How to replace the timing belt on Chrysler 2.2 and 2.5 engines!

My name is Austin, this is Mopar Garage, and we build cool stuff in here! I don't normally do how-to videos but today we are going through how to change the timing belt on all Chrysler 2.2 and 2.5 engines. The process will be the same on both turbo and non turbo engines. All vehicles featuring this engine platform
Chrysler E-Class
Chrysler Executive
Chrysler Laser
Chrysler LeBaron
Chrysler LeBaron GTS
Chrysler New Yorker
Dodge 024
Dodge 400
Dodge 600
Dodge Aries
Dodge Caravan
Dodge Charger
Dodge Dakota
Dodge Daytona
Dodge Omni (fuel-injected after 1987)
Dodge Lancer
Dodge Ram D 50
Dodge Rampage
Dodge Shadow
Plymouth Caravelle
Plymouth Horizon
Plymouth Reliant
Plymouth Scamp
Plymouth Sundance
Plymouth TC3
Plymouth Turismo
Plymouth Voyager
Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe!
My Vehicles:
1999 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 short bed standard cab 5 speed 5.2 (318) V8
1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z Carroll Shelby Edition
2021 Ram 2500 CCLB 6.4 Hemi

[@TheMoparGarage]

I don’t usually do how-to videos, but hopefully this helps! Subscribe to the channel for more on the Shelby Daytona build!

[@squidli4746]

Hey i got an 88 dodge omni i fried my timingbelt i pulled the accessory end all of my 2.2 and had to watch your vid in order to find the intermede shaft timing mark boy they tried to hide that one

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@squidli4746 glad it helped you out!

[@suedavis4109]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@MicroMac]

One helpful thing to know is that these are non interference engines so if timing is accidentally off, the engine won’t explode!

[@UncommonAntics]

Great video, very helpful and informative! Gonna come in handy for switching out my K-cars timing belt, tensioners, motor mounts, and seals. Thank you!!!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks for watching!! Glad I could help someone out.

[@belowfray5251]

1994 voyager 2.5, 5spd. Thanks for the reminder. 271,500 miles. I love mine.

[@technologic80]

Original t-belt?

[@bam6465]

This video is helping me a bunch I recently got a 1988 dodge Omni non turbo and I've been scratching my head how to take off all the accessory belts to get to the timing belt and this is exactly what I needed I tremendously appreciate you putting this video out there keep up the awesome work!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Awesome, glad to help! Thanks for watching 👍🏻

[@tomlewis3658]

Thanks for this video. I probably can't do this myself now, but as the owner (since new) of a 1988 Aries 2.5, and I also had another 2.2 and another 2.5 in the past, I learned a lot about the engine from watching this and listening to your explanation. I have worked in this area before (replaced a few noisy idler pulleys, and also installed poly bushings on that long alternator mount). I had considered doing this in the mid 80's on my 82 Aries 2.2, because i could hear the belt slapping under the top cover, but I was scared off by the upper motor mount, and not having anything at the time to support the engine. So I knew I needed to take it to a shop soon, but didn't, and the belt let go one snowy morning on the Interstate while I was driving to work. One of the things I really like about these engines is that they are non-interference. A shop towed the car off the Interstate, and replaced the belt, no harm, no foul, and a lesson learned. Don't let stuff like this slide.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thank you for the kind words, sir! I’m not typically a 4 cylinder guy but the 2.2/2.5 platform is one of my favorite engines of all time. So quirky and cool. My first car was a 1990 Shadow coupe with the 2.5. Non interference is a life saver on these though, because not many people realize these timing belts have to be done pretty regularly!

[@patsgarage8593]

Thanks for putting out this video!! My son and I are doing the timing belt on my 90 Shadow tomorrow and it's nice to see and know that there's no surprises

[@TheMoparGarage]

Glad to help…A 1990 Dodge Shadow was actually my first car. Have fun!

[@terryseamon2180]

Keep the vids coming!!

