Should I replace the timing belt and water pump myself?

pARTner81

This evening I realised that there is almost 61000 miles on the timing belt on my Partner (Peugeot, that is). I panicked a bit and bought a new kit and water pump €118 all in in Consort Motors on the Drumcondra rd. I would love to tackle the job myself, though I'm only a chancer of a diyer. What special tools do I need? If I tension the new belt too much or too little what could happen? Any help would be great, thanks.:)

Plug

With the tensioner there should be a little thing to help you built onto it. When you turn the tensioner with a 5mm hex a little arrow will move, you know its the correct tension when the arrow is in between a little 'window'. The instructions will help, you usually get these. I think 'Row' another user, is the Peugeot expert around here, maybe he can help you as I'm not 100%.

DublinDilbert

What engine is in your van?

I've only changed timing belt on a petrol peugeot. I was able to use a bolt and two drill bits to lock the crank/cams in place. You normally turn the engine over a few times by hand, then retension the belt. As plug says above the belt tension is set by a spring/indicator arrow, then locked in place.

If your anyway good with your hands it's hard to go wrong, once you take your time.

Do you have the Haynes manual or the print out from auto data for changing the belt?

pARTner81

I have a haynes manual for the vehicle, so I'm just gonna follow it to the word and use the head a bit and all going well I wont wreck my engine:) Oh and the engine is a 1.9 DW8

101sean

Haynes and official manuals will often describe the job using specialist timing tools. If you look on ebay or do a google, you'll find pictures of the tool kits and you'll see often that they are simple pins, you can use a same sized drill bit instead (most Land Rover diesels for example need a 9.5mm drill and a reversing light switch) If not, a vehicle specific kit can be cheap, Renault 1.5dci kit is about £19 from the UK and takes the guesswork out (still a total PITA job to do though :mad:)


Vehicle specific forums can be helpful on this score, I often get calls from my brother in law asking me to do a search on how something works (usually on another bloody Renault :rolleyes:)

Nissan doctor

You need a locking pin for the crank,cam and injector pump, they don't have timing marks.

The tensioner also doesn't have a tension guide built in so the correct way to tension the belt is using a tension gauge, any other way is guess work.

Plug

Nissan doctor wrote: »

You need a locking pin for the crank,cam and injector pump, they don't have timing marks.

The tensioner also doesn't have a tension guide built in so the correct way to tension the belt is using a tension gauge, any other way is guess work.

Not really a DIY job then!

Nissan doctor

Plug wrote: »

Not really a DIY job then!

Like in most cases, it can be done, you can substitute other items for the pins, drill bits etc but by doing this and estimating the belt tension you are greatly increasing the risk of error, especially if you aren't experienced in doing it.

Plug

Maybe the tensioner has one of them little arrow/window things build onto it? A lot of the spurious stuff have them.

Row

If you pm me your email address i can send you on peugeots guide on
replacing the timing belt on the Dw8 engine....:)

pARTner81

I've decided to have the timing belt, auxiliary belt and water pump done by the garage. I would have liked to try it myself but I haven't got enough knowledge and experience, or money if it went t*ts up. Foley motors on Spring Garden st. in Ballybough are doing it for me, they're good lads. Thanks for the help guys.