timing belt question?

Hi,

I know that this kind of stupid question because common sense says no! But
I'll go ahead and ask it anyway, maybe I wrong!

Is there a way to know if the timing belt has been changed on a 2002
Concorde? I just bought one with 86,000 miles on it and would like to know
if I should replace the belt anyway? Thanks.

 

Ask the original owner/ or take off the upper cover and see what it looks
like

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

Hi Glenn and thanks for taking the time! No original owner that I know of, I
got it from an auction! I can take off the cover but I can't really tell if
what I m looking at has been replaced or not!! Not much experiance there!
I'll take it to the dealer next week and have them take a look! I hope it is
not going to be much to do that.

I am just concerend about the timming belt because I read some where that if
it breaks in this car, it could do some great damage! The car is in great
shape and I got it cheap so I don't have a problem paying for the timing
belt if I need it!

Thanks again!

 

Some timing belts look pretty good, even after many miles of service. Safely
tucked away behind the belt covers, they can age gracefully. Unless you know
what you are looking for and are good with an inspection mirror, it might be
hard to tell.

The service, as you know, is on the expensive side so my guess is that most
owners would tend to put it off. Unless the belt under the cover somehow is
obviously new, my suggestion would be to not mess around with it. Bite the
bullet and get it done. This is especially true for an interference engine
such as yours.

Ken

 

Assuming we are talking about the 3.5 because the 2.7 has a chain....the
timing belt is recommended replacing at 100k Federal Emission/105k
California Emissions. Iwould also have the water pump and front cover
O-rings replaced at that time also

 

That was going to be my comment. If you have the 2.7, we may have other
things of a preventive nature to talk about.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Yes it is the 3.2!! Are you sure about the 100K thing, someone here
mentioned 60K! Thanks again.

 

Thanks Ken! I am going to bite the bullet and do it! I was quoted $350 by
the dealer yesterday! I think that is fair, at least in case because I got a
good deal on the car!!

 

I just got through changing mine, and it was obvious it had been changed
because the water pump and idler weren't original. You could also figure it
out by finding out the belt is aftermarket (you will be able to read the
lettering on it). Those are hit and miss methods, though. Luckily you can
see in there without a huge amount of work.