This weekend we are off as a family en convoy to a C+C rally in Cheddar and as the daughters new van has reached the 90k mark and is well into its second 5 year period for cambelt, I decided Yesterday to change the belt and tensioner. The belt kit from my local factor was £108 a Gaites belt so good quality, I found out that they had a water pump in stock £35 but decided to have a look at the existing pump before I bought one as it is only a five minute journey to get one if I felt the need.
I have to say that doing the cam belt on this 2.0ltr engine was a hell of a lot easier than the 2.3ltr, I also note that it is not necessary to remove all the airflow pipes or indeed the engine top cover as required by Haynes instructions which in my view saved about 1.5hrs, removing the o/s headlight I would recommend as it gives you a much clearer view of the engine mount and top cam belt cover. Ofcourse jacking it up on axle stands is essential to remove the o/s wheel and inner plastic wheel arch which allows for a much clearer view of the front face of the engine when getting to remove and refit the cam belt and tensioning it up.
I did not use locking pins I just turned it to tdc on the crank and tippexed the cam timing mark to the back plate, as its common rail injection the high pressure fuel pump doesn't have to be timed but I set it to where the gaites belt suggests by the three lines supplied on the belt which when timed properly should sit one on each timing mark.
One thing I would point out for those that are going to attempt changing the belt on these vehicles is that most belts when new have rotational direction fitting arrows along with the three timing lines but so long as you tippex the timing marks / or locking pins ( assuming the engine was running perfectly before) it really does not matter which way round the belt is fitted. The directional arrows are there so that the timing lines are in the right place if you use them to time the cam to the crank, the belt is uni directional and will work perfectly either way round.
The whole job took about 4.5hrs because it's the first 2.0ltr fiat engine that I've changed the cam belt on and it was a learning curve, but now I believe I could do it in 3hrs. Phil
Notes:- Very rarely in my commercial garage did I use lock pins on even the most intricate engines, there were times when on occasions the timing was out for whatever reason and then pins were really the only solution but if the engine was running well when you start then tippex marks are just fine, very very rarely did a new belt make any difference to the timing where the cam wheel would have to be loosened and reset.
Once I had the cam covers off I found that the water pump was looking new the belt looked like it had been changed and the tensioner had no belt marks on it, which suggested that the cam belt, water pump and tensioner had been changed very recently. There were also 2 white paint marks on the back plate one of which married up to tdc on the crank and the other married up to a white paint mark not at tdc on the crank so I assume that the belt has been changed twice in it's life.
Hey ho, but you never know on a vehicle you've just bought, it's always smart to change the belt any way.
