General 54 plate 1.9 jtd belt and waterpump change

Currently reading:
General 54 plate 1.9 jtd belt and waterpump change

ad777

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
62
Points
70
Location
Perth
Hi all again, as above...I am at 80,000 with no evidence of a belt and waterpump change. Is this relatively straightforward?! And was also going to check the egr valve..are they prone to getting gunged up on these cars? As always, advice appreciated.
 
Relatively.

You should ideally get a cam-locking toolkit.. but the previous "mechanic" on mine managed to only break a couple of parts without wrecking the engine, so I'm not going to argue with anyone who mentions Tippex or belt marks etc.

You need to remove the wheel-arch liner, the aux belt and the crank pulley, then just turn the engine until you get the crank into a position where the locking tool fits. There's a line on the crank pulley boss but it doesn't line up with any marks or notches on the case.. it points to about 10 o'clock from memory.

The aux belt tensioner is a beast. Get the longest 15mm ring spanner you can find (a 1/2" socket won't fit into the clearance.. but a 3/8" might). You need a lot of leverage to hold the tensioner "slack" while you remove the belt.

The rest is just fiddly. The cam-belt cover is held on with socket head screws, so get a 1/4" ratchet with the Allen key sockets ideally, although I did mine with a manual Allen key and then swapped the bolts for hex head... but I don't have/need Allen sockets and I didn't want to buy any. Ideally suck the coolant out of the header tank with a syringe or pump (don't eat any.. it's nasty stuff).. and take the header tank off/out of the way. If you feel like it, remove the engine mount on this side after supporting the sump. I've never removed the mount.. but it looks like it provides more space, if you have big hands.

The belt comes off by removing the tensioner. The tensioner comes off by removing a bolt. The pulleys come off by removing a bolt. You need a new tensioner (in the kit, hopefully) and replace all the pulleys too.

To remove the pump you need to remove the camshaft pulley. There's a slotted tool in the cam-lock toolkit with a big tooth on it that you can place under a nearby M10 bolt to lock the pulley while you undo the bolt. You also need to remove the TDC sensor... but you'll see that. It has a couple of countersunk torxses...

The pulley lines up using a woodruff key on a slot in the camshaft, so you can't miss... but don't tighten the pulley up by locking the cam or pulley with some Neanderthal method. Tightening the bolt can shear the key and make the pulley "slack" on the camshaft so your cam timing will be out. If the key is intact, the white notch on the pulley will line up "more or less" with the arrox on the engine case behind it. Take a photo before you remove the pulley, so if it doesn't line up exactly, you'll be able to see that it never did..

The pump is a PITA in that the O-ring is absolutely skinny and the edge of the housing is machined, so it's easy to cut the o-ring if you're too casual. Make yourself some space and ease it in "straight" to preserve the o-ring. One of the pump bolts screws into an open coolant channel, so will leak if you don't put silicone sealant on the bolt shank. I usually put some silicone around the O-ring too. You probably don't need to but one time I didn't seal the bolt shank properly so I had to do the job again.. although it's amazing how much quicker things are second time round in a few days...

The rest is just a case of getting the tensioner the right level of tighty. I have managed to do it once, when it all went like the manual says... otherwise it'll take a few goes to lever the little arm out to get the pointer onto the hole. The lever tends to move towards being "slack" marginally after you have rotated the engine a couple of times, so adjust it on slightly tight rather than slightly loose... but rotate the engine by hand a couple or three full revolutions and check it to make sure the pointer has settled pointing at the hole. Don't leave it too tight, or too loose.

Usually once I'm happy this far I refit the header tank and start the engine up to run it for a few seconds (neutral gear or it'll run off the ramp.. and you will get a load of alternator errors... since there's no aux belt fitted yet) just as a final check replacing all the covers and the aux belt... Replacing the covers takes the same amount of time as removing all the belts and pulleys and water pump. Tensioning the belt takes me several goes as there's nowhere decent to lever the adjuster against... if you find a neat way of doing it, let me know... :D

Top up the coolant.. then look under there for leaks after a few days, in case your pump/bolt is leaking. Leaking coolant can seize up your tensioner, which is ideally placed to collect it, so even if it;s a small drip.. you need to sort it.

