DW8 cam belt

[top drive]

How ever some idiots dip the whole bolt in the loctite and the next guy then can't get it off.

I'd suggest that a blue loctite round 3-6 threads and the correct torque which is 70nm stage 1 and +60 degrees second stage which. Equates to bastard tight really. As in lock the flywheel and using a 900mm bar with a 4ft scaff pole on the end to get that 60 degrees in a controlled manor. Not just rugging at it like I did when removing it with just the bar.

I've seen two causes of loose crank bolts - one people not applyinh any loctite and/or. not tightening it correct

Or in the case of the 300 TDI the bolt was too long and the thread shoulder bottomed out on the crank nose before the pulley was tight.

Result the crank vibrated the key and fretted the keyway in the crank. -nothin chemical metal can't fix

[CitroJim]

How ever some idiots dip the whole bolt in the loctite and the next guy then can't get it off.

Been there... Even the starter motor method struggled against that one... Gabriel was well Loctited too...

One thing I do before applying new Loctite and refitting is to clean the bolt threads on a rotary wire brush and blow out the thread in the crank nose with an airline to remove any old loose traces Loctite. In the past where the Loctite contamination has been very high I've run a tap up and down the thread before giving it a blow to ensure it is really clean and free of old Loctite...

Excellent advice on how to both apply Loctite and tighten

Correct torque is FT and then some

[elma]

Definitely, I'm not saying don't use it. It just does such a good job the bolts damn hard to remove.

[top drive]

One minor thing and it may be 90mph wind related

But I seem to have used a whoring a fuel today.

Done 80miles and used 1/4 tank

Normally does 100-110 per quarter . But then ive been heading south into a southerly.

[CitroJim]

Yes, it's the wind Cycling into a head-wind for what seemed many miles was hard work indeed today

On the plus-side cycling into a cold head-wind is bloody good resistance training and and excellent calorie burner...

Judging on how much I've needed to eat today I've not run very economically today either...

[van ordinaire]

Up-date - Now firmly convinced job IS impossible: 1/2-hearted attempt to crack the crank nut merely trashed the (6 month old) driveshaft. Just glad I never did work out how to remove the alternator (another aspect of the job on which an XUD manual is no help at all) or even the belt cover (ditto), did find a bastard size Allen head screw (which I managed to winkle out with an imperial key) but it made no difference. Just imagine if I had been successful, all that grief - for no reason!

Bought another Jeep on the 28th so that cheered me up a bit, & the vendor put me on to a local mobile mechanic - who's prepared to do the cambelt, but not sure when. Meanwhile new driveshaft on it's way so that (& TCA, which I was going to do anyway) should keep me occupied while I'm waiting. Oh & removing the rad (1) to improve access/sight lines & (2) back flush it as wasn't very impressed with what came out when I recently overfilled the expansion tank.

Lessons learned? No more Citroens, certainly not DW8's or anything that's not had a recent new belt.
Don't be persuaded by Jim's all too well meant encouragement.
A lifetime tinkering with cars (including doing some jobs known to be impossible, e.g. Jag clutches, Healey 3000 rear springs) counts for nothing when it comes to routine maintenance on small Cits. All credit to M. le garagiste throughout rural France - & you guys, who clearly have far greater determination than I.

[CitroJim]

Sorry to hear that Don't leave us though as we're all happy to read of your Jeep experiences...

A lifetime tinkering with cars (including doing some jobs known to be impossible, e.g. Jag clutches, Healey 3000 rear springs) counts for nothing when it comes to routine maintenance on small Cits. All credit to M. le garagiste throughout rural France - & you guys, who clearly have far greater determination than I.

I, for one, will NEVER let a small Citroen beat me... Even if it is often a war of attrition

[Old-Guy]

Van, honestly it's not as bad as it sounds...

I've used the 'starter motor' method to undo the crank bolt on almost every XUD I've ever done a belt on and always without issue...

I must say the DW8/XUD is possibly the hardest of the PSA engine belts. I reckon the V6 is easier...

To throw in my belated two-penn'orth:
I agree entirely with Jim. I used both the crank keyway alignment and starter tricks the first time. Subsequently, I made myself a flywheel alignment pin (tapered in electric drill with a file), and bought a 900mm breaker bar; use with care - breaker can be all too literal but absolute magic on crankshaft pulley bolts.
There's a pretty exhaustive guide to XUD9 cambelt change in the Wiki (under Engines > 1.9TD).

