14 October 2020
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Cambelt failure can destroy an engine in an instant. Trevor Cuthbert explains how to renew this critical component.
Time: 3 hours
Cost: £42.50
Difficulty: 4 out of 5 stars
Models: Defender 90, 110, 130, Discovery 1
Tools: General workshop tools, timing tools kit (£25 new from online auction website), beam tensioner wrench (£12 used from online auction website), standard torque wrench
Parts & Costs: Timing belt kit (Britpart part no. DA1200DEF), £36 from BLRC Ltd; timing cover crank seal (Bearmach part no. ERR6490), £6.50 from BLRC Ltd
Work safely: Wear protective gloves and safety boots
Contacts: BLRC Ltd, blrcvehiclespecialist.co.uk, Tel: 028 9751 1763
The timing belt (or cambelt, as it is often referred to) on the 200Tdi engine needs to be renewed every 60,000 miles or five years, whichever occurs first. If the belt is not changed there is a significant risk that it could break, resulting in expensive damage to your engine – at the very least bent valves and probably damage to the pistons, depending on the engine speed when the belt breaks.
The Tdi engine is not particularly difficult to work on as a general rule, and replacing the timing belt is relatively straightforward. With that said, I have never tackled one before now because I have always had a friend who would nip around with his timing tool kit and do them for me. However, the pandemic lockdown put paid to that particular convenience and it was time to begin changing Tdi timing belts myself.
Apart from the usual careful and methodical approach to working on an engine, to change the timing belt on the 200 Tdi you will need some means of locking the engine at Top Dead Centre (TDC). I’ve seen this done simply with a 9 mm drill bit to lock the fuel injection pump and hoping for the best with the rest, but a timing pins tool kit for Land Rover engines is not expensive. I picked the one used here online for less than £25, and it includes the puller for the crankshaft pulley.
The engine featured here was an unknown quantity. The new owner had no record of when the timing belt had last been changed, so the work was carried out as a precaution and for peace of mind. Clearly, on a complete and running Land Rover, the engine fan and cowling, if not the radiator as well, would need to be removed to carry out the work shown here.
1. The 200Tdi engine is on a trolley while the Land Rover is having an extensive rebuild carried out, so there is no radiator or bodywork in the way.
2. While the ancillary belts are still in place, these water pump pulley bolts are loosened while everything is held firmly, then the ancillary components are loosened.
3. The alternator and water pump drive belt can be loosened considerably by moving the alternator, so there is no problem removing the belt.
4. The power steering pump belt can only be loosened a little, before turning the crank clockwise with a 30 mm socket while de-railing the belt from the pulley.
5. This 100 mm bolt not only holds the alternator adjuster, but is the first bolt securing the timing cover to be removed from the engine.
6. This short hose linking the water pump to the thermostat housing is removed by loosening the hose clamps with a screwdriver or hose clamp tool.
7. The flange bolts holding the water pump to the timing cover are removed using a 10 mm socket and placed through holes in a map to keep them in order.
8. Placing the bolts in the drillings in this hardboard map ensures they are refitted in the correct location. This shows the board later, with all the bolts positioned.
9. The water pump is bonded to the engine by the old gasket and an excess of sealing compound, but a firm tap with the hide mallet soon frees it up.
10. The crankshaft bolt is very tight and normally needs a long breaker bar with the flywheel locked, but this big impact wrench shifts it easily.
11. The crank pulley bolts are removed using a 10 mm socket wrench, but the pulley with the engine damper remains stuck in position for now.
12. The crankshaft pulley and engine damper are freed from the engine by using this puller, which is included in the engine timing tool kit.
13. With all of the bolts removed and carefully stored on the hardboard map, the timing cover is free to be eased away from the engine.
14. Inside, we can see a timing belt that appears to be still in reasonable condition, but with rubber residue dispersed on the web inside the housing.
15. The flywheel locking pin from the timing kit fits into a slot in the flywheel to lock the crankshaft in the timed position (through housing when engine fitted).
16. When the engine is correctly timed at TDC (top dead centre), the woodruff key on the crankshaft timing pulley is in line with this arrow.
17. The camshaft timing pulley has this dot indented on it, to line up with the arrow when TDC has been achieved and the engine is timed.
18. This timing pin will slot through the pulley on the fuel injection pump and in to the hub, to lock the pump, when TDC has been achieved.
19. When fitting the new timing belt, we need the injection pump pulley to turn slightly. So it is marked in order to find the correct position again.
20. Now that the engine is timed and locked, the tensioner is unbolted and removed, thus allowing the old timing belt to be removed from the timing case.
21. The timing cover has been thoroughly cleaned of all of the old gasket and sealer. It also needed a replacement crank seal, as the old one was in poor condition.
22. The mating surface of the housing on the engine also needed extensive cleaning to remove an excess of hardened sealer and gasket.
23. The timing cover, the inside of the housing, and the mating surface of the housing are now all sufficiently well cleaned for the re-assembly to begin.
24. The new timing belt is routed over the crankshaft pulley and the camshaft pulley firstly, then passed over the injection pump pulley.
25. The tensioner is now fitted and the timing pins removed. Then the engine is turned clockwise by two complete rotations, using a socket on the crank bolt.
26. After two rotations, the timing pins should easily go back in place if timing remains correct. Then the injection pulley is tightened on its slots again.
27. This half inch square drive beam-type torque wrench is ideal for setting the correct tension (20 Nm) on the timing belt. The click-type is not suitable.
28. Using a click-type torque wrench (or indeed an electronic one), the tensioner pulley is now fully tightened up to the specified 40 - 50 Nm.
29. With everything in place and tightened to the correct torque, the timing cover is refitted with a new gasket and sealant, followed by the other removed parts.
30. Given that the coolant pump had covered a fair mileage, it made sense to fit a new one at this stage while the bolts were out, for future piece of mind.
31. With the coolant pulley and the ancillary drive belts refitted and tensioned, the engine is back in one piece again, ready to be installed and run again.
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