Ralf S.
 
Thanks Ralf...I couldn't have asked for a more consise how to! Appreciated. Have you ever been iintoor had any issues with the egr valve? I have a very lumpy tickover, moreover when it first starts. It may be a slightly dodgy injector, but thought I might investigate the condition of the egr before taking it further. Thanks again! Adam
 
Timing kit is pretty much essential. Jst be sure you get (buy or hire) the correct one for your EXACT engine model number.

I did the cambelt and water pump on my Croma 1.9MJet (over 10 years ago) so full recollection is a little misty. On the MJet to time the camshafts eac one has a bolt behind the pulleys which your remove a screw in timing sprung loaded timing pins that pop into recess holes in the cam shaft. Not sure in the 1.9JTD is the same?(over to @Ralf S. ).

Once you get the covers etc. out of the way then it is a good idea to hand crank the engine over looking to see if there are any obvious belt timing marks. Some belts have a couple of white lines across them that align (after several rotions) with markings/positions on the engine. If you have used a timing kit then these line positions are not crucial but if the belt from the factory was fitted with these lines also coinciding with other markings/positions then it is nice (but not necessary) to get everyting lined up the same again. The chances are though that whoever changed the belt the last time did not do this but you may want to take that little extra effort to put it back as Fiat originally built it.

Also, even with a timing kit I tend to tipex/paint highlite any visible timing marks/pointers and the old belt. If after the job is done then it is easier to visually check the nothing moved (eg you bent a woodruf key) etc. Again not essential but it does give you that warm fuzzy feeling that all is OK. :)
 
Wonderful. 2 great replies, thank you. Am going to take my time and make sure I have all the correct stuff before starting! But a lot more confident now. Greatly appreciated! Adam.
 
Thanks Ralf...I couldn't have asked for a more consise how to! Appreciated. Have you ever been iintoor had any issues with the egr valve? I have a very lumpy tickover, moreover when it first starts. It may be a slightly dodgy injector, but thought I might investigate the condition of the egr before taking it further. Thanks again! Adam
My EGR was full of coke to the extent that the valve jammed/couldn't move freely.. so it threw up an error light.

The EGR is behind the head.. but it has a flared heat exchanger type device (?) and a corrugated pipe feeding it from the exhaust manifold. That whole section gets soot in it.. but if yours is like mine, the clamp where the engine end of the pipework attaches to the manifold will be rusted and difficult to access.. so spray it up with penetrating oil... if you can get a spanner or socket on it, and it feels like it's going to come off, then undo it.

You'll have to remove the plastic air inlet pipe from the intercooler to get everything out.. but there's still a fair bit of pipework, cables and plumbing down there... so it's easy but not simple. I think there's one other bolt holding the pipe to the block.. but otherwise it's just supported at each manifold end.

If you can undo the exhaust-end clamp and remove the whole section from the exhaust to the EGR then that will allow better cleaning access... but on mine the exhaust-end bolts looked moody and I didn't want extra drama if one sheared, so I only unclamped the EGR pipe at the corrugated pipe joint down at the back of the engine, and then and at the EGR itself.

The EGR pipe clamps are like a hose-clamp with a triangular ridge down the middle, that fits over the flared ends of the two pipes it's joining. There's a gasket in each joint too, so watch out for those falling out. It's easier to remove/refit the joint under the thermostat if you loosen both EGR clamps, so the corrugated pipe can rotate.. it makes lining up the EGR and the bottom connection much easier than if one of the pipe is rigidly bolted. It's out of sight and difficult to access.. so you will probably swear a lot, after the clamp is one but the gasket has fallen out, or the other way round, for the 20th time.. .😵

The EGR itself is bolted to the inlet manifold and is relatively simple to remove. I vaguely remember one bolt is too long to remove without fouling on something (the fuel filter or bulkhead etc.) but with some jiggling, you can just about do it.

