hello,

i'm a recovering skoda owner who just got a 2000 1.2 punto. lovely!

my punto has 18600 miles on the clock, comes from a good home, and seems generally in good health. but i am wondering about the need for a cam belt change. i think i read somewhere that it's recommended at 5 years or ~70k miles and mine hasn't had a new one yet. however, searching this forum returns something crazy about a safe engine whereby a snapped cam belt doesn't necessarily total your engine. what is this witchcraft? can it be so? would you recommend a change to be on the safe side?

i am looking out for problems with power steering, but no signs yet (and avoiding the city button like the plague, as power steering is new to me anyway)...

thanks in advance for any advice!
lottie.

Welcome.

If yours is a 1.2 8V then it is a non-interferance engine. There will be no damage if the belt breaks. After 7 years I'd be inclined to change the belt anyway just for the sake of reliability.

i go with 40k 4 years for the 16v and 50k 5 years for the 8v

thanks for the help!
(sorry to be dense but how do i know if it's 8 or 16v? i've looked at the paperwork but can't see. does the 16v have an interference engine?).

8 valve has a rubber bung for an oil filer 16 has a round yellow one made of plastic also the 8 valve has the spark plugs at the back of the engine


fiat say 72000 for the 8valve i think
but in Italy and many other contries fiat don't change them at all I don't bother changing mine in my 8valve f.i.r.e engined cars should never snap and should see it past 100000 miles easily along as they haven't been contaminated with oil or over tensioned my dad has been working for fiat for 30 years and has never seen one come off other than the aforementioned circumstances

all thou I do keep one at work in my tool box

but if your after reliability you can change it it's the easiest cam belt in the world to change in my opinion and not expensive

how ether if you have a 16v best change it when the service shedual says

also 8v is safe
16v is interference

thank you, that's really helpful!