Yes! Time to start work in the engine bay. Sure I can probably rip through this and remove all the parts for the timing belt and chain replacement and have it all replaced in a weekend, but where is the fun in that? Instead, I will take by time and inspect and fix any part I touch. I began by removing the airbox and mass airflow sensor. This provided easy access to the radiator hoses, which I removed after draining the radiator. I drained the radiator by removing the blue plastic drain plug. It appears one of the previous owners modified the pan to ease the removal. Not the best handywork but it will do. When I removed the plug I found it to be damaged due to over torqueing.

The lower hose, which I did have a service record showing it was replaced by the previous owner, appeared to be in good shape but made by Elplast. Seeing as this hose is fairly affordable and interfaces with the water pump, which will be replaced, I intend to replace this hose. The upper hose I did not plan on replacing, as it is OEM and appeared to be in great shape, until I inspected the interior of the hose at the engine outlet. It appears that the hose was rubbing against the rough cast surface of the engine outlet. This seems odd as the clamp is located adjacent to this location, which should have limited any movement. Either way, this hose will need to be replaced. Not a cheap hose as the best option is OEM.

I went ahead and removed the fans and radiator, as that will increase access to the belts. I have no service records for the radiator, and it is hard to tell if it had been replaced as it is OEM. Based on the condition, it appears to be newer than the car. When disconnecting the sensor connectors I did find something odd that might have contributed to my odd fan behavior, which I mentioned in Registration. The fan switch, which cycles the fan based on the temperature it senses, had copper anti-seize gooped on the contact points and the connector. My guess is the intention was for the anti-seize to be a dielectric to prevent corrosion. Although I have not tested this, I would think copper anti-seize would conduct electricity, which would cause problems if all three contacts arced. I was planning on replacing this switch anyways, so finding this serves as entertainment for me.

Next I removed the distributor cap. I’d wager that the cap has never been replaced as there was a large amount of build-up on the distributor points. The rotor itself had some wear as well, but this was all expected for a car of this mileage.

The belt covers came off next (after the auxiliary belts came off). I was very curious to see what condition the belts were in as they are 10 years old with 30k miles on them. The timing belt itself looked quite good for its age as the rubber did not show any cracking. The balance shaft belt appeared to be loose and the belt tension pulley had a fairly large gap to the belt. Luckily it appears everything is in fairly good shape which should make for easy replacement, I hope.