How do you change timing belt on mercury tracer?

Answer 1

While the car is on the ground, loosen the RF wheel lug nuts. Raise the car and place quality jack stands underneath; place the pad of the jack stand under the subframe, where it meets the main chassis of the vehicle. Remove the grill, easy to do with a screwdriver -- push down the little protruding tabs on the inner side of the grill, where the grill mounts to the body, 4 or 6 of them, I forget. These are little Isuzu designed black clips. Remove the one phillips head screw at the top of the grill. The grill will fall off. Almost literally. REPLACE THE BLACK CLIPS into the grill -- they will snap in, and will be in correctly when you feel the pop.

Next, remove the right front turn signal lens. Two small phillips headed screws, one on the side and one on the top. Don't lose them, they are unique in the entire vehicle. Lens will pop off to the side; unscrew the bulb assembly counterclockwise and let hang. Next you will remove the headlight assembly on the RF. (4) 10 mil screws. YOU WILL BE USING THE 10 MIL SOCKET WITH AN EXTENSION A LOT IN THIS PROCEDURE. Oh, those 4 bolts are unique also -- a larger washer under the head than other 10 mil bolts found everywhere. Drive them back in where they came from after you remove the entire headlight assembly (the bulb will come out when you unscrew the ring counterclockwise). At this point you are well advised to put some Vaseline on the brown rubber o-ring which is integral to the bulb (if this bulb goes bad in freezing weather, you will have one hell of a time removing it even after you have torn up your hands accessing the ring. Kind of makes you think about putting Vaseline on the other one..........) All of this is done so you can remove the alternator (chill boys and girls, I have owned 4 of these cars, my driver has over 310K and purrs like a kitten. This entire timing belt procedure I can do in 2 to 3 hours. You? All day, if you start early.)

I'm doing this from memory at the computer so bear with. NOW YOU WILL DISCONNECT THE BATTERY. Don't skip this or rush -- lots of sparks will be generated if you don't disconnect right here. Now, you put the head of the torque wrench (if you don't have one, you MUST GET ONE SOMEWHERE. You will need it later ABSOLUTELY FOR SURE.) into the square slot of the pulley/arm which applies belt tightening for all accessories. (SIDE NOTE: Saw one of these cars with no A.C. or Power Steering. Probably one of the rarest belts ever). Hole is 1/2 inch. Your torque wrench is 1/2 inch drive, which auto zone will rent for low bucks. See how this all works out beautifully? Move the arm pulley assembly away from the belt, and the belt will come loose. Good time to replace if needed, but only replace if there are chunks missing or the mileage is outrageous. Small cracks are normal in these bad boys.

Now, take the RF wheel off. With your trusty 10 mil, you will be removing all the shrouding underneath the RF side -- side shroud and front shroud. I have extra shrouds -- they rip, are lost, or some mechanic thinks they are superfluous, they are not. They exist to keep the belt dry and oil free. Junkyard will have them for $2 each. Good luck finding good ones. Oh yeah, the left front shroud, for your info only on this job, since you don't need to take it off, is different for auto/manual in the early years, same later years. Match them up. The bolts are actual screws, EXCEPT THE THREE THAT ATTACH TO THE CENTER OF THE ENGINE SUPPORT. These are more like lag bolts. Again, totally unique, with their built in washers. Don't lose them or kick them into the dirt, only a junkyard Tracer or Escort will have them. By the way, Escorts and tracers are the same except for dash, interior trim, grill, and some side trim and wheels and headlights. Fenders, engines, trans, brakes, etc. cross over, which is why I enjoy the cars -- over 1.2 million made, and tons still on the road. Plus, I love the 31 in the city (take that Metro! Aveo! Etc). Now, you need to remove the alternator. The power wire (one wire) at the back of the alternator is another 10 mil, socket access only after you have pulled the rubber boot aside. The butt pain comes next At the top/rear of the alternator, the bigger plug pulls off fairly easily. the small one, which excites the field (electrical info, feel free to ignore) is a small plug. If you pull of with any force, you will break the tab which holds it into the alternator. Some random night, it will come off, a nitwit shop will sell you a new alternator because you rushed this step. Using a bent paper clip (I use dental pick) gently pull the tab loose while pulling up on the plug. A small screwdriver will also work. GENTLY. Voila. If you bust this plug. guess where the only place that has another is? Your local junkyard. Denver has the greatest junkyards in the world. We are car crazy. Your locale? Probably not so much.

