V6 cam belt replacement

[Stempy]

Thanks, will give it a go. I was a bit worried about removing things as the instructions say that the belt must be threaded in the specific order they say. Also the intructions say that the tensioner plate bolts need to be tightened to 80Nm (or 8 daN.m as the French put it) which seems a bit tight for and M8 bolt in an ally block and I was a bit scared to keep pushing the torque wrench until it clicked.

[Mandrake]

Yes, there is. Remove the valley (the one at the top between the banks) jockey roller and fit the belt and then fit the valley jockey roller. You should then be OK...

We faced the same problem on Richards 1.6HDi when we did the timing belt - we couldn't get the belt over the last pulley no matter which one we tried to leave until last.

The solution was to remove the fixed idler between the crank pulley and the cam pulley on the drive side, slip the belt onto all the pulleys keeping the teeth on the belt aligned the same on the pulleys, then refit the idler.

There isn't enough extra slack in the belt for it to reach when twisted to the side, even with the tensioner fully wound back...with the idler missing you can slip the belt over the pulleys properly so its straight and then push the idler in from the side and insert the bolt without difficulty.

I imagine its similar in this case.

[Chris570]

Yes, there is. Remove the valley (the one at the top between the banks) jockey roller and fit the belt and then fit the valley jockey roller. You should then be OK...

We faced the same problem on Richards 1.6HDi when we did the timing belt - we couldn't get the belt over the last pulley no matter which one we tried to leave until last.

The solution was to remove the fixed idler between the crank pulley and the cam pulley on the drive side, slip the belt onto all the pulleys keeping the teeth on the belt aligned the same on the pulleys, then refit the idler.

There isn't enough extra slack in the belt for it to reach when twisted to the side, even with the tensioner fully wound back...with the idler missing you can slip the belt over the pulleys properly so its straight and then push the idler in from the side and insert the bolt without difficulty.

I imagine its similar in this case.

Just with a bit more swearing

[RichardW]

Just with a bit more swearing

There was plenty of that whilst we were trying to figure out the aux belt - which pretty much took as long as the rest of the cambelt change!

[Mandrake]

Yeah, that aux belt tensioner was designed by the bureau-d'bstards - there was no reason for it to be that difficult when they could have just put a square hole in it instead.

Our jury-rigged method of re-fitting the aux belt without the right tool for the tensioner was definitely a two person job...

I bet you're not looking forward to the stretchy aux belt on the other car either - I suspect that could be a two person job as well without fancy custom tools...

[Stempy]

Well if you want to hear swearing then come to my house. Got the cam belt on finally, got it all tensioned and timed up then noticed a drip, drip. It was coolant where the engine had moved and punctred the radiator. I know I should have bunged a sheet of hardboard down there but it's too late now.

[Mandrake]

Aww crap, sorry to hear that Stempy.

Now that you mention it when we had the timing belt covers off mine the engine tilted a long way forward on the jack with only an inch or so clearance from the radiator - I never even though to put a bit of board between them to protect the radiator!

[Stempy]

Ahh well, it looks well rusty at the bottom and there's blue staining all along it underneath so it may have blown at any time, it is twelve years old after all. May have been a blessing in disguise, albeit a pricey one.....

[CitroJim]

Well if you want to hear swearing then come to my house. Got the cam belt on finally, got it all tensioned and timed up then noticed a drip, drip. It was coolant where the engine had moved and punctred the radiator. I know I should have bunged a sheet of hardboard down there but it's too late now.

My first reaction to this was an off-colour word involving spherical objects Stempy!

So sorry to hear but if it's any consolation I've done the same lifting a V6 engine - it swung into the rad...

[Mandrake]

So are the rads quite delicate for being knocked by pointy objects ? I must remember that...

[CitroJim]

So are the rads quite delicate for being knocked by pointy objects ? I must remember that...

They are when an engine swings into them Simon!!!!

[Stempy]

Engines are not only pointy but bleedin' heavy, a delicate rad core is no match. Good news is that I started her up and she ran smooth as a smooth thing that has just been smoothed, only for a short while mind, but none the less no clattering noises yet. Cant believe it's taken the best part of two days and still not quite finished.

[CitroJim]

Excellent Stempy At least the hard bits are done now

[Stempy]

In my defence, I've never changed a cam belt on anything before so I was a bit in at the deep end. Just gotta swap out the rad now, which should be a piece of cake after that lot.

[CitroJim]

In that case Stempy an even bigger round of applause