Sorry to have to introduce myself this way, but hey, that's the way stuff goes. I'm Corey, and I was a happy DSM owner up until this weekend. I have a 1991 Eagle Talon, 2.0L, non-turbo. It's got just a little over 200,000km on it, and I've had it for a couple of months now. So far, I've attempted a tranny rebuild on it (myself), and I made it a little over half way, then gave it to a shop to finish off. I would say overall I had a 83% success rate, in that the only thing wrong was that 2nd gear synchro seems to be hung up. Still, I feel I saved about $600 in labour, possibly the same amount in parts, and I have about $500 worth of tools to show for it now.
This weekend, I attempted a timing belt replacement, as part of my "preventative maintenance and-get-peace-of-mind" program. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. I replaced the balance shaft belt, balance shaft tensioner pulley, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, timing belt tensioner pulley, and then of course the 3 belts on the outside of the timing belt cover. During the test before assembling the rest of the belts and pulleys, everything seemed to be going smoothly. I assembled the rest, started 'er up, and it was purring like a kitten. Took it for a test drive, and it seemed to be running smooth, except it was running a bit rough when idling at a stop light, but I figured that was normal because the CPU was learning again. Then the engine started shaking, and I had a suspicion that something was wrong with the balance shaft stuff. I debated whether or not to drive it home, but I didn't make it very far anyways before I got to hear the sound of pistons hitting valves.
Fortunately, I still had my tools in the back, so I took off the upper timing belt cover, and sure enough, my timing belt was paper thin and had no teeth left on it.
My question is, has anyone else had this problem before? Can anyone give any insight to what happened? I think the balance shaft belt gave way and then somehow eroded away at the timing belt. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the post-mortem this weekend, as I need a vehicle, so I might have to get my big gas-guzzling truck on the road now.
Anyways, venting over, I still am a happy Eagle Talon owner. These vehicles have a great look to them that I seem to be strangely drawn towards. I'm gonna do an engine rebuild anyways. It should be fun, just might cost a little money. Any advice on places to buy parts would be appreciated (e.g. pistons, valves, etc), and certainly other stuff to watch out for would be great.