Now, remove the L shaped brace at the top of the alternator, the brace which holds the wiring clamp and the a.c. hose. 10 mil. bolts again, 5 of them. BAD NEWS here: the female threading in the alternator usually strips out. PS. Those bolts which go into the alternator are unique too: thread cutting bolts. Guess you only have one shot per alternator at removing/replacing these bolts. I automatically helicoil them instead (kit is $20 at NAPA). These alternators last forever. By the way, my 310K engine looks like new -- all bolts tight, no leaks, this L bracket stout as can be, but that's another topic.

Now, loosen and remove the top and bottom alternator bolts (size? I forget -- metric sockets only). Unique again. Now the reason for removing the grill and headlights -- remove the alternator THROUGH THE HOLE WHERE THE HEADLIGHT WAS. (I forgot -- if you have cruise, your cruise vac cylinder was probably the first thing to loosen and set aside under the hood -- two 10 mil bolts again. Easy to drop, hard to find. Loosen the power steering reservoir from the frame also (I also remove the clamp which holds the p.s. line to the frame, and the nut which holds the p.s. line a bit farther back). Footnote: the p. s. reservoir is full when it is half full -- look for the line and "FULL" which is always ignored. Got p.s. fluid all over your engine? Bet someone overfilled the reservoir. I remove the radiator overflow bottle also; two more 10 mil bolts (I empty it and clean it with lime away, rinse a couple of times, the junk coming out it unbelievable). Then I shove the p.s. reservoir into the spot where the radiator reservoir was. Then, remove the complete arm which kept tension on the belt -- a good time to check for play in the arm and the bearing. A worn bearing is way easy to replace at this time. If the arm is sloppy replace it also (it does a surprising amount of moving back and forth. If your belts squeal when the engine is cold, bet the arm is bad.)

Pulling the alternator this way is a cinch, and you can clear the aluminum alternator/a.c/power steering pump support which is attached to the engine easily. One is now tempted to simply remove the timing cover (2 10 mil NUTS at the front of the support, about half way down, but surprise, the cover wont come off because it won't clear the upper engine mount, nor the crank pulley.

YOU WILL NEXT LOOSEN AND REMOVE THE RF engine mount. These mounts don't go bad by the way. All the mounts on this engine are pretty stout. Take your trusty floor jack, a short piece of two by four to act as an engine cushion, and jack up the engine a bit at the front of the aluminum pan. Maybe an inch. Now, take off the squarish vibration dampener which is on top of the front engine mount (special bolt at the front, nut at the rear. The dampener says FRT on it. Don't think you can get away by leaving if off. It absorbs frequencies from about 3K to 5K and you will feel it in the steering wheel and at your feet. Now take off the two bolts which hold the mount to the engine -- since the engine is supported, it won't drop. They have a torque, about 60 foot pounds. Remove the bolt/nut which holds the mount to the chassis, surprise, 60 ft. lbs. also. Now, ta da, You've removed the accessory belt (under the car is easiest, the alternator is gone, the belt apply arm is gone, and the TIMING COVER POPS RIGHT OFF. Don't short cut this mount removal by cutting away some timing cover plastic with a saw or knife -- you expose the timing belt to the elements, and you will cut it's life in half. NOTE: late model tracers and escorts redesigned the cover so you can leave the mount in. Unlucky you. I also remove the two bolts that attached the timing cover to the block -- use a 10 mil combination with very little force at all, they will come off. They have a seat at the base -- don't reverse them. I like to get stuff out of the way. Oh yeah, now the second reason for alternator removal -- you are going to remove the spark plugs. The plug at the front of the engine is a butt pain, unless the alternator is out, because you can't feel the snap when the plug wire clamps onto the spark plug. Remove gently boys and girls -- buy some good plugs, two prong, or Bosch or whatever.

Plugs last forever. Don't buy new plug wires unless yours are totally shot -- rough running in this engine ain't plugs or plug wires -- Usually the rubber elbow from the pcv valve to the top of the throttle body leaks air or gets plugged up. Dealer don't have one. The HELP section at your Auto Zone has one that fits a small block Chevy. Other reason for rough running -- dirty injectors. Have them rebuilt through Fuel Injector Specialists, Witch Hunter, etc. They are Bosch, they will easily go 350K. BG 44K, techron, etc.? Worthless, or should I say, as effective as Drano is on your drain. Helps stop getting dirty, won't do a damn thing for removing heat-soaked deposits.

