Timing belt.. again :)

[crisatcafe]

Well I am sure that you all have delt with these questions over and over. From what I am reading I am fairly certain I can replace it on my own. I have the DIY thread bookmarked but I have a couple questions.

My uncle gave me his 99 sportage after it sat for almost a year when he was told that the timing belt broke and the engine needed replaced. OK.. so I get it and find this wonderfull wealth of information. I am bent on trying to replace the belt and water pump myself before I go through finding a motor then changing it out.
My questions are, How exactly do I figure out if it is a DOHC motor? I believe it was replaced once already so it may not be the original so I am wary of just going based on year. It is a 4cil, manual, not the 4x4 version.
Second is, what type of belt should I get. On autozone.com I have 4 belts that come up.. 2 state Interference engine application. One of which is the gatorback which is what I thought initially I need. Is there a specific type or just any of them will do?

I think for now thats all I have in questions.. Till I find out what the real issue is with the moror
Thanks,
Crystal

[pa_flow]

Originally Posted by crisatcafe

Well I am sure that you all have delt with these questions over and over. From what I am reading I am fairly certain I can replace it on my own. I have the DIY thread bookmarked but I have a couple questions.

My uncle gave me his 99 sportage after it sat for almost a year when he was told that the timing belt broke and the engine needed replaced. OK.. so I get it and find this wonderfull wealth of information. I am bent on trying to replace the belt and water pump myself before I go through finding a motor then changing it out.
My questions are, How exactly do I figure out if it is a DOHC motor? I believe it was replaced once already so it may not be the original so I am wary of just going based on year. It is a 4cil, manual, not the 4x4 version.
Second is, what type of belt should I get. On autozone.com I have 4 belts that come up.. 2 state Interference engine application. One of which is the gatorback which is what I thought initially I need. Is there a specific type or just any of them will do?

I think for now thats all I have in questions.. Till I find out what the real issue is with the moror
Thanks,
Crystal

Crystal

Every 1999 Sportage is DOHC and 2.0 liter 4 Cylinder (Only the 1995 came with SOCH option) The Head (In picture item # 2) is the Camshaft head cover (Cams are items # 6) in every car if the cover looks like this is DOHC is not is SOHC ( DOHC = Dual Over-Head Cam & SOHC = Single Over-Head Cam) . As per the timing belt material if you are planing to go off road or street racing with your Sportge use the most expensive that autozonewatever can offer you (Usually is the best material) if only for lowriding use cheaper (I preferre using the most expensive, used to last longer).
Please buy the complete kit, if you does not change it even if them look in good shape the will eventually brake because of the new belt tension on them.

[Harry Morgan]

Crystal

I agree with PA and Super Ron -- get the timing belt/tensioner pulley/idler pulley: I think it's called a "timing belt kit"... about $100 at AutoZone vs $200 at dealer. I'm going to be doing this exact same thing on my 02 Conv (2 wheel drive; rear wheel drive) in a week or so.

In terms of whether or not it's a SOHC or DOHC, my guess would be that the PCM/ECM would get very confused if you swapped out one for the other, hence go with PA's logic.

As far as the "type" of belt goes, I have no clue, so go with PA again. All I can say is that, I drive between 100 and 200 miles per day (now at about 160k miles)... I have never done the TB on this car, since it was under warranty the first two times -- and my wife forced me to let the dealer charge $400+ to do it. However, I do know "up from down" re: engines in general, so I AM doing the TB R&R this time now that it is out of warranty.

Harry

ps: as an aside here, I do "long for the days" that we had timing chains/gears... everything was "obvious" in those days