Are you sure that its the timing belt that's making these noises?.

My '99 1.8i had weird 'rubbing' noises coming from the front of the engine and I firstly suspected the timing belt idlers, as did the first garage who inspected the car.

The actual fault was a shagged-out water pump which is also located on the front of the engine.

Thankfully my motor is still under warranty, although I wouldn't have expected a water pump to fail at 9,500 miles. (4/00)

Mine is a little squeaky if thats what you mean, but thats just cos it has polished up a little. The belt itself is in good nick, just the surface which runs on the flywheel is shiny. A bit of moisture quietens it immediately.

You can tighten the belt easily with adjusters on my 92 v-spec. As far as I recall, the adjuster looks like an 'L' shaped piece of metal with a bolt through it and is fairly obviously connected to the gubbins which hold the belt in place. You loosen a bolt, and then screw the adjuster back or forth to loosen or tighten the belt.

I have been told (i.e. disclaimer) that the correct tightness can be roughly determined by checking if you can turn the belt through 90degrees with you fingers at its midpoint between the flywheels. Make sure the engine isn't running though!! *LOL*

It wouldn't be wise to leave the belt if it's on its way out. Try going to a garage and just asking them if they think it is dying or not if you're not sure. You can often get advice free in my experience. (4/00)

The car is 70k Km. year 94 1.8 American Miata

I bought it last month with 65k km. The car seems that it has been stopped for a long time (4/00)

Right if we are talking timing belt, there is nothing you can do without taking the covers off, but this is not a big deal about 20 minutes work. The tension is set by a sprung roller so it should be impossible for the tension to be wrong.

The spring is only active during the adjustment procedure, after that the roller is fixed, and the tension could get too low. I have found the tension on the timing belts I did after 60k miles so frightening low that I decided to include a 30k miles timing belt tensioning into my personal maintenance schedule. (4/00)

The car seems that it has been stopped for a long time.

The tensioner and idler pulley bearings could also cause this noise. (4/00)

Just did my timing belt - few things to share.

First off - a bit of redress for poor maligned Mazda dealers. (Never thought I'd say that!) They are now probably the cheapest place to buy genuine Mazda bits for this operation. I considered buying the bits in the US, but postage was the killer. Moss sell a timing belt kit, but it costs 68 odd and includes just the belt, 2 camshaft seals and a crank seal.

If your seals aren't leaking, there's no point in replacing them - and indeed on LWSC cars like mine you should not remove the inner crankshaft pulley which you need to do to replace the crank seal. However, it is worth replacing the cam cover gasket - I have over 200000 miles experience on my own Mazdas, and these gaskets last 60000 miles then go hard and start to weep. I also wanted to replace the auxiliary belts as a precautionary measure.

Mazda list prices are: Timing belt 33.18, Tensioner spring 2.01, Cam cover gasket 16.24, Alternator/Water pump belt 5.57. I also bought a Power steering/Aircon belt from Moss for 12.87 because they had one in stock and Mazda are vaguer about this bit. The Mazda prices are subject to VAT and discount!

There are two different belts. The early (LWSC) 1.6 belt is part no B6S7 12 205C 9A and I understand it is also used on 1.8 cars. Later 1.6 cars have a different belt. Make sure you get the correct one - they are very very similar, but the 205C belt has very slightly meatier teeth than the other one.

Nothing difficult about the job - lots of bits to remove and one very inaccessible bolt holding the coils to the cylinder head. I used the "split belt" method. You get to the point where you would slip the old belt off, but instead you cut it lengthways with a sharp Stanley knife, so that you end up with two narrow parallel belts. (Insert the knife in the part of the belt between the camshaft pulleys, whilst a helper turns the engine. Be careful not to nick the pulleys.) Then slip the front one off, and push the new belt on. This isn't particularly easy - new timing belts almost always seem to give the impression of being 1/8" too short.

Once it's on - halfway - cut through the rest of the old belt and remove it. Then slide the new belt the rest of the way on. This way you don't risk losing relationship between all the pulleys. Brave mechanics do the cutting with the engine running, but you can't do this on a 5 because you have to have the cam cover off. And the method only works on early LWSC cars, because on later ones you have to remove the inner crankshaft pulley to remove the old belt. Make sure all the pulleys are marked so that you don't lose sync - they do all have factory marks, but some aren't particularly easy to use.

Like most jobs, this one is easier with an extra pair of hands (9/00)

SO are there insrtuctions anywhere that mention all the LWCS's and how to do it if you have one of these. I am not yet sure whether I want to risk doing it myself.

When my mechanic did my rear brakes he found my Enthusiasts manual helpful, if he does it is that going to be any good to him. I just don't want anything to happen to the LWSC unnecessarily, yet I hate having to tell the mechanic stuff I have gained from being on here, and making it sound like I am telling him to do his own job. (9/00)

Sounds like a belt is on its way out, or perhaps bearings on your alternator or water pump (or whatever other pump you have).

It can also be a faulty PCV valve - they can make wooshy/whistley sounds when stuck open. It's in the small pipe between the cam-cover and the inlet manifold; pull the valve from the cam-cover, remove it from the pipe (sprung hose-clamp holds it) and try blowing through it. Should be no resistance one way, and absolutely no resistance the other (it lets blow-by gases recirculate and get burnt off). (12/00)

I did try that, but wasn't too keen on spraying the actual belt with WD40, is it ok to do that? It won't damage it will it? (Yet again excusing my lack of such knowledge).

