I have just had to do the turbo on my XM 2.0 Turbo and have also done the head gasket as it was blowing, when I came to lock the crank and the cam I noticed that they were about 35-40 deg out of each other... the car ran fine and was ok otherwise. I asked a mate if the car would run with the timing so far out, he said it probably would not even run, never mind run rough! I skimmed the head anyway and set it all back up, with the correct marks i.e. bolt through crank at 10 o clock position and bolt through cam at 8 o clock as per the haynes manual, and put the time belt back on turned the engine over by hand and bingo, piston to valve contact. How the hell could the marks be wrong... the engine looks original and hasnt been modded by the looks of it.. can anyone shed any light??

Also if the marks are wrong then how the hell can I set it up now?

Cheers

Steve

Steve,

Haynes manuals have been known to give incorrect information before recomend you buy the citroen workshop manuals from noz also recomend peter russek pocket mechanic I dont know if it is still in print as I was given mine by a citroen mechanic but there are normaly copies on ebay

Hi Steve,

Can you describe the timing marks you are using? Are they marks or holes for pegs. On the 2.5 there are holes through which pegs fit onto the flywheel on which there are pre-prepared holes for the purpose. I'm sure most engines fitted to the XM's use pegs and holes for setting the timing.


Cheers

noz

noz I thought it was you selling it on ebay still never mind post edited

HI Noz,

Thanks for your reply, the timing holes are a drilled hole in the crank pulley, which (according to the manual) fits into a cut-out at around the Ten o clock position and a hole in the cam pulley which aligns with a corresponding hole at around the eight o clock position. as I said I put the belt on in the above setting and made piston to valve contact when I was turning the crank (luckily) by hand. I have since set the crank to a position roughly 180 degs away from this and the engine seems to be ok(ish) but im frustrated that I cannot get an accurate setting!!!

Can you help? cheers mate!

Steve

Hi Steve,

Hopefully I've got the right engine - is yours the XU10J4R?

If so, here's the section from the manual for setting up the timing.

Cheers

noz

Hi NOZ,

I have the 8 valve head unfortunately, this appears to be for the 16 valve normally aspirated. Its doing my head in now!!! Ive set the timing to roughly 180deg out from what the manual says and it seems to be getting compression...

Bugger!

Thanks for sending me the file mate.

The crankshaft pulley is in two parts with a rubber insert between them. The rubber deteriorates and the outer part creeps round relative to the centre hub. The timing hole is in the outer part and ends up in the wrong place.

Later pulleys are marked so that you can see if they are still in the correct position.

Before taking the belt off you should mark the belt and the crank and cam sprockets . mark the new belt to correspond with the old and fit to the marks on the sprockets. You are unlikely to be a tooth out.

A new pulley costs approx £80 from Citroen.

Regards

Cassmo

Nice one cassmo,

In which case to recover the situation (because the original timing position is lost now) you'd need to set the engine to TDC by looking through the timing hole on the bellhousing.

Although I've heard about this pulley problem before it didn't dawn on me until now, what about the timing? If the pulley slips on the hub how does the timing belt stay in synch? I have to assume the timing belt gets its drive from the bit of the pulley which doesn't slip?

Sorry for the wrong guess about the engine type. Do you still want the timing guide for the 8-valve? Do you know the engine code?
cheers

noz