[@mr.goodpliers6988]

Great video Thanks

[@135SoHc]

Set the crankshaft @ #1TDC and align the camshaft sprocket arrow marks to the split line on the cylinder head with the extra hole in the sprocket at the top. Use a mirror to get things lined up and dont worry about the intermediate shaft. IF you were to lose timing on the intermediate shaft it is not an issue. Just pull the distributor and align the drive slot cutout on the oil pump to be parallel with the engine, IE front to back and put the distributor back in with the rotor pointing towards cylinder 1. Once your running break out the timing light and get the distributor dialed back in. If you think about it beforehand put a punch mark on the distributor base and engine block to have a reference mark to get it close enough to run. By now most of these engines have probably had multiple headgaskets on them and the cylinder head and/or deck surface have been trimmed up to make them clean and square. Getting all three marks lined up perfectly and having the belt just slide on perfectly is a rare occurrence. The great thing about the 2.2/2.5 family is the rather uncaring and somewhat forgiving nature of the design being a non interference engine. They almost seem to thrive on neglect and still keep going.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

[@ProjectTimeGarage]

NICE! This is a helpful video for sure!!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks brother!

[@marklucas3140]

Hey PTG! How are ya?

[@ProjectTimeGarage]

@@marklucas3140 loving life and making KZbin videos .. You?

[@marklucas3140]

Just had my second meniscus scraping in three years done. Feeling pretty good now. Time to build experimental FWD Chrysler engines. :D

[@Minivan_Man]

Thank you 🤘🏻! Got a minivan to do so that helps a lot!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Glad I could help!!

[@newkidtd918]

Great video man! Now I can do my timing belt with some confidence and maybe I’ll swap out my cam to one from fwdp this helped a lot man thanks! Definitely will be watching all your videos going to get my build going and try to get it finished before spring, winter in Wisconsin is always the best time to work on builds lol because there’s nothing else to do around here when it’s cold as hell

[@TheMoparGarage]

Heck yeah!! Thanks brother. I’m originally from NH so I hear you loud and clear on the winter projects. Are you planning on doing a channel for it??

[@Darth1994Maul]

@@TheMoparGarage hey having a serious issue with the timing belt on my 82 rampage it had the 2.2 Chrysler engine and I believe the belt I got is a tooth to short because I cannot get it on… I have the tensioner completely off… there is no slide the belt on… it’s pry the belt on and there is no way that is right….. how many teeth should be on belt???

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@Darth1994Maul I’m not sure how many teeth are on the belt but it definitely sounds like the wrong one to me. With the tensioner off it should slide on pretty easy.

[@Darth1994Maul]

@@TheMoparGarage yeah that’s what I thought… I did some digging and found that the belt should have 124 teeth which the belt I had did I swapped it out for a 125 tooth belt and that one looks to be to small as well so I’m not sure what the problem is it has all the factory timing marks so everything should work…. Getting very frustrated…. Just want to be done with it…

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@Darth1994Maul interesting, only thing I can think of is an aftermarket camshaft with a different sprocket?

[@dieseldave2383]

Great 👍 video thanks

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks for watching!

[@AtomicReverend]

Thanks for the video. I have ton quite a few timing belts in my 44 years of life but every car is slightly different and this is my first K car. The book wants you to buy some special tensioner tool and I wasn't sure if it was a must have or not and apparently slip joint pliers do the trick really well. . The car I am working on runs fair but was parked since 1994 and has 74k miles so I figured it would be smart to replace the belt since it's the original from 1984 and your video confirmed my suspicion that it was straight forward.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks for watching! Glad I could help!

[@marklucas3140]

Great video man. On '89+ cars holding the accelerator all the way down shuts off the injector pulse and spark for diagnostic purposes. In the future if you need to safely reset your belt track to check on an '89 and up car when the manifolds are apart you can use that feature while you run the starter. For me, it's a 50/50 shot. Sometimes after the belt gets settled I find that I am off a tooth at the cam. Remind people that the engine sits at an 80 degree angle in the chassis, so straight up for the cam sprocket isn't plumb to the car or to the earth, it's coaxial to the cam and crank center line.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Great point. That’s why once the belt comes off I try like hell not to move anything! Haha

[@Tonyjs24]

Thanks alot! But water pump should be change with timing belt . I have to change my water pump and tb belt has to come off again with the timing sprocket. To remove 2 bolts for the water pump. Thanks again for the video!!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks for watching! If you pull the whole water pump housing off from the front, you don’t have to remove the intermediate shaft sprocket.

