M. Requin

Now that everything is exposed to the light of day, including the years of bad/no maintenance this machine has had (which I expected), I have a bunch of questions.

First, this is an 86.5 with 130K miles. I have no idea why the timing belt is in one piece. The PO didn't even know it a had a belt! (To give him credit he decided it was way toobig a project before he put 1K on it.) The tensioner was dry, very little of the boot left, but no belt tension light, since it was burnt out (just took out the pod to check everything), just the big !. Glad I put it right on the trailer.

The cam gears are lightly worn - probably up for replacement, but the oil pump gear is definitely shot. The pump turns freely, with no play on the shaft, but I haven't taken a look inside yet. Should I expect pump work will be needed?

marton

I would change the O ring around the oil pump plus the seal in the middle.
Does your pump have the alloy gear? You can get a steel one that lasts longer.
Otherwise after 130K miles I would not expect any pump work.


Was the Tbelt ever changed?

Marton

M. Requin

Thanks- will do. It is the alloy gear, and I understand new replacements are steel, which should indeed be better. And from the looks of things, the belt was MAYBE changed once. There are marks on one hole of the passenger side cam gear, like somebody stuck something like a large screwdriver or extension in, maybe to keep the engine from rotating while they loosened the crankshaft gear. Also, the water pump looks in relatively better shape than the rest of the timing belt area. But the tensioner?! Don't think that it ever saw maintenance.

checkmate1996

M, do some searches on this, there are ton of good info on this topic especially wYAITs...

M. Requin

Hey Brad- you're right! - there is a ton of good info for which I am most appreciative. Bought Kelly's book, have the WSM, downloaded everything I could find (Pirtle et al), and it all makes the WYAIT jobs clear. My only question here was specifically about the oil pump gear, and whether what looks to me like excessive wear on it (compared to the cam gears) indicates other problems. Got any light to shine on that? Thanks-