I don't think it is the alternator belt, but more the crankshaft pulley. (That bit I have just read up on!) I sprayed quite a bit of WD40 on the pulley, behind the belt, and it seemed to stop, but only for a while. Plus it highlighted some other strange noise, that I'll have to deal with when I hear it again ;)

Can this, or the belt be adjusted to stop this noise? (12/00)

I have a 89 Eunos which is due for a new cambelt soon, I have the Moss catalogue and I wondered which bits are cheaper where? Moss prices are;
Cam belt kit (what does it contain?) 68.15
Alternator / water pump belt 14.98
PS/AC belt 12.87

I intend to do all the belts as the alternator belt is looking a little raggy. Should I change the crank oil seal or is it best left alone because of the light crank? Any other things I need to lookout for? (1/01)

Everything is cheaper from a Mazda dealer except the PS/AC belt which they make a bit of a fuss about getting. I got a cam belt, alternator belt, cam cover gasket and tensioner spring for about 55 from a Mazda dealer with discount. I got the PS/AC belt from Moss.

Make sure you get the right cam belt - early cars (up to mid-91) have a different one.

AIR, the Moss kit contains the cam belt, tensioner spring and camshaft and crankshaft seals but not a cam cover gasket. IMHO, you should not touch the seals unless they are leaking. I know some don't agree with me, but the risks from undoing the crankshaft bolt are greater than the risk of inconvenience of having to do the job again. OK you can do the camshaft seals if you like, but I never have on a Mazda engine at 60K miles (and I've had 3) and they've all been perfectly OK. (Same applies to crankshaft seal).

So you don't need the seals. You do need a cam cover gasket (unless it's been replaced recently, but more than likely it's original (and therefore brittle)). Everything is straightforward, if a bit fiddly, but DO NOT remove the crankshaft bolt. The most fiddly thing is removing the coil pack - one bolt is hidden close to the bulkhead at the back of the coil pack. A ratchet ring spanner (eg as sold by Halfords) makes things a lot easier. I think you need a 12mm for that, but it's well worth getting at least 10, 12, 14 and 17mm sizes. (1/01)

Whilst we're on the subject, two things:

1) Applies to LWS crankshaft cars only (ie early ones)
If you're worried about keeping the synchronisation of crankshaft and camshafts when you're changing the belt (and the valve springs do move the camshafts, so it can be a bit tricky), on early cars you can use the split belt technique.

Get to the point where you would slip the old belt off, but instead cut it in half lengthways. Cut between the camshaft pulleys with a sharp Stanley knife - you can do a few inches at a time, whilst getting someone to turn the engine. Don't nick the pulleys! So you end up with two narrow parallel belts, still on all the pulleys. Now slip the front one off. Then put the new belt half way on. Then cut right through the "back" part of the old belt, and fish it out. Now push the new belt the rest of the way on.

This doesn't work on later cars, because you can't get the new belt on with the crankshaft pulley in place.

2) All 5's.
There is a specific engine alignment to set the cambelt tension. The timing belt pulley mark on the crankshaft pulley should be aligned with the Tension Set Mark, which is at about 10 o'clock to the crankshaft pulley. It's about 1 5/6 turns of the engine beyond where the camshaft timing marks are aligned. Release and retighten the tensioner lock bolt at this point, then turn the engine 2 1/6 turns and check that the cam timing marks are aligned (they will be if you use the technique in 1 above). Also check the belt tension at this point. (1/01)

1) Applies to LWS crankshaft cars only (ie early ones) .......

The "split belt" works on later 5s too. Take the crankshaft bolt out, take the accessory pulley off, and you will see that the crankshaft pulley stays on and fixed in the direction of rotation by the key. If you want to rotate the crankshaft, you can put the bolt back in. (1/01)

Yep! I disagree. [about removing the camshaft bolt]

If you are not a mechanical Klutz, and you have the right tools including a calibrated torque wrench, and you follow the instructions paying particular attention to the key orientation in the keyway and the bolt is torqued to the correct figure there shouldn't be a problem.

Historically the original failures were because the Woodruff key was reinstalled incorrectly and/or the torque on the bolt was not correct following belt replacement.

Oh! and if you have any doubts then perhaps even just changing the belt should be contracted out and then you can warn about the bolt etc. in writing and all will then fall on the contractor.

Whichever way you go - Enjoy! (1/01)

80-87 ftlbs - 110-118 Nm. With a calibrated torque wrench. Too loose and the bolt will come undone, too tight and the bolt will stretch and come undone. This is a VERY tight tolerance.

And the crankshaft must be mechanically locked - do not attempt to hold the crankshaft just by putting the car in gear. (There is a Mazda Tool for this, but it should be possible to adapt a standard pulley locking tool)

It has previously been recommended that you don't remove the pulley. I now recommend that you do, but you should fit a new front crankshaft oil seal and pulley bolt. (latter is critical). Also inspect the crankshaft keyway and consult my recent article if there is any doubt about its condition.

Most garage mechanics will pooh-pooh these precautions as completely OTT - I assure you that they are critical. (9/01)