Xantia cambelt; public bum kicking ordered!

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 28 Nov 2004, 04:28

Well if I bend over, who wants first kick?
Decided to do a cambelt change on the Xantia 2.0i 8 valve.
Got the belt and found instructions from Shane (Double Chevron) on the 'net but in a Country where Citroen has been known to be spelt with an "S" and I've been asked if "Nissan makes 'em" service info is a bit light on the ground. Looks pretty basic so I begin to dismantle. Off with the accessories belt; it's stuffed, so I need a new one. (FSH shows it was replaced a couple of years back but it's original from what I can see). The belt was a 6PK1660, a serpentine so shouldn't be hard to get, right? Now think a regional area in northern Australia where the closest dealer is 3 1/2 hours drive away. I can get a 1650 but not a 1660 and with the spring loaded tensioner, I can't see this really being an option. Eventually I find a Pug dealer about 80 miles away so I ring him on the offchance. No; they don't handle Cit parts but when I ask about 405, I feel a glimmer of hope. Yep, got one for $56.
4 hours later I arrive home with it and proceed to remove the cambelt; yep no big worries there, it's off.
I refit as usual but find the tension almost impossible to set; eventually I get it acceptable and turn the engine over to test; the belt almost runs off the front of the pulley; too late at night by now so I go to bed.
A new day, some new ideas; do these have a specfic rotation for setting the tension as the BX16Vs do? I ask here & overseas for theories and am told they don't think so but usually are set clockwise. I've set mine anti-clockwise, so maybe that's it, the belt is hittin the tensioner at too low a spot and that may be throwing it off line. I reset it. Turn the engine and it does the same.[:(!][:(!]
Logic says that there's a sprocket out of alignment but how? Pump bearings perhaps? They checked out OK and it's hard to imagine a cam or crankshaft being out of whack which leaves the tensioner, but it sits in a sleeve on a shaft; the bearing is tight as a drum so how could it be out?[?]
I pull it off for a closer examination and see a mark across the corne of it....what tha??? I refit it to the shaft (during which time I manage to lose the valve timing in my efforts to save time I left the plugs in & it turn over TDC on compression [B)] so after finding the long lost TDC and then pinning the sprockets, I come to the conclusion that the tensioner must have been loosened too far and the ends of the hole in the tensioner are the ones that are a critical size and not the entire hole inside the tensioner. As a result, I have set the tensioner riding slightly on a joint in the moulding causing it to kick a couple of degrees off true and therefore send the belt towards the outside edge of the sprockets. It would have worn a hole through the cover in minutes.
Squared up, belt now with heaps os adjustment on it (originally set it too tight and had to back off) but job complete and everything running true.
I know it's a long winded story, but as I almost went beserk trying to find this and nobody seemed to have any suggestions on a solution, thought I'd post it for future reference as I can't believe I'm the first to be caught with it.
Alan S [8][B)]

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 28 Nov 2004, 12:58

That's your engineering background coming to the foreground Alan. You just Knew that it wasn't right and fiddled with it logically until it was. That is worth a pat on the back, not a kick up the bum. The garage would have killed your engine for you and then told you that it wasn't their fault!
Sheppard's Law #2: "a good mechanic knows what to do when he doesn't know what he's doing."

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 28 Nov 2004, 15:03

Your parts problem makes me feel ucky to be able to walk to my local parts bloke in five minutes, as for not getting it right first time? well, you kept on thinking and didnt destroy anything. do not present arse for the kicking of too soon;)
Stewart

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 28 Nov 2004, 17:40

The theme feels frightening familiar in this story [8D]
- learning by doing [:D]

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 29 Nov 2004, 02:31

Anders,
Could you check your e-mail link from your profile on this site?
It's just that I sent you a message even though I have your e-mail addy in my address book (I think it's called laziness; too much bother to log into my e-mail) and didn't get a response which was a bit out of character.
If you were busy, no problems but I thought perhaps we may have a glitch in the system.
Alan S

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 29 Nov 2004, 02:39

Checked both my mail boxes, and my profile. Nothing.
Have changed my profile mail address to my hotmail account. Try mail me again.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 29 Nov 2004, 04:08

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by AndersDK</i>

Checked both my mail boxes, and my profile. Nothing.
Have changed my profile mail address to my hotmail account. Try mail me again.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
On it's way.
Alan S