Cleaning the EGR is just a case of wiping, spraying, scraping the soot off and working the valve backwards and forwards by hand to make sure it's "free".

To preserve mine, I blanked the top pipe (you can get oval shaped blanking plates on fleabay) using a solid oval plate. There are some with holes in them to induce swirl and reduce fouling (I think there was a factory recall/part like this on the MJets?) but I didn't want to experiment and do it all again, so I just blanked the pipe where it joins the EGR..

I think I also blanked the pipe from the EGR into the inlet manifold, to prevent gas/oil going back into the EGR from the inlet manifold. Your inlet manifold will be nasty (indirect injection) so you'll see why. Allow some time for de-coking the manifold.. but it's tricky as you don't want to dislodge carbon and have it fall into the cylinders, in case it jams a valve open. I used some spray cleaner.. but it hardly touched it. It's probably a job for if ever the manifold has to come off..

Back on topic... On mine, I would have preferred to put a blank on the EGR pipe down by the exhaust manifold to stop that pipe filling with coal.. but I didn't want to try unbolting that end.. so I only blanked it at the EGR end. My EGR is sealed at both ends so should be immaculate.. and it's never givem me any trouble since.

Don't remove the EGR altogether, if you decide to blank it off.. since the car will notice that the plug isn't connected/EGR isn't responding.. just leave it there isolated behind the blanking plates; without any gas/soot bothering it, it'll last forever. My EGR is the OE one, with 210,000 miles now... so it's not a weedy part in itself.

The blanks affect how much NOx the car produces but the car drives better without half the intake air being re-cycled exhaust gas, so the benefit is more BHP and more MPGs, theoretically.. If you're Green and live in the City then NOx is a bad thing.. but my beast was usually out in the sticks and motorways, so hopefully the slight extra bit of NOx didn't kill anybody.. 🧐 The blanks don't affect CO2 and the car has been fine for emissions.. it's more smokey than anything else (a new turbo actuator boost valve sorts it- the OE Pierburg ones tend to last about 100k).


Ralf S.
 
I did the cambelt and water pump on my Croma 1.9MJet (over 10 years ago) so full recollection is a little misty. On the MJet to time the camshafts eac one has a bolt behind the pulleys which your remove a screw in timing sprung loaded timing pins that pop into recess holes in the cam shaft. Not sure in the 1.9JTD is the same?(over to Ralf S. )

JTD is a SOHC so while there are two pulleys in there, the rear one only drives the fuel pump. You don't need to lock it, or remove it.. and it'll spin round freely without the belt on it.. but when you fit the new belt you just feed it over the pulley. There's nothing to line up or worry about.

The camshaft pulley is located with a woodruff key moulded onto the back of the pulley that fits precisely into a slot on the camshaft. There's a single M10 (may be M12?) bolt that holds it onto the camshaft. If the pulley isn't locked properly when you tighten the bolt, the pulley is rotated by the tightening action and that can crack the key on the back. The camshaft then won't automatically locate accurately and can suffer from "slop" when you fit it so your timing can become half a tooth out.

On mine, someone had broken the key off.. because the notch on the pulley didn't line up perfectly with a moulded arrow on a shield attached to the head (I think it's a piece of plastic, so obviously liable to warp/flex). I think they put the pulley on the camshaft to perfectly line up the marks and then tightened it down, even though the key could not have been in the camshaft slot... so that chipped the edge off the key.

I learned to just fit the camshaft with the marks slightly "out" since the engine ran fine and you could feel that the key was more located than if you rotated the pulley a bit more towards the marks.. I also tried lining it up with the marks precisely aligned and it was lumpy. I got a new pulley in the end, since I didn't like the play and "guesswork" caused by the damaged key... and that also lined up slightly "off".. so I just got used to it.

