300tdi timing belt replacement

[Snail Bait]

Hi all, I need to replace my timing belt soon, and am interested to see if I am able to do it myself. Is it very difficult? What special tools would I need? And what brand of belt/ other parts would I need? I am fairly confident mechanically I rebuilt my R380 a couple of years ago with no dramas. Any help is much appreciated.
Cheers Snail Bait.


95' 110 Defender
58' 109 Ex NSWFB SerII
50' 80"
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[Petetheprinta]

I replaced mine with no mechanical ability whatsoever. I made sure I had all the bits and pieces I needed beforehand. Had my LANDROVER manual and just followed the instructions. Took me couple of days but wasn't in a hurry. I removed the rad etc as I was getting it cleaned at same time. I had a mate make me the necessary timing pins etc. he also made me a crank nut tool to lock it up. I replaced all the bits inside while I was at it. Because it's a bit difficult to see if the timing mark is aligned properly, I used my cell phone to take piccies to check I had it right. May advice, go for it. Make sure everything torqued up properly afterwards.

Special tools??
Torque wrench,
Locking pins
Crank pulley holder or large rattle gun to undo crank pulley nut
Large breaker bar to do up crank nut to torque and add 90% extra turn
Good luck.

[rick130]

I wouldn't follow the manual as the specified belt tension is too high (among other things)

Look in 'The Good Oil' forum on here and you'll find links + PDF's to really good and well illustrated instructions.

[Petetheprinta]

There are far more knowledgable people here than my self, however it was my experience that following the manual and using common sense the job was simple and 20k later, motor running like a Swiss watch. Have not had to revisit timing belt to redo or adjust as so often seems to happen. Time will tell. Mine is a 98 Disco so there may be differences in a defender timing belt change.

[Judo]

Timing belt was one of the first major things I did to my Disco and I was a little scared I would get half way and be stuck, but nothing about it is overly complicated. Not sure if the number of steps is perhaps daunting? I found each step along the way quite OK. A few years later now, I would consider it easy work, although potentially time consuming.

I got away without the crank locking tool. I did have cam and fly wheel locking pins and torque wrench.

I highly recommend having cam and crank seals spare in case you find they are leaking once you get the timing cover off. There is really no extra effort to just change the crank seal anyway which I did. I left the cam seal as it wasn't leaking and had to take more apart to get to it.

Search for more info. Lots of threads with good info and the PDF guide is excellent.

[rick130]

The belt tension specified in the manual is too high and was corrected with a TSB to dealers, along with revisions to the crank gear and timing and tensioner pulleys but the book never reflected this.

The 'difflock' pdf listed and shown in the timing belt section of 'the good oil' is the easiest, most straight forward way to do a belt change and reflects any and all TSB updates.
The best crank gear is the Bearmach style which uses a one piece gear, unlike the OE Land Rover one which uses spot welded 'ears', and which have a tendency to fail in use.

A 300Tdi is a 300Tdi.

[Jode]

As noted above, you torque the crank pulley bolt using first a set torque (can't remember what but I think it was 80NM) and then 90 deg further turn. That is ****** tight and you will find a 3/4" drive with a long pipe a big help. However the resultant longer handle will end up hitting the bodywork before you reach 90 degs, so I marked the socket with tape and then the pulley with another tape mark 90 deg further on - made it much easier to reposition the drive (not the socket!) and know when I'd torqued it to 90 degs.

Getting the timing belt on is a pig, as it is a very tight fit (even with the tensioner pulley slack and injection pump gear loosened), but stubborn, gentle persistence will get you there.