Andrew_1122

I got a 95 Chrysler Concorde given to me for free from a guy at work mainly because its a water pump and other stuff. Anyone ever change a water pump and do a timing belt? Any tricks or things to remember? I've read all data, i do have air tools and a hoist but anything else I may need? Thanks in advance!

Andrew

zjrog

Yes. I did the pump and belt for my 94 Concorde. LUCKILY, I found out the hard way this motor is a non-interference motor. When I blew the timing belt at 5000 RPM, I was greatly concerned. But, no issues.

Anyway, Its not real hard. Remove the electric fans, place a piece of cardboard between the motor and the radiator (so you don't cut yourself). I'm 6'3" and was able to do almost all this task on my knees leaning across the bumper and grill. The ONLY thing you need to access from the bottom is the timing belt tensioner. Remove the serpentine belt and the timing belt covers. Pull the tensioner and the belt is loose enough to remove. Then the waterpump comes out with three bolts. Put in the new pump and belt, set the timing marks and reverse everything else.



Rest of the pics are here... Really, its not hard at all. Let me know how it goes.

Sometimes, I miss that car. Great ride, plenty of HP. But the speed limiter kicked in at ONLY 105. My minivan was faster!!!

Programbo

I did the timing belt on my 95 Chysler mini-van. Make sure you get new belt pulleys too since you'll be right there anyway.

Andrew_1122

thanks for all the help. I just got it done, runs great and as far as i know doesnt leak coolant. Took about 4hrs to do but i didnt rush and talked with other people in the shop. Just for future reference for anyone doing this, you will need a vice to compress the hydraulic tensioner and a drill bit to hold it while you put it back in. I can honestly say this was one of the easier V6 timing belts ive ever done. I took the rad out, put screws in the lines for the transmission, and used my impact to get the harmonic balancer off. I then used a gear puller to pull the balancer off although a pry bar may work too.

zjrog

The 3.5 was a TON easier than my 87 Caravan with the 3.0. But I managed to have enough threads on the tensioner bolts to get it in without the drill bit trick. Mainly because I didn't have anything small and hard enough to hold it and I didn't have a bench vise available to compress it it.

A simple suggestion, IF you shred a timing belt like I did, make damned sure you get ALL the pieces out. I didn't and a piece got under the crank pulley and slipped the timing enough it wouldn't run... So I essentially did the belt twice in 2 days. Wouldn't it be nice if every vehicle came with a speed bleeder for burping the cooling system?

Andrew_1122

holy crap yes lol. My Concorde has a closed cooling system like the older cherokees i swear that takes 2 times longer to bleed then an open style. makes me appreciate my 96' cherokee that much more.

zjrog

Not really closed, the radiator sits lower than the engine, so the radiator cap is on the recovery tank. Sort of closed sort of open. But yes, the bleeder makes all the difference in the world.

I'd likely still have that car if the trans hadn't started leaking at the pump. Came at a time when we were about to trade my old minivan, but after seeing the repair estimate for the Concorde, the minivan stuck around another year...