timing belt / water pump

Bren · Post by **Bren** » 01 Mar 2009, 19:10

Is it advisable to replace the water pump / tensioners when doing a belt change? My car is now due a timing belt change - obviously for peace of mind is it better to change the lot, but at extra expense?

The reason I am enquiring is that I also need new front pads & discs, and I am mindful that the car is only worth £500 or so, although it is in excellent condition for a 13 year old car.

Should I bite the bullet and get it done or bail out and let some one else sort it? I have considered a HDi but to get one in as good condition as my XUD would set me back at least £1200 - not to mention the fact that I might be buying some body else's grief.

Your opinions, as always, are appreciated.

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 01 Mar 2009, 19:56

Timing belt tensioners are of the TOUGH metal veriety On the XUD's.. Ive not heard of problems with them...thats me personally too.. HOWEVER, water pumps a different matter.. for the sake of 20 quids or so, YES change the water pump!!!!

Rgds
Paul

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 01 Mar 2009, 20:06

Do the work yourself, it's not hard, and saves a fortune.
Definitely change the water pump if doing the timing belt.
As for the tensioners, they normally only need changing every other belt change, wiggle them to see what state they're in.
If you've got A/C and the aux belt tensioner is spring loaded behind the hydrolic pump, check the action of the tensioner to see if you can rotate it out the way against it's spring.
The needle rollers inside it break down and it jams up so be prepared to replace it.

I wouldn't consider replacing the car, simply for economic reasons.
Firstly, it's in excellent condition, you know it's history.
As you say, you won't know if you're buying someone else's grief and spending more for the "privilage" of taking that on with a different car than you'd pay out to service your current excellent condition one.
Secondly, the XUD9TE is such a tough, beautiful, simple and reliable engine, do you really want to swap that with a more complicated Hdi that you don't know the real history of?

Don't think about the cost of maintenance in relation to the value of the car in monetary terms, think of the value in real terms to you.

To give you an example, the chap who got me into Citroens back in 97 drove a 2CV.
It was probably worth only a couple of hundred quid, but his total annual costs were £500 (that's service, fuel, insurance, tax, the lot).
One year it needed it's chasis rebuild, for £2000.
To him it was value for money, because to get a different car as reliable as his would cost him nearly that, then there's the extra running costs.
So you see, £2000 may seem a lot, but in the big picture it's nothing really.

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 02 Mar 2009, 18:33

I agree entirely with Xac's analysis.

It may only be worth £500 if it's done a lot of miles, but it's not much in depreciation terms. So many people delude themselves about the true cost of running a car by conveniently ignoring depreciation.

I have a similar Xant to yours Bren, deliberately choosing an XUD9T over the HDi for the simple mechanical fuel system.

Guy