1.8 GDI cambelt change - my experiences

[Kishada]

Hi all,

Just bought a '98 S40 a couple of weeks ago and what a great car!
Did a major service on it and during this had a quick look at the cambelt by taking the upper cover off.
A small nick present on the inner edge, and a small split over the back of the belt at another area....which equals borrowed time!

I changed the belt yesterday at my work on my day off.
3hr book time quoted by Autodata, 7.5hr actual time for belt and roller change! It didn't help that i'd not had much sleep and was hung over, and i can report that the major obstacle in this job is the cast iron engine mounting bracket that has to be removed as it sits over the left hand run of the belt. What a total nightmare it is to get out. There's just not enough clearance between the engine and the chassis leg to just pull it straight up. Once it's all unbolted, i then had to remove the alternator tensioner add on bit by removing the hidden 12mm bolt. I think it's impossible to remove and install the bracket from below so i did this from above. It's also easier if you remove all the bolts from it by unbolting all 4, then using a trolley jack and a block of wood on the sump, raise and lower the engine and move the bracket accordingly to remove all bolts. Also, unbolt the 2 x 10mm bolts for the power steering tank, and obviously the 3 x 12mm bolts for the power steering hard line that runs right in front of the belt cover. That was the other total pain in the ass by the way, a solid metal pipe running right across where you need to work. I found the only way to get the metal mount bracket in and out was with the engine jacked right up with the trolley jack, and i'd estimate i wated 3hrs removing and installing that bracket!

Other hazards included the bottom belt cover disintegrating in to 3 pieces! so keep a tube of super glue handy.

With regards to tensioning the belt, obviously there are 2 adjustments available in the tension, and having had a look on the internet, there's a tool kit for about £30 with the recommended bits. This does not include the cam sprocket locking wedge. I ended up just doing it without any of those things.

When you install the new belt, the first thing to do is bring the belt up to tension with the concentric tensioner roller which has 2 small holes in the face of it to allow it to be rotated anti clockwise. I used a small pair of circlip pliers to do this which fit nicely in between the 2 sides of the rubber engine mount bracket once the mount was out of the way. Turn engine over by hand, ensure marks align and tension is good then release hydraulic tensioner which you would have compressed in a vice, locked with an allen key, and re-installed. In the grand scale of things, the concentric pulley is there to apply the bulk of the tension and the hydraulic tensioner to get it perfect and adjust for belt stretch in the future. There's no big issue with not having a camshaft locking wedge, just use small plastic clamps to hold the belt in position on the pulleys, once you set the camshafts to the alignment marks with 2 x 17mm swan neck spanners.

Normally i would do the water pump as well, and i had one to hand, but the current one was perfect at 100,000 miles with no leaks and absolutely no play and i was running out of time.

Another point to note, there was no belt 'kit' available for the GDI engine, so i was provided with a Gates belt, and a twin pack of INA rollers/pulleys. This didn't bother me as both are top notch quality and OE fit on many cars.

Part numbers: G5514XS for the Gates Belt
530030709 for the INA pulleys
£53.07 for the lot (trade)

If you're doing the auxiliary belts as well:

5PK1343 for A/C and P/S
4PK780 for Alternator


Now i know what to expect in the summer when i do my neighbours Mitsu Charisma belt, obviously an identical engine.