Mach 1

My belt will need changed soon, and I was going to do it myself. Its a 2000 ES with a 1.8l. Any tips, suggestions, etc...from anyone who has done it already. Is it pretty simple, will I need any special tools?

Roddimus Prime

It's pretty straightforward. If you have a good tall jack and a lot of patience you should be able to knock it out in about 6-10 hours.

Mach 1

6-10 hours, dam, thats a long time. Why do you need to jack it up?

Roddimus Prime

I like to work through the wheel well sometimes and I'd rather jack it from the beginning than get halfway through the job and realize I need to get a bolt that I can't reach from the top.

I've not done a timing belt on Protege though, but every other fwd car I've done was easier by owrking through the wheel well...

I say 6-10 because I go slowly and clean every nut and bolt that come off the car. I also like to pay careful attention to how everything comes off so when I'm putting it back together I don't get stuck.

03ESPro

I think 6-10 might be a slightly high estimate for our car, but probably not too far off. I helped my uncle do a change on his 1999 Chrysler Sebring a few months back, that took us about 10-12 hours working with air tools and going through the wheel well. That was by far the worst experience I've ever had working on a car, it was ridiculous what we had to go through. Looking at my Protege, it seems like a cake walk compared to the Sebring. There's hardly anything in the way once you get the inner fenders out, it shouldn't be too bad.

Mach 1

Ive never done one on a front wheel drive car either. I guess going through the wheel well is a good idea. just pull the inner fender out? I still got around 6k miles to go before it hits 60k, so it will be awhile before I tackle it. thanks

Prote-J

might check into how much the belt is...and then go to a reputable shop and have them look up the time in the mechanics manual.... that's would give you a good estimate.. and then see if its really worth your time and effort.. or if the price wouldn't be too bad to just have it done instead by somebody else.

Roddimus Prime

Last time I did a "paid" timing belt job on a fwd car was a honda civic 1.6L and we charged $450....I made $200 of it. I would assume it would be about the same everywhere.

Prote-J

yeah..... and honda's are a pain too.. but not that bad... did you swap the water pump too?

Mach 1

Moneys tight, just went through a divorce, so ill try it myself, I like to do all my own work, at least i know its done right and i wont get ripped off

Roddimus Prime

no, waterpump was re-used....it didn't make any noise and wasn't leaking so we left it. Owner didn't want to pay extra for it...

Mach 1

would you recommend changing all the accesory drive belts at this time, even though they probably arent that bad with 60k miles?

Roddimus Prime

I would replace all belts at 60K wether they appear to need it or not. It's a small investment but one that can leave you stranded if you're not careful.

rustychops41

Definetely do the drive belts. They gotta come off anyway, and when they get old they get hella noisy in the morning. (a "CHUH-chuh-chuh-CHUH-chuh-chuh" sound in my case every morning that didn't go away till the car was VERY warmed up, as in 20 miles or so driving, not just coolant temp. Try WD-40 on the belts at the first cold start of the morning, if the thing goes super quiet the second the spray hits a belt, your belts are old). I just had a 2.0L timing belt done at a shop w/ drive belts for $400.00 parts/labor. My old drive belts were hard as rocks. A lot of money, but I didn't get dirty, have to Invent New Cuss Words, bleed on the garage floor, and besides, it looks very small down in there between the timing belt cover and the fenderwell. Very small.

gcs118

I've heard never to use WD-40 on the belts because if the oil gets down to the pulley, the belt can slip, which would surely not be a good thing. I believe there is something special to use for belts, not sure what though.