My car has now done 70k, time for a cam belt change. Is this a DIY or a garage job?

I know that Noz fitted one in less than 2 hours at a meet somewhere but he is a bit special. If it's not a DIY job can anyone reccomend anyone within a reasonable distance from me and also give me a clue on the price

Easy DIY job. Just need to take your time and follow the Haynes manual. I paid about £26 for the belt from GSF.

Some photos of the job here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7328220@N02/2258872856/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7328220@N02/page2/

Steve.

Hi Jacky,

Not that special.....really !

If you want to have a go yourself but need a hand then we could organise it for a weekend. As you say, it can be done in a couple of hours. Let me know if you want a hand.

Where in Perthshire are you?

Cheers

noz

Hi Noz

I'm at a little place called Amulree which lies on the Crieff to Dunkeld road up in the hills. Unfortunately I have no facilities to work undercover and it can get a bit windy up here, thats apart from the other elements.

Jim

Incidentally I said it was a 2.2td but its a 2.5td

Hi Jim,

I know where you are. Lovely area. I sussed the 2.2TD so it wasn't worth mentioning.

If you're up for it, why not come down to mine one Sunday morning and we can change the belt together? I have a large double garage so if its inclement then we can do it inside. Otherwise I have a sheltered drive. I'm not forcing you. Just an option if your other options run dry.

Cheers

noz

Noz
Sounds great and an extremely kind offer. I,ll order up a cam belt next week the contact you once I've got it. Do I need anything else?

Cheers

Jim

Hi Jim,

You may need to make an assessment of the condition of the tensioner. I have reused it every time I've done a head but that won't always be the case. If its not making any screaming noises and its sitting parallel to the belt then its probably fine.

Your shout though.

cheers

noz

I respect your opinion, Noz, but feel it is asking a bit too much to expect the tensioner to last for the 150k miles between 2 beltchanges. But if you have the energy and time to change it in mid stream as you might say, that is your decision.
More power to your elbow (as if you need it!)

Hi Techman,

Can't disagree with you. All mechanical things must fail at some point. The tensioner takes 10 seconds to replace so effort does not come into it. Like all things in life its a judgement call based on assessment of risk and available funds. Not everyones opinion would come out the same for the same given set of circumstances.

As I said, I'm not making the decision, merely pointing out the options....

Is there any evidence available that the tensioner fails catastrophically without any audible warning first? Anyone?

cheers

noz

Hi, personally, for what it costs, I would change the tensioner simply because if it were to go it`ll cost a lot more to fix. I also think you`d need a pretty keen ear to hear a tensioner bearing over the noise of the 2.5.
But like you say its all down to how you are fixed at the time.

Just contemplating doing mine. Did this one get changed, and what was the verdict on the tensioner?

I've done a few, including the XUD9 on my old Pug 405.

I understand that Noz has done one in less than an hour. Although I've looked over Haynes and Russek, would you be able to give headings of sequence of work, particularly removal of the large box on the inner wing? I'm not really a novice, but wisdom has taught me that more advice is better than less!

I've also followed Steve's photos on Flickr

Can the double-sided balancer shaft belt be changed easily when I'm in there?

rg

Hi rg,

Steady on, thats how chinese whispers start wars . It took me about 1hr 50m to change the belt and reassemble all the removed components i.e. wheels back on the ground. Its not that bad of a job really. The part which will frighten most people is the timing. However, the book of lies actually covers it very well. The pain part of the job is that the belt is wound around the engine mount. Without this aspect you could probably change the belt in half the time.
One word of caution though. Mark the positions of the engine mount and stay bar with marker paint so that you can put them back in the same place. I've never understood how to set the stay bar arrangement correctly.
The plastic container for the ECU's does have to come off the car simply to afford access to the dozen or so 10mm bolts retaining the plastic timing belt cover.

The bolt in the middle of the crank pulley does not have to be removed. Removing the four bolts around the perimeter of the pulley is all that is required.

I looked at the balancer shaft belts all three times when I've replaced the cam belt. In all cases the belts looked brand new so I decided to leave them alone. To replace them is a little more work with a little more dismantling but is perfectly possible. I think you need to take a view when you see them. However, if you view them first and then decide to change them then the car is off the road a few more days until you can source new belts.

I haven't got time right now to write up the sequence but I could if you'd find it useful. No promises on time though.

cheers

noz

Cheers, Noz!

I wasn't looking for "Janet and John Get Dirty Fingernails", being too lazy to RTFM, but you've given me enough pointers in your posting.

A similar pointer about not removing the crankshaft bolt on my Monterey saved me lots of time, although Isuzu seem to use metallised plastecene to make their bolts.

rg