[Old-Guy]

...If you've an impact gun then it's just another bolt to undo. If not the starter motor thing works fine, always leaves me nervous until it's done that way.

First time I did the Green Lady's XUD9 belt (a few days after buying her), it was in a CV workshop. Big impact gun wound up to maximum made no impression, just used a lot of air! My mate refused to (allow me) to be beaten. In the end we shifted it with the starter - impact socket, his long breaker bar and short scaffold tube with block of wood under the end and a tyre on top (to reduce the distance/speed of any flying tools). Alarming CRACK! when I 'flicked' the starter, and I thought "Oh sh1t! Sheared the bolt!" but it was just the factory's liberal use of Loctite surrendering. I used a new bolt (after the abuse the old one received) with thread lock on cleaned threads only, and tightened to the correct torque, nothing more. Stayed done up for 5 years and came undone with big breaker bar and some serious grunt, didn't need to resort to starter. Re-used the replacement bolt.

[elma]

It's the heat first thats the key as well as the impact, I warm the bolt with a micro blowtorch before I try to undo it. Either I forgot to say that or its sat just before where you quoted me.

How on Earth did the driveshaft get broken van ordinare? I cannot work out the mechanics of that unless the breaker was positioned at 7 o clock rather than 5 o clock which would've been a recipe for disaster.

Personally I don't blame you for giving up, it's the sort of job that if you're fed up or preoccupied isn't going to happen. My first XUD belt took weeks of research and I slowly worked my way through it, not without problems. I've done so many now though it takes under a day and I don't really think about it.

[CitroJim]

Yes, I heat too James, using my MAPP kit... Often these days the bolt is over-Loctited and a bit of concentrated heat softens it just enough...

The 'starter method' of undoin the bolt sounds scary in both senses of the word but it's jolly effective... As you found Guy!

My MAPP kit is one of the most useful tools I have. A real 'hot spanner'

[lexi]

I, for one, will NEVER let a small Citroen beat me... Even if it is often a war of attrition
0 x
Jim

Exactly! This is what made Britain great. Cracking the Enigma Code and sorting out those dastardly little French cars with a Birmingham spanner

[CitroJim]

Exactly! This is what made Britain great. Cracking the Enigma Code and sorting out those dastardly little French cars with a Birmingham spanner

Absolutely It worked very well on a recalcitrant Renault yesterday!

[van ordinaire]

My mind keeps going back to that Triumph 1300, which simply ljacked itself up on the breaker bar BUT, I don't know if the crank pulley bolt will be a problem - because I can't remove the belt cover or the alternator!

No amount of info. on the XUD helps when all I can get about the DW8 is that, basically, it's the same. The procedure might very well be - but getting to that point is certainly not: it has a completely different alternator BUT, rather more importantly, it is mounted quite differently AND the belt cover presents no means of attachment/removal - save an Allen headed screw, but taking that out makes no obvious difference.

The driveshaft wasn't broken, it just destroyed its own boot, when it turned, at full droop as I, mistakenly, hoped I could lock it up using a tyre lever across wheel bolts (as one would when, e.g, cracking driveshaft bolts on 2CV's).

Must admit I'm almost concerned about the method of locking the flywheel, as that for cracking the crank nut - seems like a sure fire recipe for chipped, if not broken, teeth to me.

On a happier note, I have at least managed to flush the cooling system (against the day it gets a new water pump) - although removing the radiator seemed altogether more trouble than it was worth. Took all of an hour to remove the bottom hose, thanks to one of those delightful American sprung clips - fitted before the fan assembly was installed it seems (how that's possible, I'm not sure - if I correctly understand the order of disassembly). What came out immediately made me think of tomato soup - although, on reflection, it was perhaps more the colour of apricot nectar. Flushed it, refilled with water plus some flushing agent, ran it for 10 mins. whipped off the bottom hose (now the clip was in an accessible position) - & out came the same orange hued liquid! Race against time now to flush block before the stat closed (although it was by this time raining) - then the rad, both ways! Will I get any thanks? Of course not, but I will have peace of mind, both when testing the cooling system on long runs come the summer - & next winter. How it survived being left unused out in the street during the only cold spell we've had so far this winter I don't really know.

[van ordinaire]

Latest - got a local mobile mechanic coming to do the business Friday week - that way I might save a few £££'s but really hope to learn something, even if only by peering over his shoulder.