Cam belt change

Tryanything · Post by **Tryanything** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:48 am

Any advice ?
How hard is it to change the cam belt on a diesel ford escort

Or is it best to shove it in a garage

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:06 am

same with most things ..if you know what your doing its easy
has it snapped already ? or is it just a case of time to change it ?

if its gone it might have caused some damage to pistons /valves

chances are you will need to replace the tensioners as well ,probably looking at least £150 in garage if its just replacing belt ,not that long a job for a mechanic

Hitch · Post by **Hitch** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:16 am

If i remember rightly, the 1.8diesels have two belts, between them they go around 7 or 8 different pulleys/idlers. One behind, i think driving the water pump and the main one for the injector pump.
, plus you will need a flat piece for locking the camshaft, and a special bolt for getting the tdc correct.

There are special tools for locking various critical pulleys into position, but drill bits work, you probably need to remove the alternator and power steering pump if you have one, to get into the tdc lock positio though.

I must admit, its not something id attempt myself, get something misaligned and you could be knackered.

For someone thats done it numerous times, its only a few hours work

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:47 am

must admit never done a diesel ,only ever petrol ones ,had one go a while ago ,luckily there was enough clearance between valves and pistons on a 2 litre so didnt cause any damage

have you got a Haynes Manual ?

Tryanything · Post by **Tryanything** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:19 pm

Thanks for the replies chaps

When i called out the AA he reckons i might be lucky and the belt may just have slipped so change that first
Yes Foggy got Haynes manual

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:59 pm

the Manual should tell you how to
but as Hitch has said wouldnt fancy it myself unless you know what your doing

Welsh Decorator · Post by **Welsh Decorator** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:00 pm

I've had an 1.8l escort diesel van, belt wise they are not complicated, just time consumeing to do, make sure that you lock the flywheel and pump when at TDC, also the cam, any movment on any of these is a right pain to correct.

If you have been un-lucky enough to have the belt snap, you will have valve damage, there is no tollerance in the head.

Your best bet, is to get the compleate belt kit, comes with the tensioner, and change that at the same time, these can go wrong, when they do? they can drop bits of plastic on to the pump belt and put it out by a few teeth, check that this is not the case when you static time the engine.

But other than locking cam, pump and flywheel, it's quite a straight forward job.

If these are locked at TDC, you will have no problems.

Tryanything · Post by **Tryanything** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:52 pm

Cheers for that WD think i might give it a go after christmas

rubber_hammer · Post by **rubber_hammer** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 5:56 pm

What's the problem with the car (you mention the AA man saying the belt may have slipped a bit)?

Get yourself a haynes manual and follow the instructions in that. Always turn it over by hand before starting the car up, i.e. with front of car jacked up, put it in gear and turn one of the front wheels. The engine will turn over as you turn the wheel. This allows you to check for any contact between the pistons and valves without causing any damage.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 7:32 pm

FWIW, We had the cambelt changed on the Punto and they found that the Water Pump was also leaking and needed replacing, and this would have meant taking out the cambelt anyway - so we got lucky as didn't need a 2nd cambelt removal

Morale of story - if you are changing the belt, take the opportunity to check everything that would involve a cambelt change as well

village idiot · Post by **village idiot** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:29 pm

we had that too, & tensioner &, &, £££

leebwk · Post by **leebwk** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:07 am

Unless you have got experiance in cars then i would shove it in the garage you've only got to forget 1 thing and the cambelt will come off and write off the engine. i used to have an escort van and i think it cost me about 110 quid to have the belt done

Hitch · Post by **Hitch** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:26 am

Depends what the cars is and worth, Sometimes doing everything like belts, tensionrs, waterpump, etc, can cost more than the vehicle is worth.

Its a bit of a gamble, even main dealer belt jobs fail. My dad's vectra was dead afted a main dealer fitted tensioner fell of on the motorway.

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:06 pm

Vauxhalls were renowned for tensioners failing ,didnt they do a recall on them or dealerships were told to change them at cam belt change ?

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:11 pm

I think that is a key point Hitch makes - if you think you have got your money out the vehicle and it is coming near to scrapping time, run it until it fails - most cars now are overengineered in terms of recommended changes, so can gewt away with it.

We did the the Punto's belt based on age (5 years) and the cost of the repairs prob came to about 25% of the cars value

, but as intend to keep it many more years, decided it was worth doing.