Xsara Picasso 2.0HDi timing belt change

[Michel]

Hi All,

Due to much skintness, I'm going to dare to do this myself. It's at least 23 years since I did a timing belt, and that was a Ford CVH.

Is there a decent guide somewhere on here? Can anyone offer any tips and pointers?

Does anyone fancy passing by and checking I've timed it up correctly before I attempt to turn it over once done?

Help!

I want to take it to South of France last week of August, so I suppose it better be done. Otherwise I'd leave it and gamble on having to replace some rockers if it breaks.

We think it was done in 2017 when the previous owner bought it. Can't remember or find the book though.

[RichardW]

It's a while since I did one, but viewtopic.php?p=315280

The bolt down the back of the cover is a git. The crank bolt can be v tight. On later engines the vernier pulley on the cam was deleted in favour of a floating crank pulley. In this case you MUST lock the crank (behind the starter) to make sure the timing is correct. No auto tensioner so you have to set the tension by feel, unless you borrow a SEEM meter. Have a look down the back of the engine to see if the water heater is in it (4 glowplugs in a unit) - if it is, disconnect it before re-starting so you don't cook it if there isn't enough water flowing past it.

[Stewart(oily)]

Not a bad one to do, top tip is to use a socket and long breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt, rest the bar on the ground and give the ignition key a flick, Voila! works every time, all you need now is a method of tightening the bugger up once you are done.

[PaulC5]

There is a Haynes manual for the Xsara Picasso and as mentioned by Richard slackening the crank pulley varies. This is from the 2000 to 2002 version of the manual. The earlier crank pulleys without green paint can be slackened using a locking flywheel tool. The later pulleys with green paint need the crank and cam locking first, fit a flywheel locking tool and then undo the crank bolt. These later pulleys have crank sprockets with a wider keyway so the sprocket can be adjusted but if not locked the timing will be lost when the bolt is removed. On these later pulleys you can not use the flicking the engine over on the key method to slacken its bolt since the timing locking pins will be in place.

The torque settings for the 2 pulleys are different
- early ones 50 Nm then a further 51°
- later ones 70 Nm then a further 82°