Anyone ever done the timing belt before, Is it something which should be attempted by a keen amateur or is it best left to the folk, who know what they are doing.

Its time for the timing belt to be replaced. I have the manual but it mentions sticking screw drivers in weird places. The instructions don't seem very clear but a garage bill is just the knee in the nuts, that I don't need at the minute.  :sniffle:

I did the one on me old Maestro - dead easy. Check and double check the marks are lined up and the tensioner's ok.

I'd rather do that than do the tappets on a Viffer  :verysad:

Dave, I'd chuck out the Masons manual you have... and get one for your car

I've done timing / cam belts on several cars (in my youth, I hasten to add) and, with one rather spectacular exception (Hillman Imp... and yes, the tappets do touch the pistons if you try hard ), had no problems at all. Of course, helps if you can do the job in the warm and dry - I'd borrow someone's garage if I were you!

What's the cage? Ferrari? Lamborghini?

Davie-is it a ZX?
Its not too bad a job-as FF says just take your time & make sure the timing marks are lined up proper like.
The French usually have a bolt/nut/screw hidden in the depths that only a double jointed person with unusual manual dexterity can find never mind undo
HTH
I watched the mechanic change ours(on the zx diesel) a couple of years ago & it didnt look too much of a job-I only get my hands dirty on bikes these days-but he said I made a very good cup of tea!

Splendid.. no sugar in mine, thanks

The manual said, 'Stick a screw driver in the thing but be careful that you don't break the other thing.  :O Then get a friend to stick a screwdriver in another thing but to make sure, that it was in the right notch as theres two.  :O

Its a Renault, I think it was a non- English speaking Frenchman, who wrote the Haynes manual.  :bum:

That's not bad English I reckon. If he'd been non-English speaking, it'd have said ...............

'collez un tournevis dans la chose mais faites attention que vous ne cassez pas l'autre chose.  Obligez alors un ami à coller un tournevis dans une autre chose mais pour s'assurer, cela il était dans l'entaille droite comme theres deux.  


Espérez ceci aide

And if you use Babble fish to convert it back again, it even starts to make perfect sense. Apart from the 'Oblige a friend' bit.

Renault wotsit-citroen thingy-its all the same BD-the IMPORTANT thing is its french & has the hidden screw
Do let us know if your obliging friend stuck the screwdriver where it was supposed to go & not somewhere costly/painful.
I know this is not a lot of help M8 & I'm sorry.
If you take your time & make sure the marks are right then it cant go too pear shaped & if you can pull a viffer apart then I'm sure you're up to the job.

Taking things apart has never been a problem for me. Its when you're putting them back together that the problems start.  :sniffle:

The obliging friend will probably come in the form of Iain. When I'm bent over a motor trying to get the timing belt sorted, does Iain look like the type of person, that you could trust with a screwdriver and two possible notches.

But we'll have his garage and an unending supply of tea and biscuits. Which is just as well, cos this could turn into an all day-er.

If its a froggy car they are very fiddly, you MUST be very careful that you don't move anything when the belts off, personally its a job I leave to the experts beacuse what is not said in the manual is that you sometimes need a special tool to lock everything in place.  :sniffle:

Hi Dave

Let me know which Renault it is and the engine size/year and I will tell you what to do (joys of working for them)

Thanks SV, Its a Renault 19RT 1.4 (1995)



Imagine posting a pic of your cage on a bike forum.  :blush: :sus:  :eyebrow:

simple job, don't have nightmares
When are you doing it ?
I'll type it out for you when your ready.  :cool:

I just got mine done on the civic during a service but it was drinking petrol and had lost a lot of power , so i took it back to the garage and they checked it..said everything was okay.
Still not happy i put it in to a honda dealer and guess what? the timing was set two teeth out,at £47.50 +vat per hour it stung.
So i got the service manager to type out the fault on the bill and the first day im off im gonna hit the original garage owner with the bill  :angry:

Probably next Monday or Tuesday. Or maybe both.  :wwww:  :sniffle:

Hi Dave

Sorry for the delay but here goes,

1st job remove the alt and pas belts

Then you need to undo the crankshaft pulley bolt,if you are working alone the best way to do this is to get no1 & 4 cylinders on TDC ,you can do this by removing no 1 spark plug and using a torch you will see the piston coming to the top of the bore,as it reaches the top look at the flywheel timing mark which is next to the clutch folk.
Next to this hole you will see 4 lines in the bellhousing,the 2nd line up is tdc.

On the front of the engine next to the bellhousing near to the sump you will see a male torx bolt screwed in to the block ,remove this and insert a 8mm drill bit which goes into a drilling in the crankshaft(you may have to turn the crank whilst pushing the drill bit in to locate it) then confirm the machined slot on the flywheel is in line with the 2nd mark from the bottom in the timing hole.

the crank bolt can now be undone and the timing covers can be remove which will be held on with 10mm bolts or T30Torx bolts.

Once these are off you can see the camshaft sprocket which could have a few marks on it but the only one we are interested in is the one that goes to peak of sprocket teeth which by this stage should be lined up with thae centre web of the rocker cover, if it is'nt it will be pointing down in which case you could turn the crank 360degrees which will turn the cam 180 degrees or you could just make your own mark with tipex in line with the centre web of the rocker cover.

You will find the tensioner on the back run of the belt which is slackened of using a 13mm spanner just enough to let it come free.

Now remove the belt and check the water pump for excessive play and the tensioner for smooth rotation.  :bowdown:  :bowdown:

Next step refit the belt starting on the crank then to the water pump and the cam ensuring there is no slack as you go and finally round the tensioner where the slack should be  :angry: .

using a screwdriver lever the tensioner to apply tension to the belt and lock up the 13mm nut on it.

Check your cam is still in line and the crank also then remove your drill bit and rotate the engine a couple of revs by hand and recheck marks and tension

If the o/s of the car is jacked up  put it in 4th gear and jerk the road wheel in a forward direction to save yuo putting the crank bolt back in for the pevious stage  :D  :D .

Then just put everything back on and of you go  :idea:

Recommend you replace the other belts at same time.

If any of this is as clear as mud just ask and i will go into more detail

Thanks happysv.  :bowdown: I've printed this off and I have a look under the bonnet, while I read through it.

It makes a bit more sense than the haynes manual and thats without pictures.  :O  :buttrock:

I spent three hours looking for that bit. Then realised that only the F type engines have that bit.  :blush:  :laughcont:  :laughcont:  :laughcont:

Still, the instructions help along the way and between them and the manual, they worked a treat. The tiing belt is now replaced, along with two track rod ends. I'll need to pop down to the garage and get my wheel alignment done though.

A big thanks to happysv for the info.  :bowdown:

I forgot to mention. A big thanks to Pervo the elf for the use of his garage, giving me a hand, cups of tea and applying the plaster, when I fecked myself on the head with a pair of pliers, when I knocked them off the wing, while I was undoing the flywheel bolt.  :blush:

They dug right into my napper by the way.  :blush: