1997 1.9TD Estate - A Tyre-ing question about handling

[CitroJim]

It's very easy to end up half a tooth out in my experience and certainly worth re-checking timing...

I have to do the cambelt on my new 1.9TD very soon too...

[beko1987]

The stupid bolt on one, with only 2 bolts left (it's very broken!)

So it's still possibly a tooth out... which way should i rotate it to put it a tooth in then? Or is there no easy way?

Say it needs to go 1 tooth towards the front of the car, do I just lock the cam pully, pop the belt off, rotate the pump sprocket forward 1 tooth and refit the belt?

Should I keep driving it? it runs fine, although only done 25 miles so far

[CitroJim]

Re-time it from scratch. Pin pump, cam and crank and start all over again. Remember putting the final tension on the belt can knock the timing out a tad. Ensure the belt is fully tensioned (by hand) opposite where the tensioner sits and then when it comes into play and tales up any slack it won't disturb the timing...

A sure sign it has is the timing pins being hard to remove...

[Timmo]

echo'ing above, the pins should slot in and out without friction when timed up properly, you do need the arms of a 10 year old with the strength of an adult for these jobs, that and ratchet spanners!

[beko1987]

You know what the pins were a pain to get out. Not rock solid, but stiff, especially the full pump ones.

Amy's working both night shifts this weekend, will see what she's doing Sunday, she doesn't always sleep on Sundays. I do remember that when the belt was on the cam pulley (and I cable tied it down so it didn't slip), the teeth didn't meet the fuel pump pulley, so a half tooth rotation was needed. Should I half tooth rotate it towards the headlights or windscreen?

I also don't think the tensioner is as tight as it should be. Someone said just let the print do its thing a d nip the bolts up, others said it needs pushing quite hard onto the belt...

She runs OK, and when I got home just now the tickets noise wasn't there. She is down on power a bit, although I haven't booted it. It goes down the road fine, but progress isn't as nippy as it was, even changing up at 2k. The revs drop to the idle point like a stone when I dip the clutch too, sure they used to gently fall before...

Will it get me through the week? I'd have to take a day off work to have it all off again before the weekend. Only got about 300 miles to do...

Bonus though I suppose, now I know where the flywheel locking hole is I should be able to leave the starter in place a d use a tent peg down the back!

[beko1987]

, that and ratchet spanners!

Luxury! You should see the tools I have, a 10mm flare nut spanner was the best I could find to remove the hidden cam cover bolt! And I dropped my 1/4 drive to screwdriver bit down behind the alternator, gave that up as lost, should have another one somewhere...

[elma]

But by the time you have this sorted you'll be able to do any xud belt in half a day without breaking sweat
My first was a bugger too, mostly because I forgot to plug the stop solenoid back in and thought I'd killed the engine. Took the whole thing apart again before I realised.

Advice above is what I'd be doing as well, get those pins back in and see where everything's at. Slight adjustment sounds scarier than it is, just a case of moving a wheel a fraction seen as the engine is running.

The tensioner procedure is right so long as the spring is decent. A member bought a new spring recently and it showed how much they shrink with age. I've never replaced one or had a problem but certainly would now I've seen the difference.

I'm fairly sure an xud belt should be hooked onto the crank pulley and worked on anticlockwise under hand tension. I expect if you lock the engine up and refit the belt you'll notice any discrepancy.

For what it's worth I always mark positions of wheels after locking up with a paint pen before I take the belt off. It can save a lot of issues if anything goes a bit wrong.

If you've undone the engine mount and jacked up the engine you'll have no trouble reaching the famous mk1 cover bolt with a 1/4 ratchet.

[beko1987]

Thanks James. I'm hoping it'll be quicker this time, alot quicker!

[Timmo]

I can't answer the drivable question, too many variables for my liking, the tensioner, I pulled it up as tight as I could, and also used a long thin bar to drop down the gap between cam pulley and mount and push down to get the extra bit of tension on, iit does need a certain amount on there, used to be a 1/4 twist on the belt over its longest section on the 16v petrol lump,

[CitroJim]

A length of cupro-nickel brake pipe is an excellent crank locker... You can bend it to fit as necessary

[beko1987]

I don't have any brake pipe. We'll, none that isn't attached to a car, and as tempting a proposition as it is to 'borrow' some from the meriva, she'll have the kids in the car when she next drives it, and I like the children...

[CitroJim]

I don't have any brake pipe. We'll, none that isn't attached to a car, and as tempting a proposition as it is to 'borrow' some from the meriva, she'll have the kids in the car when she next drives it, and I like the children...

Doesn’t have to be brake pipe Sam, a wire coat hanger or similar will do too

[beko1987]

Oooh I can lay my hands on a wire coat hanger. I've seen a pic of the official tool too, just bend like that?

[CitroJim]

Just bend it to make it fit easily and snake around all the obstructions

[chinkostu]

On the topic of covers, if you needed all 3 parts its about £80 from Citroen, so £25ish each. not showing as NFP either!