Saxo 1.1 Timing Belt

[xsaras4ever]

Hello to all after a long absence.

I am doing a timing belt on a Saxo 1.1 petrol.

Have done diesels for the last 20 years, and my Fiat 500 petrol, but am stunned about the slackness of the belt after fitting it to this saxo.

Any ideas ?

Also , I can find no info on the tensioner with the pointer built in, but even in the most eccentric position, its nowhere as tight as the belts I have done in the past.

I have compared the old belt to the new belt and they are the same.

Thank You n advance

[CitroJim]

Have done diesels for the last 20 years, and my Fiat 500 petrol, but am stunned about the slackness of the belt after fitting it to this saxo.

Any ideas ?

Yes indeed. I am assuming this is the 8 valve TU1 engine. It was something that bothered me initially until I dug deeply into it.

A very seemingly slack timing belt with a cold engine is entirely normal as the TU 'grows' as it warms and the tension increases... If you set the tension to what appears to be right with a cold engine it'll be far too tight when hot and it'll sound horrible, particularly at idle and will whine as the revs increase. A correctly set belt will run silently and will show very little whip on its longest run under snap acceleration.

The only accurate way to set the tension in my experience is to use the weight method as shown in this diagram I've borrowed from the Haynes AX Manual...

(c) Citroen and Haynes Publishing

Using this method is nowhere near as difficult as it looks...

You can use a SEEM gauge but it must be used with the engine hot and then you should see a reading of 45 Units.

Cold, it'll be about 23..

The 90 degree twist method will work approximately with a hot engine.

There is no automatic tensioner with an arrow - I know precisely what you mean - available for the 8V TU.

I did a lot of research into this very subject a while back and you can read bits of it in my blog on here and a big article in a forthcoming edition of the CCC Citroenian magazine. I did my research on both my own Saxo and AX which both have 1.1 TU1 8V engines.

My blog shows the weight method in use.

Hope that helps.

[xsaras4ever]

Thank you for this excellent reply, gives peace of mind.

The belt I removed was 100 teeth and had one of those spring loaded pointers on the tensioner, and the new belt has 100 teeth and the same gadget, like on my Fiat and some Renaults.

Both crankcase pin and camshaft sprocket pin were good, but on turning the crank with a socket, it appeared to take up slack on the belt between the crank and the cam. and was more than the half twist on the belt.

But I can re-assemble it now, thanks to the knowledge that the engine "grows",

Does this mean that snap acceleration after cold startup risks slipping a belt ?

[CitroJim]

Does this mean that snap acceleration after cold startup risks slipping a belt ?

I'd say you'd be very unlucky if it did but always a good plan never to rev a cold engine too hard or too eagerly when cold... And the little TU soon warms up

[xantia_v6]

Can you take a picture of the spring loaded pointer thing? At least for the benefit of those of us who have not seen one.

[ozvtr]

The tensioner was probably modified for the the later fuel injected versions. Just as an improvement I would say, not because of anything else.
The "old" versions probably don't exist as the "new" versions would do as well.
As the the "block" of the TU engines are virtually the same I can't see why the new belts and tensioners wouldn't work?
I have a post >here< on the C3 owners forum. It's for the fuel injected TU3JP engine.

The belt is now over-tensioned, the engine turned over 4 times, then the belt is de-tensioned.
A VERY QUICK overview is:
Remove the (safety) pin from the tensioner. Mount the tensioner and belt. "Over" tension the belt and re-insert the pin into the tensioner ABOVE the pointer (like it was when it was shipped). "Snug" down the tensioner nut. Turn the engine over. Remove the pin, carefully slacken off the nut and tension on the belt 'till the pointer hits the notch in the tensioner mounting plate. Tighten the mounting nut.

...or Citrojim's way if you are old school.

Hmmm I wonder how the two compare?

[CitroJim]

...or Citrojim's way if you are old school.

Hmmm I wonder how the two compare?

I'm keen to find out If I can have details of a suitable tensioner I'll be very happy to do the necessary

[xantia_v6]

...or Citrojim's way if you are old school.

Hmmm I wonder how the two compare?

I'm keen to find out If I can have details of a suitable tensioner I'll be very happy to do the necessary

https://www.mister-auto.co.uk/timing-be ... ll/qtt978/ seems to be the part, (a bit pricey I think), but says that this type was fitted from 08/2001.

[ozvtr]

The spring tension of the new tensioners might skew the results if you use CitroJims old school method on the new tensioners? Is the cam motion the same between the two? Does it matter? Thoughts?

[CitroJim]

The spring tension of the new tensioners might skew the results if you use CitroJims old school method on the new tensioners? Is the cam motion the same between the two? Does it matter? Thoughts?

Only one way to find out Only trouble is, those tensioners aren't cheap...

[wheeler]

Cant say ive ever seen one of these engines with a spring loaded timing belt tensioner, only ever seen them with a manual eccentric roller tensioner.

[CitroJim]

Cant say ive ever seen one of these engines with a spring loaded timing belt tensioner, only ever seen them with a manual eccentric roller tensioner.

No, nor me and I've seen a few...

[xsaras4ever]

Hello to all , that is exactly the tensioner that came with the kit , and we set the pointer in the middle, turned over the engine by hand about 20 times, checked the pointer , it had moved a little so we re-tensioned it and turned over loads again and the pointer stayed between the 2 markers. Have run it for about 10 hours now.

[CitroJim]

Hello to all , that is exactly the tensioner that came with the kit , and we set the pointer in the middle, turned over the engine by hand about 20 times, checked the pointer , it had moved a little so we re-tensioned it and turned over loads again and the pointer stayed between the 2 markers. Have run it for about 10 hours now.

If it's been good for 10 hours and it's running nice and silently then it should be good... Certainly makes tensioning a lot more straightforward