The timing belt broke on my 1996 with a 2.3 engine. I decided to do the replacement myself when the local Ford dealer quoted $960. Everything was going well until I got to the part where I need to pull the vibration damper. I'm used to vibration dampers that have thraded holes to allow for the use of a a vibration damper puller. The 2.3 damper does not have any holes and I can't figure out the correct way to pull the damper. Anyone out there know how to get it off?

 

There's a bolt in the center of the dampener that has to be removed before you can pull the thing!

Won't tell you how I found out other than I ended up dodging the heads of the the dampener puller bolts when I pulled "them" off! Actually chipped the brick on my house about 8 feet away... (DUCK!)

 

THANK GOD you didnt bring it to the dealer. $960 is a total rip off.

 

Feedback: I went to Sears and picked up one of their large gear pullers which can handle gears up to 8" diameter. My truck has an automatic transmission. I removed the starter and wedged a small prybar into the flywheel teeth which allowed me to apply enought force to the harmonic damper bolt to remove the bolt. That step would not be necessary if I had a manual transmission. The large gear puller popped the harmonic damper right off. The gear puller cost $39 and the new timing belt cost $38. If I can replace the timing belt in eight hours, I feel that a Ford mechanic with the all of the right tools and experience could probably do it in maybe three hours. It looks like Ford is asking $200 per hour for their labor.

While I was at it, I replaced all eight of the plugs and put on a new set of spark plug wires. I just came back from a test drive. The truck is running supper. Thank goodness the 2.3 is a non-interference engine.