Mazda 626 timing belt disaster-any mazda experts?

[Nissan11]

My gf has a 01 mazda 626. Last night she pulled into the driveway and the car was idling rough and the engine was making a noise like something was banging around under the hood. I took the car up the road and it ran poorly and when I reved the motor it had a very odd tone, kind of like an indy car. I lifted the hood and did not see any issues. When the car is running, the noise sounded like it was coming from the valves or timing belt. Today I took a few minutes and unplugged some wiring and removed the coolant reserve bottle. I was able to pull back the top front corner of the timing belt cover and I saw pieces of plastic resting against the sprocket. I was able to pull one piece out with pliars and it is about 2"x2" and slightly curved. It looks like a piece of the timing belt cover. Also, the drive belt (serp. belt?) is cutting into the timing belt cover near the fire wall. Its as if something inside the cover is pushng out on it and forcing it into the belt.

This looks a lot different than the timing belt setup on my frontier because the timing belt is on the side of the motor in the mazda. What do I need to remove to get the timing belt cover off? It appears as though it is in at least 3 pieces? Do I have to remove the passenger side motor mount? Do I need to remove the AC lines? Im guessing that all of the pulleys will need to be removed? Is there more than one tensioner for the drive belt? Any help is greatly appreciated! I do not know much about mazdas.

She said she noticed this problem when she started her car after work. Also, the check engine light has been on for a few months but I never found anything wrong with the car when I checked it and I assumed it was just a bad sensor somewhere.

 

[Estonian]

sounds like your timing jumped a notch or two, i guess its time for a timing belt/water pump service... you can get it towed to a local shop and let them diagnose the problem and then quote you a price on the repairs... people do that to us all the time. all you do is pay $65 dollars for an hour of diagnostic, but you get to find out what happend and how much is it to fix it. It is too much trouble to do the timing belt job in the driveway, i have done a few of them, deffinetly need to remove the motor mount and ALL pulleys. take it to a shop and save yourself the headache.

 

[Nissan11]

I changed the timing belt in my frontier in the driveway, and it was a PITA but worth the money I saved. Mazda quoted me 400 bucks to change the timing belt. I was able to get a couple pulleys off and pull back the cover enough to see the problem. There was a piece of plastic stuck between the back of the timing belt and the tensioner pulley. Because of this, the belt was REAL tight. I loostened the tensioner and removed the plastic piece. I tightened the tensioner and put the drive belt back on and started the car. It idles fine and the noise is gone. I think I still need to replace the belt even though there is no sign of damage. I wll probably put it off for a few weeks though.

 

[transman731]

if you are going to tow it to a shop, let them fix it. i hate it more than anything when someone brings the vehicle in to let us diagnose it,then take it somewhere else because their sisters,cousins,best friend has abrother who knows a guy who dated a girl who's dad worked on one once.

let the professionals do what they do, i wouldn't go to the courthouse and try to be a lawyer,just because i watch law and order.




i'm not saying you can't fix it yourself, i'm just saying use your head before you try to. do you have the tools you need to do the job?
where did the piece of plastic you found come from? where ever it came from, why ?
both the 2.0 and the 2.5 are both interference engines, if you are wrong it can cost you an engine.

 

[Nissan11]

Its a 6 cylinder though. The 2.5 isnt a 6 cyl is it? I thought this was a non-interference mtoor.

 

[98xjjeep]

The 626s timing belt is a common problem how many miles around 100,000? I believe thats when they start to go out. From what I have heard it is a rough fix but i have never looked at one.

 

[Nissan11]

Im going to change it this thursday. The cheapest Ive found is $50 for the belt at napa, but autozone sells a kit with the belt and idler pulley bearings for $100. I still need the tensioner but all the auto part stores are quoting me over $200 for the tensioner! That CANT be right.


Check this out. Here is a pic the plastic I found stuck between the belt and the tensioner pulley. The other 3 pieces were laying loose inside the upper section of belt cover.