Cambelt. When to change?

tudor · Post by **tudor** » 07 Nov 2004, 16:46

After spending lots of dosh on my lovley deisil xm 2.1tdi. Flow valve, regulator,reg sphere ,ect.
I'm driving along feeling good cos after all I think I've looked after my xm really well,then out of the blue I think cambelt.
I hav'nt done that and more to the point when should I ? I have had this model for two years now,it came with a full service history, which I have carried on with.But with a local indendent cit man ,rather than main dealer. The servicing was done by main dealer at regular intervals, 42000 miles then 47882,60000,7200,8300.Then july 2001 it was serviced at 96000 miles. Then in 2002 april I took ownership of the car.I had it serviced and mot'd at 110,000 miles, serviced at 130556 miles by main dealer.Then the last service by independent cit man at 139,127. And I know it has'nt been changed whilst in my care.
So should I have it done right away or ...? what.
Cheers Tudor,
deisil xm est 2.1 td

beezer · Post by **beezer** » 07 Nov 2004, 16:56

In a nutshell yes! If there is any doubt as to when it was changed it is advisable to do it as a precaution. Nasty bang and rumbles and knackered engine and much money gone if it goes.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 07 Nov 2004, 23:11

I begin to get uneasy if I let any of our four cars go more than 40K before changing the belt. Do it soon!

ScottFromNZ · Post by **ScottFromNZ** » 08 Nov 2004, 00:08

I think that 50,000 miles is the recommended interval and in theory there should be a safety margin built in. My BX TZD Turbo went 62,000 miles on it's first belt and it looked fine when we took it off. But they have been known to snap before that. I was told by a Cit garage that it was important to replace the belt tensioner at the same time beccause if it seizes it will snap the new belt and bye bye engine. On some engines they say do the water pump at the same time as it is not much more labour while you are in there. Don't know about your model though.

Dave Bamber · Post by **Dave Bamber** » 08 Nov 2004, 00:55

Change it ASAP, or this happens......

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 08 Nov 2004, 01:01

The interval for cambelt changes on the TD12 engine is 75,000 miles (says so in my Citroën XM service book). However, since you don't know when it was last changed, I'd do it pretty quickly. Don't let Dave pic of a trashed BX diesel scare you though, on the TD12 its the rocker arms that break, not the camshaft.
//NiSk

np · Post by np » 08 Nov 2004, 02:11

If your not going to change the belt yourself,give Puegoet a ring for a price.I had my belt done on my 1.9td 20 months ago at the local main dealer.£145 inc vat.Less than half price than what Citroen wanted,& £60 cheaper than the cheapest independent wanted.(Bristol area)They also said that depending on condtion of the tensioner,it needed replacing every other cam belt change.Although that depends on your own feelings i supose.

Dave Bamber · Post by **Dave Bamber** » 08 Nov 2004, 03:04

Fair point NiSK, still avoidable though[:D]
The damage is this case was on the 205, it was caused by some dork not tightening the tensioner up enough. The belt finally pushed the tensioner to maximum slack point where it jammed allowing the belt to jump on the cam wheel. The cam broke above 1 and 4 cylinders and cracked all the cam bearing caps. Shame as the engine had only done 90,000 miles. Shame for the owner as it allowed me to buy the car very cheap[;)]
BTW, the timing belt was undamaged.

beezer · Post by **beezer** » 08 Nov 2004, 03:52

Even if the rockers are designed to shear, the pistons can gain pretty little indentations and the valves go banana shaped. Don't wait to put it to the test.

tudor · Post by **tudor** » 10 Nov 2004, 02:09

Thanks guys, I'm calling my independent cit man first thing..!