Finally, you need to remove the big pulley at the bottom of the engine. It was put on with 200 ft. lbs. or torque. That's a bunch. See how your 1/2 inch torque wrench comes in handy (think the bolt is 19 mil, could be wrong). But, how to keep the engine from turning? Screwdriver shoved in one of the spark plug holes? No. Something shoved in the teeth of the old belt? Been there, done that, it don't work. You need to remove the little cover at the bottom of the transmission and jam a flat blade screwdriver between the teeth of the flywheel and the side of the trans. Sounds bad, works great. Once you get this big old pulley off you are home free.

Yeah right. Rotate the free spinning engine to top dead center (The absolute only thing the Haynes/Chilton manuals are good for illustrating). How to get the timing belt off? Quickest way is to remove the bolt at the center of the tension apply pulley (13 mil maybe) and the pulley will go boing and the spring and the square fitting which meets the spring will go flying away. Or, just cut the belt with a knife. Might take more of a saw actually. Desperate measure only, in my opinion. If you are aware of this, no big deal. Keep the pulley, the square plate, the bolt and the spring to the side, all to themselves. Now, the belt falls off. YAY!

But I digress. You pulled the plugs because you need to rotate the engine easily. If you lose track of top dead for the cam and the crank, it's easy to rotate each one with no compression pressure (a bit harder for the cam because of spring tension, but easily doable). Check to be damned sure the timing belt tightening pulley bearings are good. BEST TO REPLACE THIS PULLEY NOW. Hint, a replacement water pump usually comes with this pulley. Buying the tensioner pulley separately costs more than the water pump/pulley package!

Inspect the water pump closely: any leakage, play, or high mileage, get rid of it (recycle it of course). For me, every other time I do the belt (60K) miles, I do the water pump. Once, I had an engine chirp at Idle I swore was a belt or a bad bearing in one of the pumps. Chased that damn thing for 2 days, turns out the water pump bearing was so shot it cocked the pump shaft so the inner turbine rubbed on the side of the pump itself. And never leaked a drop of antifreeze.

Okay, final reason for spark plug removal. You bought that new belt. BE UTTERLY ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN IT IS MADE IN ITALY. Goodyear belts are junk. I put a Goodyear belt on mine one time and it had the strangest Woh, woh, woh sound that wouldn't go away. Went to all the trouble to remove the timing belt cover, restarted the engine and saw that the timing belt was moving front to back. Timing belt wasn't cut flat. Thingk I got the Italian belt from NAPA, it will say so on the belt. Hint to ease timing belt install: The tensioner assembly for the timing belt is tricky: put the spring, then the square metal piece, then the pulley with the bolt back onto the engine. Take a long pry bar and hold the timing pulley AGAINST the spring as far as it will go, then tighten the pulley. Two person job? Then the belt will slip on, just barely. DON'T PRY IT ON WITH A SCREWDRIVER. DON'T BE TEMPTED. You will kink the metal inside the belt or wreck some of the belt strands. Boo on you, unless your time ain't money. Mine is.

Release the bolt which goes through the tensioner pulley. So now you rotate the engine (screwdriver at flywheel long removed) and double check the timing marks. Loosen the pulley and tighten again. It is self adjusting, pressure-wise, thanks to the spring. (Of course, make sure the tensioner assembly moves smoothly in the housing before you put the belt on. )

I have done tons of these belts -- I like these engines. They are extremely long-lived and super efficient. In Europe they supercharge them and have no problem with 300 h.p. Reviews say they are rough -- they are rough because the mount at the transmission end is cocked and assembled incorrectly. Another topic, another day. I have done tons of these belts, as noted, and I'm always a notch off regarding the timing marks. Bad Karma I suppose. Or bad Carma. Whatever.

Remove the pulley, reset the marks at top dead, etc. redo, etc. etc. DOUBLE CHECK THE TIMING MARKS. These are non-interference engines, and they will run with the cam off one notch. Retarded as heck, but they are drivable. Poorly.

So. Back together. Timing cover back on. Engine mounts back on (Don't forget your torque wrench). Actually, every single bolt in this operation (alternator included, has a torque). The mounts and the crank pulley are the critical ones. Speaking of which, the crank pulley is 200 ft. lbs. Don't guess. That will be maxed out on your torque wrench. Now, just put everything back where you got it. Honestly, I can do this in about 3 hours, all tools and belts at hand. This will take you a full day. Your will save probably $500. It ain't easy, but with these instructions, it's absolutely doable.

Hey, I loved the little green wagon of mine so much, I ADDED power windows, power door locks, cruise, tilt seat, ALPINE killer stereo, tilt steering, cute Lincoln Continental clock in the dash, etc. Took me all of one week -- the interior of the car was barren except for the headliner. This will be a piece of cake for you! ENJOY!