Mi16 205, Cambelt Cover

[Ethos 0]

Hi guys,

 

Need to take the cambelt cover off to check the cambelt (think it's overtight as it's whining).

 

Can I do this "in situ", or does the engine need unmounting and moving/dropping a bit. Please say I can take it off without all that hassle...

 

I'm pretty sure it's the cambelt, I do have a gearbox oil leak as well- but im fairly sure the whining is coming from the cambelt.

 

Thanks.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

On mine you can, but it depends on the car.

[James_m 0]

On mine you can.

 

Snap. Might have to unbolt the fuel filter from the inner wing for a little more space, but its not too difficult.

[jim205GTI 3]

If you have a strut brace take that off, and be prepared for swearing. I'm sure the cover was more of a ballache than doing the actual belt!!!

 

Which i have to redo as i have a leak, still.... reckon i might have torn the gasket slightly

[kyepan 291]

Wrote this about 2 years ago but it never made it onto the main faq site.. hope this helps, ps it's not finished and has not been vetted for accuracy so i'm not responsibile if it goes wrong!!

 

 

 

General information.

 

The cam belt can be done in about 3-4 hours, but took me 2 weekends to do the first time, however that being said, first time round everything that could go wrong did, well nearly everything. Most of that time was spent coming up with heath robinson esq solutions to getting things undone, and properly back together again. Your main issue doing the cam belt with the engine in the car is access / getting enough leverage to undo things, prize things off and comfortably tension the belt. Although this is covered in the Haynes manual in quite some detail it doesn’t cover the paranoia’s and what to do if things go wrong, and common sense advice for people not technically minded. With that in mind some of this guide may seem very obvious to the more technically minded, but there should be a few “ah haaaaa!” moments for the rest of us who struggle to work around and alike. Now a caveat: some of the methods here are not Haynes recommended but they got me through and out the other side, dad’s an “engineer” and recommended most of them.

 

 

Tools needed

Pretty much a full kit… but in particular

 

Dowels for locking the cam pulleys = 3 x 6mm drill bits, or dowels measuring 8mm diameter for 5cm and 6mm diameter for the last 3cm.

Spanners, however ratchets and stubbys may be useful if you have them too.

Allen keys may be needed depending on tensioner bolt type.

Extensions 2 lengths

Short sockets

A ratchet that is shallow

(Perhaps a pic of two rachets would be good here)

Some lengths of metal tube or pipe

Breaker bar

Short square section shaft to rotate the tensioner, with some kind of handle that is long and thin.

Show pic of heath robinson

Small hands.

Gearbox oil if drive shaft is removed.

Jack

Block of wood

Assorted long thin sticks to prod things with, stronger and thinner the better.

Small sharp coal chissle

Hammer / mallet

Hyde mallet

 

If I mention any others please add them here as I can’t remember too well.

 

 

 

Step 1) Remove the cam belt cover

 

a) Undo the top two torx (insert size) bolts on the cam belt cover, these will need to be retracted otherwise the cover will not come off easily.

Pull out the tab of metal that is in the Center of the cam belt cover this locates on two pins, these will need to be avoided later

c) If needed - Unbolt the fuel filter from its inner wheel arch and move it up and back slightly, this makes removing the cover easier as the cover will foul on it.

d) Remove the alternator drive belt by slackning the 13mm bolt underneath the alternator adjustment screw, and undoing the screw.

e) Remove the alternator pully by undoing the four bolts.

f) Remove the two upper cam belt cover bolts either side of the alternator drive pully, and store them and their washers for later.

g) If the wiring loom is in the way and long enough to move, gently lift it over the cam cover onto the rocker cover, don’t force it though, as you may loosen connections.

h) Depending on clearance the next bit can be tricky or easy, you must slide the cam cover up, not letting it foul on the metal tab locating pins, or any wiring loom or

i) Chock the rear wheels, apply handbrake, Loosen the road wheel bolts slightly, jack the right hand side of the vehicle, secure on axel stands, and remove the right hand road wheel.

 

 

Undo the four nuts on the alternator pully and remove it, sometimes a little persuasion with a hyde or rubber mallet may help to losen it and work it off.

 

Step 2) Lock the cam pulleys and crank pulley.

 

a) Line up the holes in the crank pulley with the holes in the head Insert dowel into cam pulley, it should locate nicely into the respective holes and line up well. If it doesn’t line up immediately Inserting the pins can be made easier (remember your working against engine compression) by removing or totally loosening all the spark plugs, the engine should turn by hand once they are removed, I used a breaker bar on the crank bolt, as its very tight and should not loosen.

