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Having just done this, thought I'd post up a couple of observations in case they help anyone. This is the second cambelt change the car has had. Last one was before I bought it and was 5 years ago at about 70k. It's now just shy of 100k miles, so due on time, not miles.
Buy/obtain the following before you start!
New crank nut
Inlet runner gaskets
Cam cover gaskets & plug-well seals
Cambelt, tensioner and idlers (duh)
Aux belt, tensioner and idlers
Waterpump and coolant
Oil & filter
Power steering fluid to replace what you WILL spill.
Just in case.....a couple of new M10 fine thread cap head bolts for the cambelt idlers.
Cam locks
Crank pulley lock
TDC indicator
Camwheel pin-spanner
'Click' hose clip pliers.
I also bought a camwheel puller....but it was useless with the engine in the car. Great on a stand no doubt... Had to resort to whacking the camwheels with a drift. Worked fine though.
And the 'Laser' cambelt tensioner adjusting tool I bought didn't quite fit or work as it should, although it was helpful in holding the tensioner in place once I'd moved it using a pin spanner.
Access to oil filter is poor - best done from the RH wheel well, make sure you disconnect the battery before getting a filter spanner anywhere in there as there's a high risk of shorting it out I reckon.
Access to the rear camwheel is tight. I had trouble both undoing and tightening this one as I didn't have a deep offset 19mm ring spanner, so had to resort to having the missus hold the camwheel while I worked from underneath to undo/tighten. Not ideal as it's hard to balance the torque between two people IYSWIM.
I drilled the crank nut off - tried to undo it but no way, so did it the easy way. IIRC, a 5mm hole then split it with a chisel - came off easy, no drama.
Removing the tops was easy enough on the whole, although the plenum is a mild PITA due to having the ECU attached and all those lovely wires everywhere. No big deal though, just work methodically. On mine, #1 had been leaking oil into the plug well, #3 & #6 had a fair amount of crap in the holes. I sucked this out with a vacuum cleaner. Plugs looked very tired. Could well have been the originals.
Finding TDC was a pain - the supposedly purpose made DTI adapter wasn't quite right so it kept trying to push the gauge right out the top. I had to 'adjust' the adapter to make it work properly. Once that was working properly, it was simple enough. The crank lock wasn't 100% right as far as TDC alignment (not sure it's supposed to be TBH) and it allowed a bit of rotation of the crank when in place. Again, not a problem for it's prime puropose of holding the crank while you undo/tighten the nut, but be aware it allows a bit of movement so don't rely on it to hold the crank at TDC.
Camlocks, fine, apart from #1 inlet, as the position of the cam means you are trying to get the lock underneath the lobe....which is sort of impossible due to the dowels, so it's a wee bit tight going on. Once on, perfect.
Like many others it seems, I found the top cambelt idler bolt wasn't coming out. It was already a bit chewed when I got there, so as expected, it just got worse when I tried to undo it. Had to remove the cambelt cover backing plates so I could get the alloy casting the holds the idler off and drill the bolt out. Once the head was drilled off, it came out easily.
Waterpump - I carefully undid the bolts holding the top water pipe coupler on (front 2 already removed to get the PAS oil reservoir mounting plate out the way) and tried not to disturb it, as I hadn't bought new O rings for the pipe. Undid the waterpump bolts and off it came - all nice and clean and no bother with the old gaskets. Re-fitting was simple enough, just took care not to disturb the top pipe coupler.
As mentioned elsewhere, the pump was a plastic impeller job and that was already split right through. No signs of it slipping but it was only a matter of time.
To fit the new cambelt, I put the tensioner on, set 'fully loose', but left off both idlers and all the camwheels, then laid the belt into place. This means the belt can go in place with no effort, twisting or struggling, or risk of putting a 'nick' in it. Once it was laid into place, it tended to sit against the outside edges of the cambelt covers at the top, so well out of the way. Next I carefully put the camwheels in place, starting with the rear bank, exhaust first, then inlet, then the front bank exhaust and finally inlet. Next I put the top idler on, and finished up with the bottom idler - all went in easily with no struggling or effort. Double-checked that the crank was at TDC, then wound the tensioner into place. Struggled with the settting tool so resorted to a pin spanner then used the setting tool to just hold it steady. This method worked better.
Took my time making absoultely sure the crank was still at TDC then nipped up the camwheels. Removed the locks, then rotated a few times to let it settle. Had to tweak the tensioner a wee bit tighter, re-checked, all good so put it all back together.
Re-fitting the aux belt tensioner, idlers and belt was really simple - much easier than my old 155 V6 was.
Probably not much I'd do differently should I ever do this job again (not likely TBH), probably remove the PS fluid reservoir completely, along with the hose that goes from there to the pump, rather than just disconnecting the one hose and swinging the tank up out the way as I did.
