(T) Timing belt on stilo

Hi lads,My 03 1.2 stilo has just done 48k miles and i have been on to my local fiat garage in cork,ireland and am getting mixed answers.
One garage says its overdue,should be done@ 36k
other garage says wait till 65k as the car was always serviced there and never misused as the garage foreman knew previous owner.
What do ye think?

Also they both say not to change the water pump €81 as at 48k its good till next belt!!

I do 5k max miles per year and dont mistreat it.

Also if doing exactly what parts should be changed?

Fiat mention the timing belt kit for €75,does this have all i need?
Also how many hours would fiat take to change it?

Any advice welcomed.

Regards,
kieran

16v 40k or 4 years. better safe than sorry

oh an its a 1 hour job

it should be checked at 36000 miles for wear and if needed changing. 72k or 5 years is what Fiat reckon is the maximum interval, but in the real world its best to stay to 40000 miles or 4yrs to be safe.

If the water pump is driven by the cam belt then its always best to change it as a new water pump will mean the belt replaced anyway so its more cost effective in the long run, as well as any idler pulleys etc also.

Hi,So ye reckon i should get this done?Okay,i will get it booked in.
Fiat were charging me id say for 3 hours work,so this should be a lot less?

If i was going to a local mechanic who is very good,what parts should i order for him?

timing belt kit.
auxilkiary belt
water pump
idler

Or is this wrong?

Also should i get if possible a non fiat water pump?Would it keep costs down?

Thanks for the replies guys.

Regards,
Kieran

Might be different in Ireland but in the UK, under FiatCare main dealers have been fitting full belts kits for £150 inc (parts & labour). Use Search and you'll find stacks of info on this.

Personally, I'd change the belt after 5 years which is most likely up anyway.

Hi Argonought,
Unfortunately fiat care pricing is not done here from what i am told by different fiat garages.

Should the Timing Belt Tensioner be changed also or is it part of package.

I just need to know the full list of gear required.

Regards,
Kieran

You need to buy the full kit (not just the belt) although I'm certainly no expert on the 1.2

There tend to be a fair number of posts on here of people not getting the job done properly when the belt is changed (often becoming terminal for the engine ) so make sure you're happy with whoever is going to do the job.

i think the 1.2 is the easiest of the bunch to do a cambelt change.
Cambelt kit will have belt and tensioner so you just need water pump if you're doing it and aux belt. If you have a separate air con belt then you'd need one of those too (I think yours is all one belt)

No idler on the 1.2, just straight over the cam, around the water pump, around the crank pulley sprocket up around the tensioner and that's it. Wise to change the water pump as they tend to start leaking at 60k miles. Haven't ever had a problem with non Fiat water pump

Maybe an hour for the job and a very important 30 minutes for rotation clearance checks, stretching the belt and finally setting up the tension and double checking the timing is still correct. A lot of garages don't do that and that's where the problems happen. No way should a car come out the garage with the timing not set up right, just have to simply double check when everything's finally fitted but too many can't be bothered. Must be 6 Stilo owners on here alone that have found their timing not set up correctly after a cambelt change.

TIP your car should never run worse after a cambelt change, it might run better but never worse. Check it out when you pick it up. Bad starting, hesitation, lumpiness, engine fault light? Take it back, find the mechanic who did the job, get your old cambelt and tighten it around his neck until his ears bleed. Just no excuse for not checking your timing marks


Here's the job on an identical 1.2 Bravo engine. Water pump is lower right in picture

Thanks Deckchair5 for taking the time to put that together.
I appreciate it and now know what i must do.


Regards,

Kieran

You can check in this page the timming kit for your car,
I have a 2003 1.8 Stilo and I live in Guatemala, in the Fiat Dealer told me, than a I need to change the Camshaft Advance Variator at the same time with de timming kit, I don´t know if the 1.2 use this Variator.

No variator on the 1.2/4 or 1.6 yipeee ..is your car sounding like a tractor on start up then..if so yep its the variator and your wise to get it done the same time..