Anyhow, take a photo of the mark and the notch, so you can be sure yours is normal, if it goes on apparently slightly out. It may be "slightly out" normally..


Ralf S.
 
Again great information Ralf, on both subjects..thank you. Did you notice any difference in how your car was ticking over with the coked up egr valve? I am not familiar with these engines at all, so it may be normal, when I first start up there is a lot of chugging and vibration...when it warms up its a bit better, but still quite loud and shaky. It was suggested before that it might be the engine mounts, but they all seem ok. Once it's going it seems to drive fine, apart from maybe feeling slightly hesitant when cruising at low revs. Hence asking about the egr. Any other thoughts and suggestions greatly appreciated! Am already fond of the car, and if I could get a quite and less bone shaking tickover I would be delighted!
 
If your EGR is working fine with no errors, then it must be moving open-closed okay.. otherwise you would likely get an error...

When my EGR was sticking/before I cleaned it and blanked it, I only noticed that the car was slightly lethargic. More accurately, I noticed it was more nippy and ran more like it should after I cleaned the valve/blanked it off.. It wasn't ever lumpy, but it's performance just wasn't as sharp.

If/when you remove the plastic trunk from the intercooler/to the Throttle Body, it's worth having a peep into the inlet manifold. My previous owner had run the car with the oil level at/or slightly above MAX and the car had vented a lot of oil into the inlet manifold. My MAP sensor (on the back of the inlet manifold) was similarly full of oil/coal sludge.. so I replaced it at the same time as I was tinkering with the EGR, just so I knew they were both new/clean and ought to work properly.

Your MAP sensor might be similarly choked, so it's worth a look, since without a lambda sensor, or anything too sophisticated in there, a weedy/clogged MAP sensor might affect the fuelling at idle. If you remove it and just spray it with WD40 or Contact cleaner, see whether that changes the lumpy idle. If it helps, but not completely, then a new MAP might be a good investment. If cleaning the old one makes no difference at all, then a new one could still be a good investment but it's more of a punt.

I would also stick some kerosene in the tank to help keep the internals clean, including the injectors. About 250ml of Wickes/B&Q "Turpentine Substitute" will do the job, per full tank of diesel. Not White Spirit or Brush Cleaner etc.. but the beast will burn those too.. just more smokey. If you have gum, varnish or clogging.. it'll help shift it. I've also used Cataclean for diesels.. which seems to be mostly Propanol, and 2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (2-EHN) which is a cetane improver (50ml per tank of that one) .. and it all helps ignition and the removal of black goo. I'm always "impressed" how black the oil turns and how quickly. Diesels are nasty, really.. :D

The airbox and the catch tank also need to be clean. You have to remove the "octopus" pipe from the MAF sensor to the crankcase breather.. and the metal intercooler pipe... replace the air filter (you can't open the lid much more than the bare minimum to take the air filter) and clean out all the oil that you'll find in there. Mine had pools of it (from having been overfilled most likely, as it's never been as bad since I started only filling it to 80% of MAX).

Also check ALL these pipes for leaks. There's a dozen different pipes and connections... particularly the short stubby one connecting the turbo to the metal pipe to the intercooler. Mine was an OE silicone job, but was perishing and leaking "oily vapour" all over the front of the engine.. A leak here would be bad for your idle, since it's un-metered air the ECU doesn't know about. Your lumpy idle is hopefully just an air leak.


Ralf S.
 
Thanks again Ralf, you are a font of knowledge!! I stuck a tub of Wynns injector cleaner un...never heard of the turps! I will give it a go.

Map sensor..is this OK?




Or do I need an oem part? Am just heading to a friend's who has a ramp, going to do oil air and fuel filter. Will see if can access any of the pipes when underneath. Would you happen to know what gauge the pipes are?! I would probably just replace them all for peace of mind.

Thanks again for all your suggestions, they are extremely helpful. Cheers Adam
 
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Can I ask some more advice please. Just back from my friends, he's a good mechanic, as soon as he heard it ticking over he said it was only running on 3 cylinders. He disconnected each injector, cut out on 3, barely made any difference disconnecting the 4th!

