I have got all the tools and parts together now to replace my cam belt.

I have decided that I am going to diy this to safe myself at least £200+ in labour charges.

A good mate of mine will be helping me and he is very mechanical minded. Are there any tips or tricks that you can share to make this go as easy as possible?

Regards

Get a hench breaker bar/ideally an airgun to make removing the crank pulley as easy as poss!

Get a hench breaker bar/ideally an airgun to make removing the crank pulley as easy as poss!

It's 50/50 some people can't do it some people can, I did mine on a few extension bars to clear the body and used a 2ft breaker bar

What engine? - diesel, K4 or KV6?

45 1.8 K series

45 1.8 K series

I got all excited there I thought someone was going DIY on a Kv6 - O was gonna bring mine round so you could show me how to do it :lol:

Right!!!

Fist of all I would like to thank everyone for all the good advice that has been posted on this site regarding cam belt change, it came in very handy.

I have succeeded today by changing my cam belt, and I would encourage anyone who would like to try this on their own. It is a great experiences and really very easy to do.

I have to admit that it is a fairly fiddly job, but with a bit of patience you will be OK. The crank pulley bolt was the easiest part of the whole thing. The hardest part for me was to get all the bolts on the water pump loose, because of their positioning, and also to take of the bottom cam belt cover was a challenge, due to a bolt that was in a very awkward place.

Other than that it was pretty straight forward and makes good common sense as you go along. All in all it took me 5 hours to complete. Not bad considering it was the fist time that I have done anything like this.

Yet again thanks for the advice, and if anyone needs advice I will be happy to help.

Regards

Well done that man!
Did you sit back afterwards and rub your hands together thinking how much money you've saved by not having the garage do it for you?
I did!

BTW, did you replace the timing belt tensioner as well?
Once you can do a timing belt, it makes the HG a much easier job when you need to do that, as you wont then have to remove the crank pulley and lower cambelt cover again as the cambelt wont require replacing at the same time. You can get away with just removing the upper cam cover and cam pulleys to get the head off.

It was indeed a good feeling knowing that I have saved myself some money, but even a greater feeling when she started up first time without any problem at all.

Yes I did replace the auto tensioner and the water pump, and I have to admit that the water pump and the belt was in very bad condition. The pump was all rusty and probably on the edge of seizing. The belt was hard and brittle.

Saying that keep in mind that she has done 75k before these were replaced, and all in good time I think. If the head gasket should fail I will definitely replace it myself.