broken cam belt xantia td

[citroenxm]

Well.. the dreaded call came through from a customer.. ... i just heard a thud and all stopped ..."

went to have a look tonight and yes cam belt snapped.. However.. this was no old belt.. the power grip name and part number still very well viewable which to me means an not so old belt..

so a closer look at the belt once recovered then showed lots of little crease cracks etc.. it looked more like water and oil contamination, but more water.. ive not got down to the pump yet to see if there's tell tail signs..

after a bit more and removing the rocker cover to see further damage Im presented with two short cam shafts and a broken cap bearing on the gearbox end.. after cam shaft removal we also have two bent or buckled valve stems as they have both stayed open or pushed down with the cam out... so delivering the news to the owner and a healthy price for repair, i was surprised at the decision to go ahead remove/replace head and repair...

so apart from being knocked sideways with other events which has totally buggered up what i should be dooing for people, and rounding up parts etc Im not wholey into this either and i think a head swap will be a bit easyer then messing with cams and cap bearings..

so that's another hurdle in the way of the Xm.... :-\ ..

[Peter.N.]

I had something similar on a BX Paul but I don't think the belt had ever been changed, fortunately I had a spare camshaft but I took the head to an engineering firm to have it repaired due to the difficulty of setting the valve clearances - unless you have a large quantity of shims of known thickness. Hope things improve for you soon.

Peter