He then tested the electric feeds to the injectors, which all seemed to be uniform.
So the upshot seems to be a dodgy injector. I don't understand how it runs so well when driving! Could the map sensor cause this...it seems to be 3 cylinders on tickover, but kicks in when accelerating..can a dodgy injector do this?
He is happy to change it, but has told me it is ot always easy getting them out. It would be very depressing if it snapped in the process!
Any thoughts and advice appreciated. Adam
 
Thanks again Ralf, you are a font of knowledge!! I stuck a tub of Wynns injector cleaner un...never heard of the turps! I will give it a go.

Map sensor..is this OK?




Or do I need an oem part? Am just heading to a friend's who has a ramp, going to do oil air and fuel filter. Will see if can access any of the pipes when underneath. Would you happen to know what gauge the pipes are?! I would probably just replace them all for peace of mind.

Thanks again for all your suggestions, they are extremely helpful. Cheers Adam

The "Turpentine Substitute" is kerosene, which is 80% of what injector cleaners are. You can buy 5 litres for the price of a couple of bottles of the proprietary stuff, so it's more economical, and you can use it more often.

That MAP sensor looks like the one I replaced on mine, but obviously check that the part number matches your car.. but that's "the part in question".
The OE part is made by Bosch, so a Bosch one in a Bosch box is okay. Buying it in the Fiat box makes it more expensive.

I would take yours off and clean it up first - it may be not too clogged up with gum... but once you've had a peer into your inlet manifold that might give you an idea of how nasty it is and whether the MAP could do with being changed. 80k miles, if your inlet manifold is reasonably clean, isn't toooo bad.


Ralf S.
 
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Can I ask some more advice please. Just back from my friends, he's a good mechanic, as soon as he heard it ticking over he said it was only running on 3 cylinders. He disconnected each injector, cut out on 3, barely made any difference disconnecting the 4th!

He then tested the electric feeds to the injectors, which all seemed to be uniform.
So the upshot seems to be a dodgy injector. I don't understand how it runs so well when driving! Could the map sensor cause this...it seems to be 3 cylinders on tickover, but kicks in when accelerating..can a dodgy injector do this?
He is happy to change it, but has told me it is ot always easy getting them out. It would be very depressing if it snapped in the process!
Any thoughts and advice appreciated. Adam

It could be the injector is "lazy", rather than it's not doing anything at all... More likely it's either mechanically worn, and not delivering the full volume of fuel, or it's clogged a little and so the spray isn't being atomised and is coming out like a stream, which just doesn't burn so well as a "mist".

I never tried removing the JTD injectors but I don't think they're tooo tricky. Injectors tend to be held in place by the fuel rail bolted down on top of them.. so they're essentially a press fit, once the fuel rail has been removed.. but I can't remember the JTD setup precisely. Glowplugs are more famous for snapping off, since they're screwed in, and into the combustion chamber at that.. so that's maybe what your mechanic is thinking of.

You should be able to pick up a second-hand injector reasonably cheaply. The chances of getting a duff one is quite small (as my old matey mechanic used to say, it must have been working okay if they drove it to the scrap yard). Then run some injector cleaning brew through it after you've fitted it.. since you won't know where it's been..

Ralf S.
 
Thanks once again Ralf..I have just bitten the bullet and bought a new one. I got the car at a good price so can justify it! if I send the old one back I get a chunk refunded, so it's not toooo bad. Should be here end of the week and fitted the following one, so will keep you posted. I think lazy is a perfect description..when it gets to 2000 revs and above it runs sweet!
Once again, thanks. Cheers, Adam
 
I did wonder about that...mine are 2, but I forgot to ask the company I bought it from what theirs was. Is multiECUScan a fiat system, or would an indie be able to do it?!
 
I know this is a long shot but is there anyone in Scotland with a multiECUScan that might be able to help if need be?! Be hugely appreciated.
 
Back
Top