[Engine] Cambelt change 1.9d

[paulmlpss]

Hi all I need to do a cambelt change on my van but the local garage want too much £230 just for labour. I have done one before on a old xr2 cvh engine but that was many years ago.
I have watched this video and it looks fairly straight forward? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfTnbjIJnCs

Only thing that worrys me about doing it is -
1 The crankshaft bolt if I can't manage to free it off.
2 How tight to tension the belt up (As I believe its not self ajusting and you have to use some kind of tension meter tool???)

Besides that it doesn't look too difficult?

Any help much appreciated or if anyone close to Walsall west midlands that would like to help or do it cheap lol.

[spudd]

You dont need to touch crank bolt 4 10mm bolts on pulley.i did mine without meter just adjusted till longest part of belt could be twisted no more than 45dgs.hardest part is getting belt cover off.make sure you have 3 bolts in as timing pins.

[petesta]

I was told 240 inc vat but without waterpump change

[polar]

well a good cam belt kit is approx £70, auxiliary belt is approx £20 and a water pump is £30. So say you are talking up to £150 for parts with their bit on then £100 labor is about right you are looking at £250 all in.

Just tell them that is what you will pay - im sure a local Halfords Auto would do it for about that.

[bikergraham]

I fitted a new cam belt to my 1.9 diesel about 3 years ago,which at that time the car was 9 years old and it had somewhere around 45k miles on it so it was just a cam and auxiliary belt change as i felt the water pump wasnt necessary at that time,but if yours has a lot of miles it would be worth considering as its very tight to get at.I did mine with the assistance of Haynes which for this particular job was very helpful and it took me about 1/2 a day.I did use a rope slung around the roof joists to raise and lower the engine after removing the mounts on the offside to enable more access as room is very very tight but doo-able. For the tension i would normally allow 1/2 inch of play on the longest run or as spudd suggests no more than 45 deg of twist would be about right.Costs as far as i remember was about £20 for the aux belt and £30 for the timing belt from Euro Parts.No special tools needed just a jack or a rope or both would be a big help,Dont rush it just make sure you lock the engine and get the new belt on without turning the cam shafts ,its an awkward job but quite doo-able by an enthusiast / home mechanic.

[geoff]

Tensioning without the special tooling is doable and experience helps of course ............. anyway .............

Make a note of the existing tension - before belt removal - and work on the basis that it will be too slack due to belt wear so having fitted a new belt use this setting plus a bit, say a third more perhaps........ too tight and the belt will whine of course.