Greetings all... My original message must have not made it here, so I'll try it again. My '94 Base is at nearly 60k miles, and I'm debating on changing the timing belt myself. I've got the Chilton manual and it doesn't look too hard, but those manuals in my opinion tend to "gloss over" the hard parts. So, my question! Anyone ever do their own timing belt change? Any hints/kinks or special tools I need to know about? Between a friend at work here and myself, we've got about every tool known to man, so that won't be a problem... ;) Thanks in advance, and keep on Probe'in! ben

CONTACT BRYAN PENDLETON. HE JUST PUT IN THE J-SPEC CAM AND HAD TO REMOVE AND INSTALL THE TIMING BELT. GO TO WWW.PROBENET.COM HE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU THE KNOW-HOW. >

I have a '97 base and Ford just sent a recall on the tensioner for this belt. They say this is the second notice they sent but I really didn't get first one. Does anyone know if they replace the belt along with the tensione-or- would I have to pay extra for that?

I did my own and it wasn't very hard at all. Just make sure you line the belt up right with the proper timing. You'll need a timing gun. I have one, so it was pretty easy. Later. Jordan 94 Base http://www.plu.edu/~brooksjt/probe.html

hey let me no about the tensioner thing . i have a 97 and was wonderin abou tit too seth

What's a timing gun? Is it completely necessary for the belt change? Just curious because I should probably do that soon, and I'd like to save some money by doing it myself. -Robin

If you got to ask what a timing gun is for then I highly recommend you don't try changing your timing belt by yourself. It's fairly involved unless you're an avid DIY'er and there are several pitfalls in the R&R process. Go take it to a decent mechanic to do it right. I had mine changed along with new tensioned pulley and p/s belt around 82K miles and it costed around $280 for parts & labor. -Lino Sacman, SCPOC '93 Rio-Red PSE, 5-spd

A timing gun is used to properly set the ignition timing. Your ignition timing should be uneffected with a timing belt change, so not you don't need an timing gun. It took me a good 6 hours to install mine (that included the J-cam too) The most critical part is to make sure the cams and crankshaft are mechnically in the correct timing or synchronized via the timing belt. If you are off by as little as a one tooth your car will most likely run like a dog. Get off by too many teeth and you just might start breaking internal parts due to interference. Enjoy, Bryan Pendleton