MX-3.com

Hey all, bear with me.

I know my way around bikes pretty alright and usually do my own light work. I have never *really* worked on a car before though.

My 94 MX-3 needs the timing belt and water pump changed. I have all the parts, and a mechanic friend of mine was going to do the work at his shop. For whatever reason that has fallen through, but he said it isn't a terribly complex job and I should be able to handle it on my own.

My questions are what tools exactly will I need, and does anybody have a walkthrough or writeup for doing this? Also, is it fine to work under the car with it just on the axle stands?

Brian

Online manual

Timing belt: B1-12
Water pump: E1-12

Flyer wrote:Online manual

Timing belt: B1-12
Water pump: E1-12

Thanks for the quick reply and the guide! Very useful!

Is it ok to work on the car using just the axle stands as supports?

Brian

Good quality axle stands is fine. There is a walk through on the timing belt replacement in the V6 faq section.

http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=61958" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Search...or at least look through the faq's. There's a lot of solid stuff there that will save you having to ask us.

You wont really be under the car much/at all doing the timing belt. Mainly in the wheel arch and over the wing/fender. You should just slide your wheels under the door sills as an extra precaution, gets them out of the way too

Er, those pages are under the assumption that you have the I4...V6 would be under B2/E2 respectively.

Flyer wrote:Er, those pages are under the assumption that you have the I4...V6 would be under B2/E2 respectively.

Thank you, I do have the I4 and I will be attempting this tomorrow -- I have reviewed the manual fairly well.

My only concern is keeping the cams from moving while the belt is off... any suggestions?

Also, my car has started to make a bit of a "grinding" or friction noise whenever I turn the wheel to the left... unnoticeable at slow speeds but it gets louder the faster you go.

Brian

Edit: The noise from turning is only from the driver side front wheel, and I do not believe it to be caused by the power steering pump/fluid.

bmo wrote:Also, my car has started to make a bit of a "grinding" or friction noise whenever I turn the wheel to the left... unnoticeable at slow speeds but it gets louder the faster you go.

i believe that's a wheel bearing my friend, not totally positive on that though, but pretty sure

Evo_Spec wrote:

bmo wrote:Also, my car has started to make a bit of a "grinding" or friction noise whenever I turn the wheel to the left... unnoticeable at slow speeds but it gets louder the faster you go.

i believe that's a wheel bearing my friend, not totally positive on that though, but pretty sure

Well the tires are due for rotation so that's an easy test

Thanks!

Brian

It isn't really necessary to absolutely stop them from moving so long as you make sure they are in the correct position once the new belt is on. Once you have the new belt on rotate the engine forward one complete revolution and recheck that all the timing marks line up. You may have gotten the cams off one tooth by accident. If it is, just pull the belt and move the cams as required and put it back on.

It's not too difficult...just be super detail oriented and you'll be fine.