Thread: 300TDi Cambelt Change

Originally Posted by JohnE

Now we are approaching the silly season, tis the time for silly questions.

I found a great section on the LR4x4 site on how to easily change a cambelt on the 300tdi, even has some good 'how to' pictures.

When I had my pajero i changed the cambelt/balance shaft belts a few times, and that was it nothing else needed, except three hands to lineup the timing marks.
Now my silly question, why do the 'experts' 'non experts' advocate( sorry about the big word) changing the cam belt, the pullleys for the tensioner,inner and outer oil seals and anything else that looks suss.

For something that should be a simple fix, ie just a new cambelt, it is a couple of hundred smackers ( a new word for ladas) short of a front rebuild.


thank you in advance for your patience.


john

About 12-18 months ago, a quite senior and long service person at Land Rover Australia told me he recommends the rubber band be changed every 50,000 k's, not 100,000 k's as per the service guides. Why? He says a belt is $80 plus some labour. A head is $4000 and a lot of labour. My experience with a friend's 200Tdi was that every used head we looked at ( and very few available, and wreckers know values) would have cost as much as a new one by the time it was made serviceable.

Originally Posted by JohnE

Now my silly question, why do the 'experts' 'non experts' advocate( sorry about the big word) changing the cam belt, the pullleys for the tensioner,inner and outer oil seals and anything else that looks suss.

It is quite a lot of work to access the timing belt and it makes sense to replace everything while you are in there.

For many Defenders / Discoverys, doing 80 000km between belt changes could mean 4 years or more. Can you guarantee that the idler pulleys, seals, etc are going to be good for a total of 8 years if you don't change them?

It seems to me that a little extra expense once is better than doing the entire job two or three times due to skimping the first time, especially given LR seals reputation for leaking.

I have 96 disco 300tdi

I had reason to have my timing belt checked after a new one had been fitted by a reputable Land Rover service centre. There was oil weeping out of the wading plug hole. It turns out that the crankshaft seal was leaking oil. It had sprayed onto the timing belt - oils and rubber don't go too well together so I had a new belt fitted AND the seal done. The new oil seal cost $20 - the whole new timing belt excercise $700 (parts and Labour).

About 50,000 km later the engine had a hernia - turned out to be a timing problem. The bearing in the idler pulley on the timing belt collapsed. The timing belt jumped 3 teeth and then went on to bend the pushrods. Repair bill $900.00.

It's a 'no brainer' to figure that replacing a few cheap bits and pieces 'while your there' makes bloody good sense.

So don't forget waterpump seals (maybe even a whole new water pump) while your at it.

I've just clocked up 377,000km ( I bought it with 125,000) and it's the best car I've owned. Very happy.

I too asked all these questions and put off changing the belt until 107,000k

My belt had about 3mm wear on one edge and was the original item with the old style idler, tensioner etc. The belt was otherwise clean and would have gone for another 50,00k easily i think. The bearings were OK but the seals on the idler had disintegrated and were sitting in the bottom but the grease had mostly stayed put and missed the belt. But every engine is different.

the reason i changed everything was to upgrade according to the service bulletins and as the older style parts are not available.

I bought the smaller timing upgrade kit without the front cover. i also replaced the crank shaft oil seal and the front cover dust seal.
The instructions were simple enough to follow although i did have to make up a few "special tools" to complete the job. I did it over 5 days on and off but next time i think i could do it in 5 hours. I fould missing bolts and had plenty of trouble with the crank bolt, hence the special tools.

Glad i did it as can forget about it now.

i replaced the serpentine idler and both front belts as well.

Check out the difflock site
http://www.difflock.com/servicing/30...lt/index.shtml

And do a search of this forum for more info.

I am sure there are people on here who can recomment people to do it for you or offer assistance / lend special tools.

james

a lot of people get by without a crank holding pulley and flywheel/timing slot pin, although I reckon the crank holder makes the job so much easier.
I was silly and made one, if I'd looked in my Maxi Drive catalogue I would have noticed Mal makes them cheaper than I can.......
Timing slot pin was easy to make. IIRC it was a 1/4"x1/8" brass BSPT reducing bush, re-threaded to 6mm internal to take a long socket head cap screw with the end turned down (5mm ??) to snugly screw into the slot.
A 3/4" drive socket and bar is preferred for the crank bolt. A 5' length of water pipe on a breaker bar puts a tad too much torque on a 1/2" square bit of steel at the tension required...........

FWIW, I reckon the Difflock site has the best step by step instructions I've seen. Well worth downloading and printing out. http://www.difflock.com/servicing/30...lt/index.shtml

As the ther fella's have said, If it's done 150,000+ km, budget on replacing the idler, tensioner, crank seals (there are two seals, inner and outer + an 'O' ring ) and the big centre bearing in the timing case cover (yes, you can buy this as a seperate item these days, rather than the entire bloody cover), just as a precaution. Greased/sealed bearings don't last forever, although you wont have to change them every belt change.

Thats for all that info, whilst i was not going to do a scrimp and save job.
I was just curious why full kits were needed.
I understand what ralph is talking about, when i put the new recoed motor in the pajero a few years ago, was really particular swapped bits over from the old motor to the new, made sure the seals were all ok, the mob i bought it from scrimped and left original jap belts in for the balance shafts and just replaced the cam belt, that was fine for about 3.40km, the balance belt broke, then got caught under the cam belt, then ping ping, it stopped, just short of Kew. ripped the mounting bolts off for the o/head cam. A warranty job and replacement head had to fix it.That was after a NRMA tow back to menai.( In all a real PITA, )
So I am a bit cautious with cheap fixes.
In this case just more curious as there are more bits that need replacing.than what I am used to.
thanks for your input and wise recommendations.


john

Well after all my procrastinating, i have decided to go a bit further, actually to Nerang.
I have booked it into Ricks 4wd, in a couple of weeks, to have the belt and sundry items done, after having a good chat to , can't remember her name, must have been mrs rick, a very nice lady and full of help and support.
The decison was easy, the price of the full kit versus the labour , versus what i would be able to do, without fabricating any special tools and loosing knuckle skin.

Let the experts do it in less time than I would take. Reduces the risk of me stuffing something up, because i want to take a shortcut. And after all we all do sometimes.

again thanks for the tips and hints.

john

Had my CDL done at Ricks,,
good work,
nice people,