Went to change the timing belt on my 1992 XM 2.1 TD SED the other day.
I have lost count of the number of cambelt replacements I have done over the last 17 years but this car took the award for most annoying, irritating and downright pig of a cambelt change I have ever done. It's also the first one I have done on an XM. It will probably be the last.
To cut a long story short, due to the extremely restricted access around the belt I found there wasn't quite enough slack left to slide it over the tensioner pulley. The Haynes manual states only place half the belts width over the pulleys to enable fitment. In the case of the 2.1 diesel that's a crock! Now on normal cars putting half width is routine but on the XM there is a dirty great casing where the engine mount bolts to it. This is where the problem started. From the fuel pump toothed wheel, the belt has to run in a narrow gap between the mount and then has to run over the upper mount, between four studs. It's this assembly that prevents the belt from being placed half on as it then twists and therefore makes it nigh on impossible to slide belt onto tensioner pulley. Then to make matters worse, I noticed the tensioner mechanism retracted okay but then having eventually got the belt on, the tensioner pulley refused to retract to the fully tensioned position. Something had jammed the pulley back plate within the mount casing. With the belt slack on the tensioner side, if I made an attempt to turn over engine the timing would be lost as the belt would have relaxed thus throwing valve AND fuel timing way out. So according to the Haynes manual the engine mount casing has to be removed to get to the tensioner assembly, and the engine has to come out to remove the mount casing! AAARGH!!!
So that's what I have started to do over the last few days. The entire front end of the car is stripped and I've just got to release driveshafts,exhaust and gearbox selector rods before the big lift.
Unless someone out there tells me the tensioner and mount can be replaced without pulling the engine...[:(]
XM cambelt fitting/removing engine
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Johnno
- (Donor 2022)
- Posts: 154
- Joined: 18 Feb 2004, 18:02
- x 1
Hi Doc
I am assuming the 2.1XM is similar to the Xantia 2.1 in that access is, as you say, <u>very</u> limited. I have just recently finished changing the timing belt on the Xantia and I know exactly what you mean about the nonsense in Haynes[:(!]. I removed the engine mount (including the part on the wing) after first managing to damage the tensioner by mis-reading "clockwise" for "anti-clockwise" (or was it the other way 'round?[:I]). Hence the carrier on the engine had to come off, in order to repair the tensioner (and it took a while to work out how the little blighter worked). Removing the carrier involved two people and a lump of 2"x3" (to lever the engine forward), and then by manipulating the supporting jack, it was possible to remove the item. Re-installing the thing involved some modifications to Mr Citroen's design - namely, cutting out a large chunk of alloy fillet from the bottom of the carrier to enable it to go back over the tensioner (BTW, to get the carrier off with the engine in situ, you need to completely undo the tensioner retaining bolt).
I think paying someone else might have been a better option!
Good luck,
I am assuming the 2.1XM is similar to the Xantia 2.1 in that access is, as you say, <u>very</u> limited. I have just recently finished changing the timing belt on the Xantia and I know exactly what you mean about the nonsense in Haynes[:(!]. I removed the engine mount (including the part on the wing) after first managing to damage the tensioner by mis-reading "clockwise" for "anti-clockwise" (or was it the other way 'round?[:I]). Hence the carrier on the engine had to come off, in order to repair the tensioner (and it took a while to work out how the little blighter worked). Removing the carrier involved two people and a lump of 2"x3" (to lever the engine forward), and then by manipulating the supporting jack, it was possible to remove the item. Re-installing the thing involved some modifications to Mr Citroen's design - namely, cutting out a large chunk of alloy fillet from the bottom of the carrier to enable it to go back over the tensioner (BTW, to get the carrier off with the engine in situ, you need to completely undo the tensioner retaining bolt).
I think paying someone else might have been a better option!
Good luck,
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Doc
- Posts: 150
- Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 04:11
Hi Johnno
Thanks for replying.
I suppose the slightly smaller Xantia bodyshell would make things even worse. What annoys me about the Haynes manual is they always show engine work with the engine removed from the vehicle and placed on a bench. I have also noticed that new manuals don't include exploded diagrams like the Haynes manuals of old. My theory is that with Zantias and XM's having more moving parts than the Space Shuttle, the poor old graphic artists must have got chronic wrist ache!
I have decided to carry on with the engine removal as I am now at the point of no return.
Doc
Thanks for replying.
I suppose the slightly smaller Xantia bodyshell would make things even worse. What annoys me about the Haynes manual is they always show engine work with the engine removed from the vehicle and placed on a bench. I have also noticed that new manuals don't include exploded diagrams like the Haynes manuals of old. My theory is that with Zantias and XM's having more moving parts than the Space Shuttle, the poor old graphic artists must have got chronic wrist ache!
I have decided to carry on with the engine removal as I am now at the point of no return.
Doc