Hello. excellent forum.
I have a couple of questions.
I have a 96 accent, just over 100,000 miles.
Last couple of days it has gotten very noisy,
Timing belt was last changed at 55,000 miles.
I had planned on having it changed at 110,000 anyway.
As I am concerned about the belt snapping, I will not let her drive the car until the belt is changed anyway but can not get the kit until Sat morning and will have to do myself.
So..
My questions are,
1: Would the timing belt cause an extreme increase in engine noise?
My wife thinks it made her ears pop....

2: How difficult is it to do?

3:How long should it take? I have some experience but have not changed a timing belt.. yet.

4: How likely is it, considering the importance of doing this correctly, that I could make a mistake and end up damaging the engine, or something else?

5: Are there any special tools that I will need for the job?

Any other advice or comments appreciated.

Thanks

 

I am not an expert by any means. My 2001 accent has 210K on it. Never replaced any belts incl timing. It is at the dealer today to get lots of normal maint that should have been done. Plan on spending around 500 for the timing belt alone. Maybe a little less. I don't know what your situation is but I would recommend just taking it to the dealer to give it a free or $90 something inspection so you know. Unless your a mechanic I wouldn't advise anyone to mess with the timing belt. Not sure what that noise is???? Sorry I can't be of more help......

 

Im confident I can do this job.
In the past I have done wheel bearings on the front, brakes front and back, replaced drivers side drive shaft due to knocking cv joint, most recently replaced the rear shocks.
Do my own regular service every 8000 miles or so.
Ive also worked on other vehicles.
Replaced a front wheel hub on a friends Ford Transit only last week,
although that was fairly handy.

Ive been quoted 400 euros to have the timing belt replaced at an independent garage but cant be done until Tuesday at the earliest.

I can get the kit from a local motor factors for 100 euro and need the car for Sat afternoon. This is a saving of 300, even if it were to take me 4 hours.

 

It's not that hard. You don't need any special tools. Only two things to look out for:

Sometimes the crank pulley is real hard to get off. You might need a pulley puller to do that, but most of the time they just slide off. If you are persistent with a hammer, etc, you should get it off.

Make sure all the timing gears are aligned properly after you install the new belt. Turn the crank pulley clockwise by hand and make sure the belt is properly seated on the gears, then check the alignment once more to be sure.

It can take you all day to do this if you haven't done it before, but you save a lot of money, and feel all powerful when you are done.

 

most of your questions seem to have been answered, except for this one.

if you screw it up and don't get the timing right, the best you can hope for, is that it simply won't run.

the worst case, is that you could have valves opening when pistons are coming up, and if they collide...something's gotta give! youre likely to break a valve head off inside the cylinder--not good!