Hi
The procedure I adopted for replacing my timing belt was as follows:
1. Jack up the front RH side of the car and remove the O/S front wheel, inner plastic wheel arch liner and the short bracing bar behind the inner wheel arch liner.
2. Use a spanner on the ancilliary drive belt tensioner to relieve the tension from the belt so that it can be removed. Remove drive belt.
3. Remove the engine undershield. Slacken the 'Jubilee' type clips at each end of the rigid plastic pipe which goes under the engine just in front of the flywheel. (Connection pipe from turbo to intercooler) Undo the single nut holding this rigid pipe to the engine and remove the pipe. This gives you access to the flywheel cover plate which should be removed.
4. Bolt a flywheel locking tool to the clutch bell housing. (If you don't have the PSA tool for this job you will need to improvise)
5. Remove the crankshaft pulley bolt (it is very tight and needs a long lever on a socket to loosen it) and the crankshaft pulley.
6 . Remove the ventilation air inlet box (the one containing the pollen filter). Remove the windsreen wipers and the plastic scuttle which goes between the windscreen and the bonnet.
7. Remove the bracket which goes around the coolant tank and the large bracing bar which goes between the front suspension turrets and under the coolant tank.
8. Undo the small screw attaching the coolant tank to its bracket, remove the small pipe at the top of the radiator which comes from the coolant header tank and drain the coolant into a suitable container. You will need to manipulate the coolant tank in order to drain it. Disconnect the electrical connector from the tank.
9. Once the coolant tank is empty, remove the wire retaining clips from the two large pipes connectors going to the coolant tank. With these clips removed, the connectors can be disconnected. Disconnect the remaining small pipe from the coolant tank and remove tank from the car. Release the power steering reservoir from its mounting and move aside.
10. Place a block of wood and trolley jack under the timing belt end of the sump so that it can take the weight of the engine. Remove the torque reaction bar which connects the RH engine upper mounting to the car body (Two bolts). Remove the nut from the engine mounting and pump up the jack so that it is taking the weight of the engine. Now remove the bolts holding the engine mounting bracket to the engine (Two hex bolts and one Torx bolt). Remove the engine mounting bracket ( It may be necessary to adjust the jack to do this)
11. Remove all of the 10mm bolts holding on the timing belt covers. The bolt at the top rear cannot be seen and needs to be removed by 'feel'. Remove the two top timing belt cover sections and the bottom cover.
12. BEFORE removing the timing belt, it is ESSENTIAL that the correct camshaft/flywheel timing position is set. Remove the flywheel locking tool and replace the crankshaft pulley bolt (without the pulley). Turn the crankshaft in a clockwise direction until the camshaft setting tool (or suitable diameter drill) can be inserted through the slot on the camshaft boss into the setting hole in the cylinder head. (The slot in the camshaft boss will be towards the front of the car when it is in the correct position)
13. The flywheel timing hole is up behind the starter motor and is difficult to access without the proper tool. You may need to remove the starter motor if you don't have one and have to improvise. When the flywheel and camshaft were set at the correct position, I used white paint to put a mark on the bell housing and an adjacent flywheel tooth to provide an additional safety crosscheck on engine timing after I replaced my timing belt.
14. My next step was to measure the deflection of the timing belt at the mid-point between the camshaft sprocket and and the HP pump sprocket. This was about 11mm in each direction and I found I could twist the belt through 90 degrees using my thumb and forefinger. I would use these measurements later when setting the tension of the new belt.
15. Slacken the bolt on the timing belt tensioner pulley, turn the pulley to relieve the belt tension and remove the timing belt. If you are replacing the tensioner pulleys, as I was, you can remove the tensioner and idler pulleys completely. If you don't have the special tool for rotating the timing belt tensioner pulley you will need to fabricate one with a small square head that fits into the side of the tensioner pulley.
