General Timing belt replacement expected cost? Ducato 2019 2.3 multijet

[RS3100]

Yep, took off the engine mounting and lowered it, definitely easier than struggling further. Mine has aircon, just removed the fixing bolts and supported the weight of the pump with a bungy. To be fair, the job isn't that hard if you don't mind diving under the vehicle with a few tools.

Fiat changed their instructions a few years ago, for models with air conditioning. It's not necessary to lower the engine. Just remove the aircon compressor from its mounting, and lever against the mounting to move the engine towards the nearside whilst removing the crank pulley. It's only a matter of a couple of millimetres clearance required to be able to slide the pulley out, easily absorbed by the flex of the engine mounts. I did mine that way four years ago and will be doing it again next summer.

 

[Reg 65]

Sorry I forgot to ask - but I'll be facing this job myself soon and won't change the water pump unless its obviously amiss.
You say It's not necessary to remove the header tank.
So do you think you could do it without draining the radiator?

 

[Reg 65]

Fiat changed their instructions a few years ago, for models with air conditioning. It's not necessary to lower the engine. Just remove the aircon compressor from its mounting, and lever against the mounting to move the engine towards the nearside whilst removing the crank pulley. It's only a matter of a couple of millimetres clearance required to be able to slide the pulley out, easily absorbed by the flex of the engine mounts. I did mine that way four years ago and will be doing it again next summer.

Did you have an assistant to lever the engine aside whilst you removed/replaced the pulley, or did you manage to do both?

 

[RS3100]

Did you have an assistant to lever the engine aside whilst you removed/replaced the pulley, or did you manage to do both?

No, just me. Undo and remove the pulley bolts first, then lever the engine across and slide the pulley off. Reverse when refitting. As I say, it's only a couple of mm that prevents the pulley coming out. I taped a sheet of plastic to the chassis rail to avoid damaging the paint with the bar when levering against it, but I'm fussy like that. I doubt a garage would be so picky Easiest to do it all from below, but saves a lot of time over removing and refitting the engine mount.

I also removed the washer reservoir last time, following the Fiat instructions, but found that wasn't necessary. Next time, I won't bother. Just removing the offside headlamp gives plenty of room to work on an X290, although the X250 may be more restricted. As with the pulley, I found it easiest to remove and replace the timing cover from below. I also replaced the tensioner pulley bolt, which I don't believe comes with the kit, so had to order that separately. That was another recommendation of Nick Fisher's ISTR.

Releasing the auxiliary belt tensioner to fit a new belt was a bit of a pain. I could have done with an extra hand, but managed eventually. Really down to clearance below. If I could have jacked the van up higher, it wouldn't have been a problem, but difficult to operate a bar with sufficient leverage in the space available if I recall.

The new stretch belt for the aircon compressor was dead easy though. I bought a gadget to help pull it on to the pulleys, but found I didn't really need it. Easy enough to do by hand.

 

[RS3100]

Just been watching the video, and if you have an X290 you can pretty much ignore the first 25 minutes or so. The expansion tank is at the back under the scuttle panel so totally out of the way and no need to touch it. Just remove the wheelarch liner, side undertray panel (plus middle one if you have one, most don't) and the headlamp (two torx bolts) and there's plenty of room to work. From that point on, the belt itself is quite straighforward. I didn't change my water pump and won't be doing so unless it shows signs of wear or leakage, again as per Nick Fisher's comments. I don't know about a Fiat pump, but I've often found that aftermarket replacements for a lot of parts don't have the same life expectancy as OEM and can fail earlier.

I liked his use of the plastic card to sort the bolts. I always do similar with any parts I remove, but use cardboard cut from packaging boxes etc. as it's easy to just push the bolts or fixings through the card as you remove them, and write on the card with a marker pen to mark everything and ensure they all go back in the same place.

 

[RS3100]

Sorry for all the posts, something else I remembered whilst watching the video. I managed to get my hands on a couple of locking tool kits, the Laser one, and another cheapy from Nielsen or a similar source. If you don't drop the engine, I found the Laser crankshaft locking pin was too long to be able to fit it, not enough clearance between the block and the chassis rail. But after unscrewing the grip knob on the end of the cheapo tool, it fitted fine. You could also remove the plastic ball from the end of the Laser tool, slide out the centre pin and cut both the centre pin and outer part of the tool down a bit at the outer end to get it to fit. Or just use a screwdriver or similar instead. The other thing I found was that the two camshaft locking pins in the cheapo set were too large to slot into the cams - I suspect they had been machined to the correct size before being chromed, so no allowance made for the chroming, but the Laser tools fitted perfectly.