HTH.
Buy/obtain the following before you start!
New crank nut
Inlet runner gaskets
Cam cover gaskets & plug-well seals
Cambelt, tensioner and idlers (duh)
Aux belt, tensioner and idlers
Waterpump and coolant
Oil & filter
Power steering fluid to replace what you WILL spill.
Just in case.....a couple of new M10 fine thread cap head bolts for the cambelt idlers.
Cam locks
Crank pulley lock
TDC indicator
Camwheel pin-spanner
'Click' hose clip pliers.
I also bought a camwheel puller....but it was useless with the engine in the car. Great on a stand no doubt... Had to resort to whacking the camwheels with a drift. Worked fine though.
And the 'Laser' cambelt tensioner adjusting tool I bought didn't quite fit or work as it should, although it was helpful in holding the tensioner in place once I'd moved it using a pin spanner.
Access to oil filter is poor - best done from the RH wheel well, make sure you disconnect the battery before getting a filter spanner anywhere in there as there's a high risk of shorting it out I reckon.
Access to the rear camwheel is tight. I had trouble both undoing and tightening this one as I didn't have a deep offset 19mm ring spanner, so had to resort to having the missus hold the camwheel while I worked from underneath to undo/tighten. Not ideal as it's hard to balance the torque between two people IYSWIM.
I drilled the crank nut off - tried to undo it but no way, so did it the easy way. IIRC, a 5mm hole then split it with a chisel - came off easy, no drama.
Removing the tops was easy enough on the whole, although the plenum is a mild PITA due to having the ECU attached and all those lovely wires everywhere. No big deal though, just work methodically. On mine, #1 had been leaking oil into the plug well, #3 & #6 had a fair amount of crap in the holes. I sucked this out with a vacuum cleaner. Plugs looked very tired. Could well have been the originals.
Finding TDC was a pain - the supposedly purpose made DTI adapter wasn't quite right so it kept trying to push the gauge right out the top. I had to 'adjust' the adapter to make it work properly. Once that was working properly, it was simple enough. The crank lock wasn't 100% right as far as TDC alignment (not sure it's supposed to be TBH) and it allowed a bit of rotation of the crank when in place. Again, not a problem for it's prime puropose of holding the crank while you undo/tighten the nut, but be aware it allows a bit of movement so don't rely on it to hold the crank at TDC.
Camlocks, fine, apart from #1 inlet, as the position of the cam means you are trying to get the lock underneath the lobe....which is sort of impossible due to the dowels, so it's a wee bit tight going on. Once on, perfect.
Like many others it seems, I found the top cambelt idler bolt wasn't coming out. It was already a bit chewed when I got there, so as expected, it just got worse when I tried to undo it. Had to remove the cambelt cover backing plates so I could get the alloy casting the holds the idler off and drill the bolt out. Once the head was drilled off, it came out easily.
Waterpump - I carefully undid the bolts holding the top water pipe coupler on (front 2 already removed to get the PAS oil reservoir mounting plate out the way) and tried not to disturb it, as I hadn't bought new O rings for the pipe. Undid the waterpump bolts and off it came - all nice and clean and no bother with the old gaskets. Re-fitting was simple enough, just took care not to disturb the top pipe coupler.
As mentioned elsewhere, the pump was a plastic impeller job and that was already split right through. No signs of it slipping but it was only a matter of time.
To fit the new cambelt, I put the tensioner on, set 'fully loose', but left off both idlers and all the camwheels, then laid the belt into place. This means the belt can go in place with no effort, twisting or struggling, or risk of putting a 'nick' in it. Once it was laid into place, it tended to sit against the outside edges of the cambelt covers at the top, so well out of the way. Next I carefully put the camwheels in place, starting with the rear bank, exhaust first, then inlet, then the front bank exhaust and finally inlet. Next I put the top idler on, and finished up with the bottom idler - all went in easily with no struggling or effort. Double-checked that the crank was at TDC, then wound the tensioner into place. Struggled with the settting tool so resorted to a pin spanner then used the setting tool to just hold it steady. This method worked better.
Took my time making absoultely sure the crank was still at TDC then nipped up the camwheels. Removed the locks, then rotated a few times to let it settle. Had to tweak the tensioner a wee bit tighter, re-checked, all good so put it all back together.
Re-fitting the aux belt tensioner, idlers and belt was really simple - much easier than my old 155 V6 was.
Probably not much I'd do differently should I ever do this job again (not likely TBH), probably remove the PS fluid reservoir completely, along with the hose that goes from there to the pump, rather than just disconnecting the one hose and swinging the tank up out the way as I did.
HTH.
It's not fragile like the late 12V type and it's dead easy to adjust the tension.