[@_rip_rob_8744]

Thanks for this, checked my timing belt on my csxt and the belt is definitely way over to the passenger side , assuming it’s too tight or the tensioner is starting to fail, guess I’ll be doing this job next lol

[@lilnative]

I'm here cuz I didn't have a dad to teach me haha thank you🤣

[@TheMoparGarage]

Glad I could help, thanks for watching!

[@carlosencarnacion9667]

The rule of thumb when rescuing/rebuilding an old beater engine is, replace all belts, gaskets, hoses, pumps, sensors and fluids. Ideally, change bearings and piston rings.

[@jacobtuttle3224]

Needed this lol I don't have my book yet lol my alt died last night so might as well I have the timing kit already anyway.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Glad to help brother!

[@chrislemaster2695]

The 1989-1995 Plymouth Acclaim and Dodge Spirit had these same engines

[@Underappreciatedclassics]

I’d tag the Chrysler New Yorker and New Yorker turbo in the description as these included those engines

[@dieseldave2383]

Back in the 90's my buddy had the same car with the turbo it was fun to drive

[@TheMoparGarage]

It’s a blast! This one has been a long restoration project at this point but it’s getting close.

[@blownaway4371]

A good tip is to use wife/girl friends red nail polish on the timing marks.

[@michaelhasse2568]

Small tip, there are 2 arrows on the cam sprocket that point/ line up with the cam cap where it mounts to the head. Also, just pull the 2 15mm motor bolt's and jack up the motor slightly & slide the belt thru the gap

[@michaelhasse2568]

2 15mm motor mount bolts

[@marklucas3140]

D50, Arrow, and Mighty Max are Mitsubishi products(DSM). Utilimaster Aeromate runs 2.5 Trans4.

[@brucekartadi]

clear instructions! it helped me as i am doing one right now. I got a question tho, i am also changing de waterpump for a new one so i had to take of the intermadiate/distributor sprocket because some bolts of the waterpump are directly behind it (what a pain :') ). But now the question is how tight do i have to tighten that sprocketbolt and does it need any loctite or something. I live in the Netherlands so i cannot find any information about this engine over here. Thanks in advance!

[@TheMoparGarage]

Thanks, glad to help! The intermediate shaft sprocket bolt is 65 ft pounds, it does not call for locktite. In the future, you can remove the water pump neck that attaches to the front of the block which will remove the whole housing. Then you can change the pump with the whole assembly in your hand and not have to remove your intermediate shaft sprocket. I learned this the hard way as well, I have a video on it!

[@brucekartadi]

Thanks for the fast reply! Now i can close up the timing belt cover etc. with my heart at rest. The reason i did it the hard way was because if i undid the neck from the front we needed that gasket that goes between the block and the neck and because we alreaady waited a long time for parts to arrive from the other side of the pond i desided to do it this way. Parts of this particular engine and car are really hard to come by and they are actually almost none existend here. All of the car parts shops dont recognize this car, and USA specialists over here only support the more common US cars. But now we can finish this timingbelt job. Much thanks, Really appreciate it!

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@brucekartadi makes sense! Thanks for watching. Always cool to have someone tune in from across the pond!

[@moparmuscledude87]

Now we just need a video for us with T3 cars.. 😂

[@TheMoparGarage]

Haha T3’s are pretty rare birds!

[@sess5206]

Best Regards from Sweden! I found an 89 Le Baron here with 65,000 miles on it - in kilometers, of course. I haven't seen it yet. It's a barn find, was not driven between 2009 and 2022. What's the life of a water pump on these engines. Should it be changed as well?

[@TheMoparGarage]

Nice find!! If it’s been sitting that long, I like to change all of the accessories (alternator, water pump, P/S pump, etc) just for piece of mind because there is a decent chance the seals/bearings are all dried up. But as far as mileage, if driven regularly the water pump should be good well past 100,000 miles.

[@isaacparsons6486]

I have a 93 spirit with 2.5 Tbi non turbo I’ve always had a rough idle I’ve re done the timing multiple times to confirm that it’s correct ignition timing is dead on still runs choppy basically re built everything except the bottom end of the engine literally thinking it’s the ignition coil as I get back fires slightly out of the exhaust I know it’s got good compression

[@TheMoparGarage]

The 2.2/2.5 engines are very well known for the pickup coil going bad, underneath the distributor cap. Also known for the logic module failing which is located behind the driver side headlight. Check both!

