My 1.4L 16v Grand Punto Sport (I think it’s called “Sporting” in the U.K.) 70kw (engine code 199A6000) is due for a cam-belt change. I don’t trust my local mechanic (I live in Italy) to do the job properly because I’m pretty sure they simply mark the old belt and put the new one on the same way.

I’m an experienced home mechanic and I’ve performed plenty of cam belt changes on other engines, including my rather sophisticated Desmo Ducati. I’m not worried about doing it correctly; however, I’m put off by the high price of the special tools. They look nice and I can see the advantage of using them, but I hate to nearly triple the cost of the job by purchasing tools which I’m likely to use only once. I also don’t particularly like paying the high cost of having someone else do the job, especially if I can’t trust them to do it properly.

It seems to me that I can make or improvise my own tools. Matching the exact height of the 2 adjacent cylinders seems like it would only take a pair of equal length rods and possibly some careful measuring and double checking. The driven pulley locking tool is certainly nothing I can’t make with a piece of steel bar, a drill, an angle grinder, and 10 minutes time. The tensioner tool looks almost like my circlip pliers or my bent needle nose pliers. And finally, the cam-locking pin looks like something I can make out of a piece of rod or perhaps improvise with a socket drive extension.

So, assuming I follow the correct procedure outlined in the maintenance manual, where am I going wrong? Has anyone done this job properly with the correct tools and then realized that the tools, as nice as they are, simply aren’t required for the one-time user, especially considering the price? Comments?

Id agree. However, my local mechanic did mine including replacing both cam and crankshaft oil seals for £145.

keat63 said:

Id agree. However, my local mechanic did mine including replacing both cam and crankshaft oil seals for £145.

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Best price I've gotten is 380€ without a water pump or a new tensioner, both of which I intend to replace, so I'm guessing the price would be closer to 480€.

When I ask about the special cam belt tools, they just give me a vague look or they say something like ......... "um .......... well, the special tools aren't here right now but Paolo will bring them next week when he returns from vacation".

Unless someone can convince me that the job can't be done properly without the expensive tools, I'm going to give it try (following the correct procedure) and report back with the results.

can you rent/borrow the special tools?

IIRC you need the special VVT tool do do the 16v engines will have a look at my kit tomorrow and get some pics if they are of any use to you?

I decided to check if my existing sockets would properly fit the motor mount bolts; they do. Is it REALLY necessary to invent a new bolt head every few years?

But I discovered some suspicious oil drips near the timing end of the motor and I strongly suspect the crankshaft seal is leaking, or at least weeping. So, while I'm in the area, I might as well pull the toothed drive pulley and replace the seal. That means fabricating at least two more special tools and moves the project from "challenging" into the PITA category if I have to fabricate an entire collection of custom tools.

So, I bit the bullet and bought the correct tool kit. I guess later on I'll have to decide if I'm going to keep the car for a long time or if I want to sell the tool kit.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for their input.

Hi Mozella

We had quite a large oil leak from the same area, it turned out to be the blanking cover for the second cam shaft, which is on the left hand side of the main camshaft.
The cover is held in with 2 bolts, and you'll need to take the pulley off to get at it.
Inside this blank is a rubber O-ring.
Ours had perished and gone brittle.
If you are going to the lengths of taking the pulley off, i would advise changing this O ring at the same time.

I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm pretty sure I will be able to tell if one or the other cam seals are leaking or if it's only the crank shaft seal. I'm replacing the water pump as a precautionary measure, but I'm not sure I want to do a precautionary change of a functioning cam seal. If it's leaking, yes, but probably not if it looks dry and if it's obvious that the oil leak is confined to the crankshaft seal.

I've done transmission changes on engines with leaking main seals before and in several cases if the leak is not large enough to justify a drip pan on the garage floor and if I wasn't intending to keep the car a long time, I just elected to live with a slowly dripping seal. But this car might be a "keeper", so I'm going to correct whatever is leaking.