Hi Folks,
As the title says, I have the job of fixing up my step-son's purchase.
It needs a new timing belt - I saw a Youtube vid of someone changing the belt by accessing through a wheel arch, using a spanner to move the tensioner away, taking off the new belt and putting the new one on. Is it really that easy?
The car is a 2008 Dynamic 1.2 with an engine number of 44581060
Also needs brakes, exhaust and suspension, wish me luck!
First thing to say is there are a lot of people on here who know a lot about these wee F.I.R.E. engines and already you can get a flavour of that in the excellent advice being given here.
As has been said the procedure described to you - working through the wheel arch in that way - can only be a description of someone changing the auxiliary (fan) belt. You can't even get the belt covers off without dismantling the engine mount!
Having said that though, don't be discouraged. If you've done timing belts in the past then this is definitely one of the easier ones to do. In fact the bit most people have greatest difficulty with is undoing the two lower bolts which hold the mounting block to the front of the engine. The engine mount itself is easily removed with six fixings - 3 on the inner wing and 3 on the engine - all accessible from the top but the engine end of the mount is bolted to an aluminium block which is itself bolted to the front of the engine with 4 bolts and it's the 2 lower of these which are difficult to get a spanner on. If you put a block of wood under the sump and use a trolley jack (a wee DIY type does fine) to take the engine's weight when you remove the rubber mount then you can pump the engine up and down, as needed, to access these two bolts more easily. A bit of pumping up and down is needed to wriggle this block out from the side of the engine too. By the way these engines are well known for their sumps rusting out so take a careful look before taking any weight on it. A good sump will easily take the weight though so no worries if it's only lightly rusted - but do something about derusting and painting soon to save expense and hassle later.
You need to identify which version of engine you have. The older engines had both the camshaft sprocket and crankshaft sprocket keyed to their shafts so they could only be fitted in one position in relation to their shafts. These engines are easily identified because the camshaft sprocket has a timing mark indented into it's rim. Later engines, don't have this timing mark on the cam sprocket. Although their crankshaft sprockets are still keyed, they have "free floating" unkeyed sprockets with no keyway in the end of the camshaft. So, if you slacken the central securing bolt (which is VERY tight) the sprocket will be free to spin on the camshaft nose and all timing will be lost and you won't be able to do anything about it without a kit of timing tools. (don't panic, they are very affordable on the likes of ebay - Dave McT found one above) My 2010 1.2 Panda Dynamic Eco is like this. Sometime around 2011 the 60hp engine was replaced by the virtually identical 69hp engine which also had a keyless sprocket but the sprocket is also a VVT design and looks very different to the non VVT jobbie in your or my engine. At 2008 I'd take a bet you've probably got the same setup as mine, which is a non VVT but unkeyed sprocket.
I can strongly recommend the Haynes manual for this vehicle, they've actually made quite a good job of it. Not so much about the electronics/management systems though but there are many on here who do know a lot! If you are going to get deeply into it there's really only one thing to say -
Multiecuscan! But more on that another day perhaps.
The "Bible" on doing these belts was written by Andy Monty and covers about all you could want to know about doing a belt on one of these:
https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto-guides/237966-1-2-8v-evo-2-engine-cam-belt-replacement.html To a much lesser extent I did a bit of a write up when I did one on our Panda which might be of interest:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/459903-beckys-timing-belt-ongoing-saga.html?459903=#post4338582 There's also "stuff" on my boy's 1.4 8valve when I did it, but I can't quite remember where I posted it! - basically the same engine but with the VVT sprocket.
when buying your new belt I would very strongly recommend buying an "all in one kit" which includes the water pump, tensioner and belt. Unless you can be really sure the pump has been very recently changed. It would be such a pfaff to have to strip it all down again in perhaps a year's time because the pump had started leaking! By the way these engines were non interference until they put the VVT pulleys on them and made them into 69hp engines so your's is - almost certainly (but I'm not accepting liability for accuracy because I'm a coward) a non interference engine so the pistons don't get "friendly" with the valves if the belt breaks/jumps a lot of teeth. This isn't a lot of consolation though if it lets go in the outside lane at 70mph on a crowded motorway so I'm not advising neglecting belt changes (which I think are at around 5 years/50,000 miles?) I start to think about doing ours when they go over the 4 years as we don't do the mileage. There are lots of bargains on belt kits on line but I find my local trade factor does me very good prices - maybe a fiver more - but it's so convenient. I always do a new aux belt at the same time as the cost is minimal.
While you are "in about it" take a very careful look at the metal water pipe that runs along the front of the block behind the inlet manifold. They are known to suffer highly localized corrosion so can look very good except for maybe one little spot where it's rusting through. also check where it goes into the back of the water pump where it's sealed with just a big "O" ring which hardens with age and then gently seeps coolant.
Hope that's useful? I've probably forgotten something but i think it's time I shut up now and let others contribute or maybe comment on my post?
By the way, to all you other FF enthusiasts, did you see the feature Car Mechanics Mag did on changing the belt on a Ford Ca 2 with it's Fiat FIRE derived engine? (just like the engine in our cars) I love that magazine and have learned shed loads of "stuff" over the years from reading it but oh my word they really made a "meal" out of the job and had to spread their feature over two issues! I'm sure it would make an amusing read for most of you - Issues April and May for those interested.
