davemar 16 Posted December 4, 2007 I've just put my engine back together after the HG going, so fitted a new cam-belt in the process. I fired the thing up today and it sounded pretty rough, one of the things was noise coming from under the cam-belt cover. The cover needs the whole car dismantling to remove (well it seems like that when you've got it all back together again!), so is there a guide to how I can assess the belt tension by the amount of movement in the run between the two camshaft wheels? I can pull the top of the cover back to get a finger on the top run of the belt, how much movement (vertically, rather than rotating) would I expect with a moderate finger prod? Annoyingly some part of the ignition circuit has gone flakey, so it only fired up a couple of times making testing rather awkward. Yet another problem to track down! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,626 Posted December 4, 2007 you should be able to twist the belt 90 degrees on the longest run (front IIRC on the Mi) without too much force, between the cams wont do as its too short here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kyepan 291 Posted December 4, 2007 not wanting to dissagree, but i read 70 degree's also make sure you use both tensioners evenly, otherwise it will fiddle with your cam timing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davemar 16 Posted December 5, 2007 Getting to the longest run means faffing around with getting the cambelt cover off which is a bigish job. I was wondering whether it was possible to assess the tension using the run along the top between the two camshaft wheels, but not using a twisting method, more of a vertical deflection. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redtop 14 2 Cars Posted December 5, 2007 The way it says in the peugeot manual is that you use a seem tool and put it on the run of the belt and it should be 40-50 seem units and you must be able to insert the timing pins in the 2 camshaft pulleys without constraint. Thats how i'll be doing my belt when i get it on Friday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kyepan 291 Posted December 6, 2007 (edited) Getting to the longest run means faffing around with getting the cambelt cover off which is a bigish job. I was wondering whether it was possible to assess the tension using the run along the top between the two camshaft wheels, but not using a twisting method, more of a vertical deflection. have only done two mi16 cam covers, one was a pig to get off, the other was easier, the first one i tensioned and ran about 3 times until it was correct, over tension first time, under the second and then correct the third. its such a short run between pullies, it would be hard to check, i believe the pug tool also works on the longest run, plus how are you going to tension them with the cover on? as the tensioners are covered by .. the cover. it really isn't worth messing around with cam belts, better to do it properly, over tensioned belts could fail earlier taking your head with them, un even tension between front and back tensioners can cause cam timing to go out, loosing you horses, and poorly tensioned belts can jump leading to either lost horses or damage. sorry to come over a bit .. "you must do it properly " but would hate you coming on here with the other situations from doing it not properly. Edited December 6, 2007 by kyepan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,000 Posted December 6, 2007 Somewhere around about 10mm deflection on the top run between the cam pulleys is in the right ballpark in my experience, but that's no substitute for doing the job properly as mentioned above. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davemar 16 Posted December 10, 2007 I decided to take the whole lot off and refit it, and now it sounds much better; maybe I was a tooth out before. It's still a right faff taking off the inlet manifold, engine mount, alternator, etc, just to change the belt. On the top run there feels like there's more 'give' when pressing it down than pushing it up; maybe about 10mm of movement there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C_W 3 1 Cars Posted December 12, 2007 If it's whining noticeable then it's too tight. Although I find they can do this sometimes if it's very cold. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,000 Posted December 12, 2007 I decided to take the whole lot off and refit it, and now it sounds much better; maybe I was a tooth out before. It's still a right faff taking off the inlet manifold, engine mount, alternator, etc, just to change the belt. What on earth did you remove all of that lot for? Only really need to move the fuel filter out of the way and remove the alternator belt... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davemar 16 Posted December 12, 2007 What on earth did you remove all of that lot for? Only really need to move the fuel filter out of the way and remove the alternator belt... There wasn't quite enough room with the fuel filter off, so the engine mount was getting in the way. There's just a few mm too little space it seems. It also makes fitting the belt and tightening up the tensioners a lot easier. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kyepan 291 Posted December 14, 2007 There wasn't quite enough room with the fuel filter off, so the engine mount was getting in the way. There's just a few mm too little space it seems. It also makes fitting the belt and tightening up the tensioners a lot easier. one of the ones i did, the loom was in the way, so i had to remove the engine mount and drop it on one side, that and the dang alen bolts rounded.. was a mare and took several days. the other one was easy peasy, because the loom was in a slightly different position. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gti_al 1 Posted December 15, 2007 with the covers off it is a five minute job. The alt belt can stay on, or at least it did when mine was done this week Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
