General Cam belt snapped on my 1.1 Uno FIRE.

[Paul Elwell]

Hi all,

Just stripped the cambelt of my Uno. The tensioner has broken and took the cambelt with it.
Whats the chances of me getting away with sticking a new belt on ?
Are these 'safe' engines in that respect ?

Also, how much should a tensioner set me back ?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[John H]

If it really is the "FIRE" engine ( exhaust down the front of the engine - nearest the radiator ).
A MK2 (1989/1990 on) should be OK.

Don't know the cost of the tensioner, sorry.

HTH

John H

 

[Paul Elwell]

Thanks for the info.
Just picked the car up, it is the 999cc engine model, not the 1.1
Yes, the manifold is near the rad. The log book states the engine is the FIRE one.

Should I still be ok ?

The cam does turn but only by about 40 degrees. To I need to set the crank to TDC first ?

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Paul Elwell]

p.s It is a H reg, face lift model.

Paul

 

[John H]

The 999 engine is the same as the Pandas I look after

If you search on this forum you'll find others who have broken belts before without grief (Steve Yensen for one, off the top of my head).
Most recent, I think is this thread:

https://www.fiatforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2184&SearchTerms=cam,belt

Which goes on to relate lining marks up for the timing (the only ones I've changed were as service items, so there was no issue with the timing, beyond being TDC on cylinder #1 at the start and finish).

If you're still uncomfortable try reposting in "General chat - FIAT related", as there are others here with more/different knowledge and experience.

Regards


John H

 

[Paul Elwell]

Thanks for the info, off out to start it in a bit.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[John H]

A couple of things have been nagging me about your earlier post:

I don't understand why the tensioner has broken.

Also, the camshaft should be able to turn full circle regardless of crank position (will be considerable effort needed to depress the valve springs, but it should turn) - if you had to move the crank it wouldn't be "safe".

I wonder if something nasty has happened?

Hope my concerns are unjustified.

 

[burns_2k]

My cam belt went the other day (saturday). As long as there is no horrible crashing of valves on pistons noise then you should be OK. I put a new one back on fine, just make sure the timing marks are lined up.

 

[Peetie]

You should be able to turn camshaft 360, have you removed spark plugs first? I somthing has contacted in a cylinder chances are the plugs will be damaged or have debris on them also shine a light in the plug holes with pistons at tdc and debris will show.
When resetting timing make sure you dont set camshaft 180 degrees out.

 

[Enzo]

It's better to replace the belt and the tensioner bearing...if it locks, the belt scrapes on it and then it snapsB)!!By the way you can hear a peculiar noise coming from the belt's side of the engine, and when it occurs it's better to check inside the plastic cover!

P.S. replacing interval for timing belt is approx. 100'000km or 60'000miles...less if you often enjoy the high revs!!

 

[Morty Mort]

SKF makes good bearings (tensioner). Just got one for our Ritmo Abarth. Cheap as well.

Morten.

Today: Abarth alloys. Inter Alloy lowering. Phoenix Gold & Kenwood stereo.

Projects: Abarth steering wheel, K&N induction kit, racing seats, exhaust, door refurnishing, window tinting.