 

Once the pins are inserted and their position noted make sure they are secure and the drive train cannot rotate, My bottom pin kept falling out, but as long as you mark it carefully and perhaps pack it on the crank pulley, it will stay put.

 

Have Pic of bolts in place

Subsection A – only do this bit if your renewing cam shaft oil seals, or crank shaft oil seals. Other wise skip to section three.

 

Mine were pissing oil everywhere, you’ll need two cam shaft oil seals, and one different crank shaft oil seal, you can replace all the seals or just one. There is one thing you can do here that will make life a lot more easier before you get the belt off.

 

SUB step 1) Loosen the cam & crank pulley bolts

 

a) With all the pins in place and the cam belt position locked its easier to apply the needed force to release the cam belt pulley bolts.

Locking the crank can be achieved either with a cheap (£8) flywheel locking tool, or as I did, jamming a screwdriver into the flywheel at the front of the engine.

c) Place your impact socket or large spanner over, get as much extra leverage as possible and gently undo it. Now you should be able to remove the

 

 

 

Loosening the crank pulley is again about getting as much leverage as possible and gently undoing the nut.

 

 

 

Step 3 Loosen the tensioners

 

a) With normal bolts try to get a short impact socket or good ring spanner around it on an extension, then if possible, extend the leverage with a tube or pipe over the spanner end. This will greatly reduce the chances of rounding the nut or skinning your knuckles if you extend the leverage. If you have an assistant, get them to apply pressure to the back of the socket / spanner / allen key with something flat and long (wooden kitchen utensil perhaps)

 

If you have allen bolts these may be more problematic, be careful to line up the allen key and extend it with a suitable diameter tube over the end of the allen key, its worth spending a pound on the correct diameter metal tube from a DIY warehouse. Because if you round them or they are already rounded, they may take time to free and delay your return to beer and women.

 

If your nut rounds, or your alan key is already rounded as mine was, try filing down a larger spare alan key to fit in the hole and get some purchase, this worked for one of mine, or last resort use a small chisel to tap the edge of the nut round and free it, this may also take time as getting good contact is difficult in the confined space. You may also need to follow step 4 optional to get more access for the necessary persuasion.

 

c) Once the tensioners are loose they can be slid off their spindles and inspected for wear, they should rotate silently, and smoothly, if there is any change in resistance they will need renewing, or they will get more noisy and may lead to premature cam belt failure.

d) Once the tensioner is off you’ll see the offset square hole used to lever the tensioner into place, you need something to go in here with a handle on it that can be lent on fairly hard – here is our heath robinson effort, if anyone finds a better pre made tool please let us know

 

 

Step 4 –optional - Lower the right side of the engine

If you have issues where you cannot get access, or things have gone wrong and bolts are rounded, dropping the right side of the engine will give you complete direct access to the front tensioner, and partial access to the rear pulley. This should be enough space to persuade any nut to come undone.

 

 

a) Remove lower wishbone pin from hub

Loosen Drive shaft intermediate bearing bolts

c )Bucket for gearbox oil

d )Drive shaft out (careful not to dislocate the cv joints)

e)Jack engine on block of wood.

f)Lower engine mount to bracket bolt

g)Lower engine mount bracket to subframe bolt

h)Lower engine using jack.

 

Pic of intermediate position

 

If this does not do it go the whole hog and…

 

Disconnect manifold from down pipe

Top engine mount on drivers side, four bolts on the mount

Lower engine further using jack on block of wood

 

Pic of lower position

 

 

Step 5 - Remove the cam belt

 

The cam belt can now be removed, I found it easier to remove it from the crank pully first and pull upwards out the top. It will try to foul on anything it can, so be patient, work out where it’s catching and prod it free with something long.

 

Have a look at the cam belt for wear along the back of the belt, in between the teeth and along the teeth. Check how many teeth it has, and make sure your new belt has the same number.

 

Step 5 - Optional – Change the water pump

 

If your’s was leaking from the center of the water pump pulley , like mine was, you will need to fit a new water pump, once the belt is off its very easy.

 

a) Remove the five 13mm bolts that hold it in place

Gently break the seal with either a gentle twist of a screw driver, or tap towards you with a hyde / rubber mallet, gently remove the pump.

c) The surface of the block will be covered in mankey old gasket, this needs to be cleaned, remove as much of it by hand as you can, then with a Stanley knife blade gently clean the surface as if you were stripping paint,

d) Once clean and free of old gasket locate the new gasket and refit the new pump

e) Torque to the correct setting.

