Cambelt Change

[Guest toby123]

hi has any one done a cambelt change on a c5 2 litre hdi i have done cambelt changes on other cars but i seem to have hit a brick wall on this one and i cant seem to get the auxillary drive belt tensionior undone is there some kind of trick to it please help

[bigpete]

hi has any one done a cambelt change on a c5 2 litre hdi i have done cambelt changes on other cars but i seem to have hit a brick wall on this one and i cant seem to get the auxillary drive belt tensionior undone is there some kind of trick to it please help

hey there, yeah i changed my belt about 6 months ago (103,000 miles), unfortunately i cant answer your question directly because i cheated when i done mine, i used the "split belt" trick, relatively easy and quick and works every time :rolleyes:

[Guest TRH]

hey there, yeah i changed my belt about 6 months ago (103,000 miles), unfortunately i cant answer your question directly because i cheated when i done mine, i used the "split belt" trick, relatively easy and quick and works every time :rolleyes:

[Guest TRH]

hey there, yeah i changed my belt about 6 months ago (103,000 miles), unfortunately i cant answer your question directly because i cheated when i done mine, i used the "split belt" trick, relatively easy and quick and works every time :rolleyes:

 

Hi bigpete, this is the first time i've posted on this forum and I think i've got the reply sequence a bit screwed up, but anyway what i'm really interested in is the "split belt" trick you refer to. What on earth is this? surely they don't make a timing belt that you can join together yourself - or do they?

[bigpete]

hi, no its simply a way around having to buy and use a timing kit, it works like this, you remove the plastic timing belt cover, the auxillary belt(s) and the left hand engine mount. then you loosen the crank pulley bolt and remove the auxillary belt drive pulley (leaving the timing belt pulley in place) and then replace the crank pulley bolt (to hold the timingbelt pulley in place). now the scary bit, take a stanley knife and split the timing belt down the middle (your best doing this from the top of the engine around the cam pulley) split about 6 inches at a time and turn the engine over by the crank bolt that you re-fitted (do not turn the engine over with the starter) and continue turning and splitting until you have split the whole belt. you now will have effectively 2 timing belts on there (albeit very thin ones). its now a simple matter of snipping off only one of the thin belts and lining up your new belt around the pulleys and pushing the new belt into place (a bit tight but it does go) when the new belt is in place and nicely sat on all the pulleys you then snip off the remainder of the old belt and push the new belt all the way into its new position and hey presto, done. now replace the bits you've taken off. it took me about 2 hours to change my belt.

i've done this now on about a dozen cars and it works great, even on 16v cars.

i hope this is of some use to you. :rolleyes:

[kfk]

the only problem you have with this is you wont be checking and adjusting the belt tension. So whilst you have managed to fit the belt in a reasonably trouble free manner you cannot gaurantee how long the belt will last before it bcomes slack and jumps a tooth.......nor can you say how long the waterpump will last if the belt is too tight.

 

By all ,means use this method to get you self out of trouble, but i wouldnt recommend it if you expect your belt to last another 72,000 miles.

 

Paying to have a cambelt replaced properly is cheaper than cost of replacing a cylinder head if you get it wrong.

[myglaren]

But surely, once the belt is in place you can release and reset the tensioner?

In fact, I'd have thought it near impossible without releasing the tensioner anyway as the original belt must have stretched, if only slightly.

 

Or maybe not. I haven't done this for some time.

 

First one I did was a GS 1220, twin camshaft belts. Scared the hell out of me but it all went well in the end.

[Randombloke]

Paying to have a cambelt replaced properly is cheaper than cost of replacing a cylinder head if you get it wrong.

 

And you're not kidding on the 2.2!!

 

My local indy garage suggested to me that I have the belt done early at 84k as they have had 3 failures between 90 and 100k.

 

The boss took me into the workshop and showed me a C8 halfway through the fix. The worst thing is that a belt failure can cause the chain to fail. The collection of busted parts is not nice and wickedly expensive.

 

Cars, eh? That's why Jap bikes have used chains since the early 1980s, and have produced cam chain tensioners that last the life of the engine since the 1990s.

 

Can someone please drop off a 16 valve 4 cylinder Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki/Yamaha engine at the PSA headquarters on the outskirts of Paris. They could make some notes.

[bigpete]

yeah the cheat i use is simply a way of not having to beg borrow steal, or heaven forbid "buy", a timing kit and the method i described earlier is a much simplified version of the process, and it is true that you should check belt tension after using this method and adjust if necassary.

as far as belt life goes, i replaced mine with a "gates" belt which are among the best, but even so i will be changing it well before the recommended replacement interval, probably around the 40 thou mark.

this method isn't a bodge and like i said earlier, what i wrote earlier is a much simplified version and therefore i wouldn't expect anyone to give it a go just armed with what is written above.

the method is very effective and i know of a good few mechanics who have used it, especially on obscure cars that are difficult to get timing kits for.

[henshaw]

yeah the cheat i use is simply a way of not having to beg borrow steal, or heaven forbid "buy", a timing kit and the method i described earlier is a much simplified version of the process, and it is true that you should check belt tension after using this method and adjust if necassary.

as far as belt life goes, i replaced mine with a "gates" belt which are among the best, but even so i will be changing it well before the recommended replacement interval, probably around the 40 thou mark.

this method isn't a bodge and like i said earlier, what i wrote earlier is a much simplified version and therefore i wouldn't expect anyone to give it a go just armed with what is written above.

the method is very effective and i know of a good few mechanics who have used it, especially on obscure cars that are difficult to get timing kits for.

[henshaw]

You say your note is an abridged version of the split belt cam belt replacement scheme. Is there a fuller version? I'm fast approaching the need to replace mine and I'm game to do it, but rather hesitant as there is no workshop manual available to guide me through what else might need doing to complete the job properly.