16. At this point, I removed the bolts attaching the water pump to the engine, placed a basin on the ground under it to catch escaping coolant and removed the pump. I then cleaned the face of the block where the water pump gasket sits and fitted the new water pump ensuring both sides of the gasket were coated with 'Blue' gasket sealer. The new tensioner and idler pulleys were now fitted, with the bolt holding the tensioner pulley left fairly loose for the moment.
17. The next step was to slacken the three bolts which hold the the camshaft sprocket to the camshaft boss. With these loose, the camshaft sprocket should be turned fully clockwise in its slots. Tighten the three bolts to finger tightness and then slacken them very slightly. I was now ready to fit the new timing belt, but when I compared my new FAI belt with the old one, the outer reinforcement of the new belt seemed much thinner than the one I was replacing. Measurement with a digital micrometer confirmed this to be the case so I decided not to use the new FAI belt. I obtained a new Gates 5588XS timing belt from my local auto factors and found it to be as robust looking as the old one.
18. Starting at the crankshaft, I fitted the new belt in an anticlockwise direction around the idler, HP pump sprocket, camshaft sprocket, tensioner pulley and water pump. It is important to keep the belt taut (no slack between the crankshaft sprocket and camshaft sprocket) when fitting the belt around the camshaft sprocket. Tighten the three bolts which lock the camshaft sprocket to the camshaft boss.
19. Now the timing belt needs to be pre-tensioned. As I had no means of measuring the belt tension, I increased the tension until its deflection at the mid-point between the camshaft and HP pump sprockets was 6mm in each direction. Remove the crankshaft and camshaft setting tools and rotate the crankshaft through 8 revs with a spanner on the crankshaft pulley bolt.
20. Slacken the tensioner pulley bolt and re-adjust the tension to obtain a 10mm defelection in each direction at the mid-point described in 19 above. At this point it should be just possible to twist the belt through 90 degrees using your thumb and forefinger. Rotate the crankshaft through 2 revs until the point is reached where the camshaft setting tool can be inserted at the correct timing position. Check that the crankshaft setting tool can be inserted and that the 'paint marks' on the flywheel line up (see 13 above). I found the paint marks were about 0.5 mm out and the crankshaft setting tool was stiff to insert. To correct this, I slackened the three camshaft sprocket bolts and rotated the crankshaft very slightly to bring the paint marks into alignment and to enable the crankshaft setting tool to be inserted easily. I then checked that the camshaft sprocket locking bolts were free in their slots before tightening them up. After a further 2 revs of the crankshaft, I checked that the two timing tools could be inserted easily and that my paint marks lined up. Remove the timing setting tools and refit the flywheel locking tool.
21. Refit the timing covers, engine mounting, torque link and the crankshaft pulley putting a few drops of 'Loctite on the threads of this bolt before torqueing it up.
22. Remove the crankshaft locking tool. Refit the flywheel cover plate and the rigid plastic turbo pipe.
23. Refit the ancillary drive belt and set it to the correct tension. It is a good idea to check the condition of the idler and tensioner pulleys for the ancillary drive belt and replace if necessary. Mine were in good condition so I only replaced the drive belt.
24. Refit the coolant tank connections, fix it to its support bracket and refill with new antifreeze/water mix. I then refitted all the other items removed from the engine compartment but at this point I did not fit the inner plastic wing arch liner.
25. Start the engine and after it has run for a few minutes, re-check the tension of the drive belt. I found this had altered slightly. Refit the short bracing bar, wheel arch liner, front O/S wheel and engine under-shield.
General Points:
Using the above procedure there is no beed to disconnect the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold or to remove the lower torque reaction mounting.
With the upper timing belt cover being in two parts and the gap around the upper engine mounting bracket, it is easy to see how any water landing on the top of the timing cover could find its way on to the timing belt. I have the water deflector modification fitted to my car but decided to stick some duct tape over the top edge of the timing cover and around the point where the mounting bracket goes through the timing cover to deflect any water landing on the outside of the cover away from the innards. A 'Belt and braces' approach.