[@mikegrantham7440]

The timing belt should have 5/8's inch deflection on the belt between the back and front side of the belt and is measured about half way between the tensioner and cam gear. If the belt is too tight it will make a grinding noise and won't last long. My experience with the timing belts on the 2.2 is they can usually last between 90K and 120K miles. The heads are non-interference so if you lose the belt, it won't damage the internals. Also, not sure why your cam gear didn't have the arrows on the face of the cam gear near the center, but those arrows should be aligned with the cam gear cap on the head. You can see the lines thru the holes on the cam gear. The arrows should be pointing to those holes. Plus when rotating the cam it basically snaps into the right position while turning it. You can feel the tension on the cam lobes as it gets tight then loose while turning it.

[@TheMoparsrule]

Can I tighten my tensioner on the car I replaced the belt 2 years ago. Car only drives on the weekends 1990 T1 spirit.

[@mikegrantham7440]

@@TheMoparsrule - should have to tighten the timing belt tension again after its set. The belt should he good for about 90K to 100K miles.

[@jasonkaiser5150]

Some of the lower crank bolts have a really weird head. The 2.2 and the 2.5 were great engines. The 3.0 v6 was a piece of crap.

[@TheMoparGarage]

Agreed on all fronts!

[@ilmarilamminpaa6081]

If the belt has been changed 2016 but only driven few thousand kilometres do you think it should be changed?

[@TheMoparGarage]

I would change it. Sitting can be just as bad for them as driving it.

[@jameshoffman7221]

Ever do an axel seal on transaxle?

[@TheMoparGarage]

I don’t think so. This is actually the only FWD car I’ve ever owned. 99% of my experience has been on trucks or muscle cars.

[@juanmeraz1395]

What does the power steering connect to?

[@juanmeraz1395]

Wait nvm I’m just impatient and didn’t watch the video. Sorry eheh

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

What type of kit were you referring to a tensioner kit?, Or a timing kit ?

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

I'm asking you because I need to do the timing on mine as well I'm at that stage now

[@TheMoparGarage]

Timing belt kit came with a new tensioner 👍🏻

[@sess5206]

Hi, Sweden calling again. Looking for a source for parts that will ship to Europe. I was looking at Stockwise, they had lots of parts, but they only ship within the Continental US. that's a problem. Anyone have any ideas on a good parts seller might be that ships here?

[@TheMoparGarage]

Maybe rockauto.com?

[@sess5206]

@@TheMoparGarage I checked them, they're great! They even list the prices in European currency. Thanks so much.

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@sess5206 no problem man, thanks for watching!

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

Bro how do I know if my cap and rotor are in the right position I think mine's in point of that number one but I'm not sure

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

All of my dots are lined up the top of the camshaft the intermediate and the crankshaft dots, but I'm worried about the position of the cap and rotor

[@TheMoparGarage]

As long as you had an existing belt and didn’t move anything too far once it was off, it will be right if all the dots are lined up. If not, you’ll have to test with a timing light. There are a bunch of videos on KZbin on how to do it, it’s pretty simple on these.

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

I get that bro and I know that's what you said in the video but I'm just trying to ask about the distributor I'm not sure if it's pointed in the at number one, you would figure if all the dots are lined up that it would be pointed at number one correct?

[@TheMoparGarage]

@@CHARLIE1NABLE oh I get what you’re asking. It should be pointed at 1 if cylinder 1 is at top dead center.

[@OklahomaProudBoys]

Competition Sport**

[@TheMoparGarage]

?

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

What's your Email Bro ? I can send you some of the pics of progress on mine

[@CHARLIE1NABLE]

Also thanks for this vid I'm doing my timing today, or at least I'm trying to it's my first time doing timing on a car, it's funny because I've always wrenched on cars but never did the timing LOL

[@TheMoparGarage]

E mail is [e-mail]

[@Underappreciatedclassics]

I’d tag the Chrysler New Yorker and New Yorker turbo in the description as these included those engines

[@TheMoparGarage]

Good thinking, was bound to miss one or two lol