 

Sub section B - Optional – Change the cam shaft oil seals

Tools required

New seal from GSF or PUG

Four long thin self tapping screws

Long screwdriver

Wooden lever / stick

Hyde or rubber mallet.

 

A socket the same diameter as the hard outer ring of the seal, or short length of pipe fitting the same diameter.

mallet

 

This is a simple operation but you must be careful not to damage the cam shaft pulley, cam shaft or head where the seal seats. The cam pulleys have a long key way to help locate them so you’ll be able to put them back on easy enough

 

a) A undo the pulley retaining bolt, hopefully this will already be loose from the sub section earlier. If not you need to secure the cam in position using the dowel and undo the retaining bolt. If your paranoid about the valves bending on pistons, take 4 metal coat hangers and cut the long sections out to identical length with wire cutters, insert these down into the combustion chambers, they should be long enough to protrude from the cam cover. You should see what position each piston is in, and be able to gently move the crank until they are all flat and away from the valves, remember which way you moved them.

 

Remove the pulley by gently levering from behind with your wooden lever, using top, bottom left, right alternating motion, be gentle as the cam pulleys are soft metal and you may bend corners of the teeth if excessive force is used. The occasional tap from a hyde mallet may also help it to come away, once its started to move take out the dowels aligning the cam pulleys as they will get in the way of removing the pulley, continue working the pulley until it becomes possible to move by hand, withdraw and your ready for the seal.

 

c) Remove the key from the cam shaft if it’s loose and store it somewhere safe.

 

d) Remove the seal by using a stubby screwdriver to wind your self tapping screws into the old seal, then use pliers to pull it out along the cam shaft. I used a screwdriver to prise mine as it was very loose and almost fell off. If its tight always use the screws as you risk damaging the cam shaft.

 

e) Place some engine oil on the outer and inner ring of the new seal, then refit it by locating it and pushing gently, once its seated evenly, take your socket / pipe that fits over the camshaft and covers the outer edge of the seal, tap gently to seat the seal, it should be flush with the head when your done. I also used the handle of a screw driver where things got aquuard, but wouldn’t recommend this as you should use even pressure.

 

f) If the cam pulley edges have been damaged during removal the belt will wear prematurely and may fail, these small burrs and lips can be filed then rounded so no sharp edges are present, this is best done by gripping the pulley softly in a vice and carefully removing the raised edges with a metal file. I noticed whilst doing this, the casting has many imperfections and small raised lips towards the edges of each tooth, so once I was happy with the smoothness of the metal it could be refitted.

 

g) Refit the cam by refitting the key if removed and ease the cam on, tap it home with a hyde mallet on its centre, and refit the bolt, and replace the dowel securing the cam pulley in position, final tensioning is best left until the cam belt is on and the valve train is further secured.

 

 

h) Repeat for the other cam if nessecary

Step 7 – Optional – change the crank shaft oil seal

 

Tools required

Tools required

New seal from GSF or PUG

Two long thin self tapping screws

 

 

 

 

 

Step 8 - Renew the Cam-belt

 

a) The belt will come with markings, and a direction on the smooth side of the belt, so get it the right way round. If your not sure the engine rotates clock wise when looking at the engine from the cam pulley end.

Order of fitting is as follows, exhaust pulley, inlet pulley, front tensioner, crank pulley, rear tensioner

c) Work out what marking goes on the exhaust pulley, the inlet pully should also then line up with the next marking, and the crank pulley may line up with a third. These markings appeared to be opposite the pins that you’ve put in the pulleys.

d) Get the cambelt roughly in the right area by feeding the cam belt gently back down in between the engine and inner wing, watch out as it will foul and is difficult to bend and you don’t want to bend it too much for fear of damaging it.

e) Fit the cambelt over the exaust (back) pulley, run it cleanly onto the inlet (front ) pulley, it may dip to begin with but as you tension it will tighten up.

f) Then run the belt down the long run inside the cover, refit the front tensioner but don’t tighten it, put the belt with its smooth side on the tensioner.

g) Pull the belt around the bottom of the crank pulley, and around the water pump.

h) Refit the back tensioner, once again don’t tighten it, then try to gently refit the belt over the rear tensioner.

i) This bit I found very difficult, and had to release the belt from the water pump, put the belt over the tensioner and gently lever the belt with a long screwdriver over the water pump pulley.

 

 

 

this is the bit that isn't finished

 

Tension the cambelt

 

Check the tension

 

Retension if nessecary

 

Tension all pulley retaining bolts.

 

Refit the covers and crank pully

 

 

Changing the crank shaft oil seal.