 

[Communicator]

Sorry for all the posts, something else I remembered whilst watching the video. I managed to get my hands on a couple of locking tool kits, the Laser one, and another cheapy from Nielsen or a similar source. If you don't drop the engine, I found the Laser crankshaft locking pin was too long to be able to fit it, not enough clearance between the block and the chassis rail. But after unscrewing the grip knob on the end of the cheapo tool, it fitted fine. You could also remove the plastic ball from the end of the Laser tool, slide out the centre pin and cut both the centre pin and outer part of the tool down a bit at the outer end to get it to fit. Or just use a screwdriver or similar instead. The other thing I found was that the two camshaft locking pins in the cheapo set were too large to slot into the cams - I suspect they had been machined to the correct size before being chromed, so no allowance made for the chroming, but the Laser tools fitted perfectly.

Surely, no need to apologise for adding helpful information.

 

[RS3100]

Last one I think. The guy in the video refers to orienting the timing belt by the direction of the writing on it. The Fiat OEM belt, and probably the Dayco belt as they make the parts for Fiat, have two white lines marked on them across the width of the belt. You can see one of them in the video at around 49 minutes. If the belt is fitted correctly, the two line markings should line up with notches in the end of the crankshaft and the cam pulley when first fitted. When you rotate the engine after tightening the belt, they won't return to the same place, but they indicate that the belt is correctly routed and tensioned between the crank and cams when fitting it.

 

[Dave Ducato]

Releasing the auxiliary belt tensioner to fit a new belt was a bit of a pain. I could have done with an extra hand, but managed eventually. Really down to clearance below. If I could have jacked the van up higher, it wouldn't have been a problem, but difficult to operate a bar with sufficient leverage in the space available if I recall.

I have a huge 15mm spanner (I bought it for another job years ago) that works a treat, or you can use 2 spanners like the chap in the video did.

 

[Dave Ducato]

Sorry I forgot to ask - but I'll be facing this job myself soon and won't change the water pump unless its obviously amiss.
You say It's not necessary to remove the header tank.
So do you think you could do it without draining the radiator?

If yours is a similar model to mine (2019) you definitely don't need to touch the header tank or drain the rad if you're only changing the belt. I didn't do either.

 

[RS3100]

I have a huge 15mm spanner (I bought it for another job years ago) that works a treat, or you can use 2 spanners like the chap in the video did.

Yes, it was fitting the new belt that was the problem. I found that I needed two hands to route it around the pulleys, and difficult to provide enough leverage on the bar I was using at the same time. Probably a lot easier with the van on a lift, but on jacks on the drive space was a bit restricted.

 

[Reg 65]

Thanks to all for the useful info. My Ducato (with air-con) was Registered May 2021 but manufactured Dec 2020 so I guess the belt would have been fitted a bit before then. So not sure which date to go by.

 

[RS3100]

Thanks to all for the useful info. My Ducato (with air-con) was Registered May 2021 but manufactured Dec 2020 so I guess the belt would have been fitted a bit before then. So not sure which date to go by.

If replacing by age rather then mileage, I'd go by the date of manufacture. Sitting around can age the belt just as much as use, which is why Fiat specify an age replacement interval. Better to be early than late also!

 

[Reg 65]

Sorry, Forgot to ask - Do you have to remove the Alternator belt?
and did you replace it?

 

[Dave Ducato]

Sorry, Forgot to ask - Do you have to remove the Alternator belt?
and did you replace it?

You have to remove the alternator belt (it also drives the steering pump), there isn't a choice. It's in front of the timing belt cover and you need to remove the idler wheel or the timing cover won't come off. It is not so hard, just fiddly. Observe the route the belt takes through the pulleys before removing it, it's easy to put it on wrongly if so the belt is still too slack once the tensioner pressure is restored, this is an error I made and it took a while to work out where I had it wrong.

I didn't change the alternator belt at the same time as the timing belt, but I did check it and saw I have a small nick in the side and have ordered a replacement. To fit it will just need lifting the van onto axle stands and removing the plastic tray under the van, slip off the aircon belt, then change over the alternator belts. The picture looks worse than it is, the cords aren't damaged, it'll last a week or 2 until I replace it.

 

[Reg 65]

Thanks Dave - hardly anyone mentions the alternator belt. Ducato's are so power hungry I don't suppose you could drive far without that - but might be able to do without power steering (and air-con)?
I got these little plastic things off ebay a few years ago which helps to slip a stretchy belt on and off, some say you can do it with a screwdriver but I would be worried about stressing the belt or pulley.

 

[Dave Ducato]

I didn't use any tool to ease off the aircon belt, you can push it off by hand whilst turning the engine with a bar on the crankshaft nut. The belt is stretchy enough to allow it to come off (and refit) without damage. It said Stretch or Stretchy on the belt, there is no adjustment of pulley centres or an idler on the aircon belt.

 

[RS3100]

As Dave says, I have a stretch belt tool as well, but found I didn't need it as it was easy to get the aircon belt over the pulleys by hand. Fiat recommend replacing the auxiliary and aircon belts at the same time as the timing belt, as they have to be removed anyway. I've heard of a few instances of the auxiliary belt breaking and wrapping itself around the crank pulley causing the timing belt to jump as well.

 

[NeilDD]

Point to note.
The original Fiat spec was for a 900mm multi v belt for the aircon. This has been changed for a 903mm belt due to problems with aircon compressors failing.