I bought my car in August 2013 at which point it had 22,000 on the clock. I had the garage replace the cam belt. Now the car first registered August 2008 has done 50,000 miles. The car is now 9 years old but the mileage from cam belt renewal is only 28,000 miles. The service is due September should I have the cam belt replaced then. Thanks.
Technical cam belt renewal Fiat Panda
- Thread starter Lizzie70
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Technical cam belt renewal Fiat Panda
Hello and welcome to the forum.
Assuming it's a 1.1/1.2, it won't damage the engine if it breaks (pre-2011 only; the later 69HP VVT variants have an interference engine); you'll be stranded at the side of the road and need recovery to a garage, but that's all. A new belt and you'll be good to go.
When to replace it is a bit like asking the question "do I feel lucky". There have been so many different and conflicting recommendations from Fiat over the years that you'll probably get as many different opinions on this as there are people.
Personally, on the mileage you're doing, I'd say not yet. I'd leave it six years and do it in 2019, if you still have the car then.
The 100HP is a different beast; a more highly stressed engine that'll destroy itself if the belt breaks; on that car, I'd recommend 4yrs/48k at most.
Belt failure is almost never reported on this forum. Chain failure on the diesels is a different story, however.
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I would just change it, its a few hours with a wrench and the cost is equal to two tanks of fuel including waterpump if you do it yourself... I just hate stranding, and last time I had a timingchain snap (not panda) i got stuck at a dangerous piece of motorway right after a long stretch with no shoulder to pull off to-we are talking 10 meters after...
The economics are different if you're doing it yourself. Most of the cost is labour.
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This is exactly why I bought a wrench.. Im too cheap to pay someone else.
Part of the 3 year or 36000 miles service is to
Remove the belt covers
Inspect the belt for uneven wear, splitting or oil contamination
And check for coolant of oil leakage
Remove the belt covers
Inspect the belt for uneven wear, splitting or oil contamination
And check for coolant of oil leakage
Hi there mate I'm doing the cambelt over the summer but just wondering if there's anything about the job that makes it a bit "cheeky"? If you get my drift, any special tools that you ordered in etc and were necessary? I noticed on the Haynes manual they made some sort of holding device?
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last time I did it, I just marked the spots with some paint I had.. I needed some 90 degree angled pliers with pointy end-bits for tightening the waterpump, I think what I used was a circlip tightener, but I'm unsure of the actual funktion
- and instead of some special tool to lift the motor while you have the motormount off, just put your floorjack underneath with a block of wood or similar.. that worked for me anyway - just make sure you dont miss a tooth on the belt (paint).Similar threads
