A friend of mine will help me replace the timing belt on my 2004 2.4 abarth this monday, and although he done it a couple of times on his own cars, I'm a little concerned about the risks. I thought about leaving it to a professional but they wan't £700 for it, witch is what I paid for the car - that's not happening!

I know that he uses a technique were he put a mark were the cam and crank are aligned, then just do the switch. My question is what my happend if it's a little off? I have seen threads were people experience bad performance - but can the engine take serious damage? I figure if it's a little of we just deal with it from there? (get the timing right)

From what I understand there're two techniques, and this is the none good one? I'm a little confused cos I have seen a few videos on youtube and in the secound technique they find the top dead center and lock the cam there? and then find a mark on the crank to align with? If so, then you use marks either way so why just not use it on cam too?

By the way, I don't know if it does any difference but cambelt is never changed on this car (4k miles). Also I change all components including water pump.

£700 is a lot for a cam belt on a 2.4? I had mine done by Fiat and it was around £400 with a new aux belt thrown in. However I do belive its in the realms of a home mechanic capability. The timing will have to be spot on though if it's not then it'll run rough or at worse you could damage a valve or two. Best to line it up properly before you remove the old belt that way if your careful and slip the new one on it should be in exactly the right place. If you remove all the plugs first then the crank shouldn't "rock" on compression as you take the old belt off. And if you mark the cam pulleys with a white marker then that should be enough.

The belt kit should come with a new tensioner but a fitting a new water pump and a new aux belt is well worth doing as already in the right area

Hope this helps

Where do you live? I got my 1.9 done for 300 Inc. Water pump, garage I've used for a long time never had any problems

gadge said:

Best to line it up properly before you remove the old belt that way if your careful and slip the new one on it should be in exactly the right place.

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Just to be sure, the belt (with pulleys) does not need be lined in a certain position, right? I just mark were each pulley are at the given time and goes from there? I guess my friend knows thiss but I'm a control freak.

gadge said:

The belt kit should come with a new tensioner but a fitting a new water pump and a new aux belt is well worth doing as already in the right area

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Yeah it's a complete kit plues water pump.

ale199020 said:

Where do you live? I got my 1.9 done for 300 Inc. Water pump, garage I've used for a long time never had any problems

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Sweden Problem is that I don't dare to drive out of town with it hence there're no service done on it and it's 10 year old - figure belt may snap any second.

Revolty said:

Just to be sure, the belt (with pulleys) does not need be lined in a certain position, right? I just mark were each pulley are at the given time and goes from there? I guess my friend knows thiss but I'm a control freak.

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It's always best to set it up on TDC so if it did ever move you know where to turn it back to but in theory yes it doesn't really matter where the crank position is so long as it doesn't move when you remove the belt hence why I say remove the plugs so that when you release the tension on the belt the piston doesn't move by the built up compression in the cylinders.

gadge said:

It's always best to set it up on TDC so if it did ever move you know where to turn it back to but in theory yes it doesn't really matter where the crank position is so long as it doesn't move when you remove the belt hence why I say remove the plugs so that when you release the tension on the belt the piston doesn't move by the built up compression in the cylinders.

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Aha, will do. Thanks!

My two penn'orth...

1) If you replace the belt, buy a proper FIAT kit which includes all the pulleys and tensioners. And change the auxiliary belt and alternator belt too.

2) If your DIY friend doesn't have the proper cam locking tool, my advice would be to politely decline his offer. There have been so many cases on this forum of people having issues due to wrongly set timing when belts are changed, it's just not worth the risk in my humble opinion.

Yellow Peril said:

1) If you replace the belt, buy a proper FIAT kit which includes all the pulleys and tensioners. And change the auxiliary belt and alternator belt too.

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I already ordered a kit by CONTITECH (WP, TP & Idler) plues a water pump. However, I google it and there're only positive feedbacks.

Yellow Peril said:

2) If your DIY friend doesn't have the proper cam locking tool, my advice would be to politely decline his offer. There have been so many cases on this forum of people having issues due to wrongly set timing when belts are changed, it's just not worth the risk in my humble opinion.

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He doesn't. The threads that I have seen only mentioning bad performance, and that should be fixable? Figure I just buy the proper tools if that happends. What say you?

Also I have seen different types of tools. One is a multitool, were you lock the pulleys (much like a stearingwheel lock), and the other you've to remove the valve cover and then lock from above. The first tool is really cheap (£15), but is it just as good?

Thanks for your thoughts! :worship:

Personally I'ld go for the ones that clamp on the cam lobes only because it keeps the cam pulleys free from obstruction. With the cams locked up the chances of the crank turning as you remove and refit the belt is minimal (but not impossible) so a little mark on the crank pulley and a photograph perhaps and you'll be ok

gadge said:

£700 is a lot for a cam belt on a 2.4? I had mine done by Fiat and it was around £400 with a new aux belt thrown in.

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Nordic countries prices. Not a bad price, but at the same time, not worth it...

Remove plugs, and strip down. If you don't lock the cams, they will rotate immediately the timing belt is removed - and with high torque from the vent springs.

Belt is changed and engine running well. :slayer:



Engine needed a bit of lifting, but other then some confusion regarding the tensioner there was no problem. I got a tool (only one avaiable), and it worked great, but it didn't take long until my friend throwed it away..



BUT, now I got no heat and the steering hydralic is out..? I'll chack the outer belt tomorrow, we raised that tensioner with a jack..