elamessa Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 As my van is coming up it's 5 birthday in May it is now time to consider the changing of the cambelt. (according to the handbook this should be done every 5 years). Has anyone any idea of the time scale to change one of these belts. Your help is much appreciated as always. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Time scale about 4 hours labour with a hoist........... part costs retail c E250 wholesale E130 see here..........Pieces detachee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elamessa Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Thanks for this. I can get the parts in the UK cheaper than the one quoted in your link, but that is just typical of most prices in France for automotive products. >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 When I changed my belts (admitedly at 70,000 miles) I changed ALL the belts and the water pump, on the old Scudo 2.0jtd you've got to take all the belts off to change it so it made sense to do all the jobs at once. Note the prices quoted include the cam belt followers (tensioners) not just the belt prices. My Hymer (Ducato 2.5td) had its belts changed in Germany at a cost of E300 bargain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elamessa Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Retread24800 - 2012-01-25 1:45 PM Note the prices quoted include the cam belt followers (tensioners) not just the belt prices. Prices in the UK are for the whole lot also and are a lot cheaper. As I said typical French automotive prices very expensive. >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I notice that essanjay at Poole quote £269 and 2.5 hours labour-time for a cam-belt change for Fiat Ducato pre-X250 motors: http://www.essanjay.co.uk/services/ I don't know if a belt-change for a Ducato X250 2.3litre motor would be cheaper and/or take longer to do. As you'll be aware, the 2.3litre MultiJet motor differs significantly from its JTD predecessor in having belt-controlled timing but a cam-to-cam chain. (I'm sure that Essanjay could tell you if you asked them via their website's contact form.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Derek, I am sure that you are aware of this but I am adding something to make sure that you are not misunderstood; The 2.3JTD engine differs significantly from the 2.8JTD used before 2006 but the 2.3JTD and 2.3 Multi-jet are essentially exactly the same engine pre and post X250 2006. The X250 cam belt change is considerably more difficult because of the lack of space and is a pig to do; even when you have done a few! It will take even an experienced mechanic 4 hours to do, whatever the 'book time' says. There is a very good SKF cam belt kit available from Euro Car Parts but in reality it is not much cheaper than the genuine Fiat parts when ordered as a kit and not individual items. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm another one with a 2.3 coming up to its 5th birthday, when the timing belt is supposed to be changed regardless of mileage. Looking at Fiat's handbook, the belt wouldn't need changing until 180,000 kilometres were it not for the five years being up first. Is this one of those 'don't even think about extending the time limit' or perhaps given the significant cost, would it be a risk worth taking for the majority of low mileage motorhome owners? Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Mmm, Million dollar question that one, and I tried to answer it with my own experiment! Our initial batch of 2.3 X250 vans were indeed due for cambelts before they were 3 years old and the mileage limit was 180,000km which is 112,500 miles. I thought that this was stupid since the previous (2002 to 2006) 2.3 did not need doing before 156,250 miles and we had never seen any wear on those at that mileage either so I chose to 'roll the dice' and not do them until 180,000 to 200,000 miles. I mostly got away with it but as these vans approached 185,000 to 190,000 we started having reports of starting problems and all of these turned out to be timing errors and upon removal of the belts we found teeth stripped! The lesson duly learned, and fortunately without any major expense we have decided that we would always do the change at 175,000 miles in future. The sample was of 10 vans and all were doing the same kind of work (driven hard, 5 days a week) and covered fairly similar mileages. 7 were changed between 180,000 and 200,000 without any problems and 3 had issues. The answer to your question is that it is ALWAYS best to stick to the manufacturer's recommended interval, but realistically, the chances of anything going wrong with your vehicle within, say, 8 years or 150,000 miles is somewhat slim but I am not offering to pay to put things right for you if lady luck intervenes and you have a faulty tensioner of something! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Thanks, Nick. I can see that with heavy mileage, we're into different territory to that of potential problems as a result of time rather than extensive use. My van has only done 15,000 miles in five years, so I'm reluctant to have the belt changed unless experience suggests extending the five year limit is asking for trouble. Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I personally wouln't bother at that mileage. I had a toyota 3 ltr supra that still had the original belt on it at 23 yrs old and 130k miles. I was lucky as it is a non interferance engine. Which means that if the belt breaks the pistons won't hit the valves. It just goes to show that there seems to be a bit of scaremongering as far as belts go. Of course I wouldn't risk it at 23 yrs with an interference engine, but 15k is no work at all. The choice is purely in the hands of the o.p. It's just a pity that all manufactures don't make engines with clearance cutouts in the pistons to avoid wrecking the engine if the belt breaks. Fortunately I've now got a mercedes based van which has a chain, they can still go, but usually give you a bit of warning by getting rattly and oil pressure drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 euroserv - 2012-01-25 5:50 PM Derek, I am sure that you are aware of this but I am adding something to make sure that you are not misunderstood; The 2.3JTD engine differs significantly from the 2.8JTD used before 2006 but the 2.3JTD and 2.3 Multi-jet are essentially exactly the same engine pre and post X250 2006. The X250 cam belt change is considerably more difficult because of the lack of space and is a pig to do; even when you have done a few! It will take even an experienced mechanic 4 hours to do, whatever the 'book time' says. There is a very good SKF cam belt kit available from Euro Car Parts but in reality it is not much cheaper than the genuine Fiat parts when ordered as a kit and not individual items. Nick I had gained the impression that the 2.3litre motor fitted to X250 vehicles had a different top-end design to that of the same capacity motor fitted to X244s - thanks for putting me right. The OP's inquiry is also on the Fiat forum and, on re-reading the reply, I realise that it advises that it's trickier to replace the 2.3's belt compared to a 2.8litre motor, not that it's harder to change a 2.3MJ belt compared to a 2.3JTD's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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