that's the source of the CEL."

I was wondering about that. I did the EGR test per Haynes repair book, and it seems to be ok. I did the self test thing with the ECU, and that's what the code said to check. Guess I'll hit the wrecking yard this weekend and see if they have a good intake boot.

Turned out to be the intake boot afterall. I patched it up with tape just to see if the light would stay off. It does.

I've had timing belts break and get stranded. This happened at 150K, the first time they got replaced.