Car Guide :::

THE FIAT BRAVO/A CAMBELT GUIDE

The operation of the cambelts on the Fiat Bravo/a range is critical. All of the engine units are "unsafe", meaning that should the cambelt or tensioner fail, the valves will come into contact with the pistons and then everything else. Engine re-builds are expensive, time consuming and your fault!

The recomendation is to change the belt at 72,000 miles OR 5 years, however there are other factors to consider. If you are a thrash it till it bleeds driver then it will go earlier, short journeys will take its toll but also age will as well, so if the car is getting towards 5 years old, it is worth getting the belt changed regardless of mileage.

Fiat dealership prices are circa the following, HGT £590, 1.9TD (100) £125, 1.8 £135, 1.6 £115 and 1.2 £155. Please contact them to get an exact quotation for you vehicle, especially if you bought the car from them as certain discounts are available.

Click here for BOO Discounted Cambelt Change

Lastly, you are not covered outside of warranty if your cambelt fails, even if it is less than the 72,000 recomendation and only then if the tensioner fails. You have been warned.

Cambelt Change (Marea 20v)
For details on how to change the cambelt on a 20v engine, please click here. This guide many thanks to fixitagainpete of the fiatforum. And Fiat said this is impossible!!!!
Cambelt Change (1.2 16v 80)
Another excelent write up by Deckchair Here is the dirty, hands on low down on changing a timing belt on a 1.2 Bravo without any specialist Fiat tools, no removing of fuel injector rails, not even removing spark plugs! Also, some tips and stuff you won't find in the Haynes manual The part numbers and prices at the bottom are for the 1.2 only. If you want to try this on anything else please e-mail alfanige for the part numbers and prices.	THE PLAN Is to gain access and then mark crankshaft and camshaft sprocket positions accurately, then replace belt and tensioner and both steering pump belt and alternator belts as they need to come off anyway. TIME 2 hours if you're good. 3 hours if you're careful! TOOLS YOU'LL NEED Various allen keys up to 12mm (best to have hex socket set) Good 1/2" drive metric socket set up to 17mm Right angle circlip pliers WHEN TO CHANGE THE BELT Manual states 72K but depends on how you use your motor. If you're a rev fiend or you do a low annual mileage then change it sooner. Did mine at 55K LOGIC OF THE CHANGE If the camshaft and crankshaft belt sprockets are in the same relative positions when you've finished as when you started and the belt is the right tension then that's it! PARTS YOU NEED Timing belt, new timing belt tensioner (don't leave the old tensioner in, silly), steering pump belt and alternator belt as you may as well renew them now they're off REMOVE DRIVERS WING PLASTIC MUD SHIELD To gain access to the timing belt and crankshaft pulley area you'll need to remove the drivers side under wing bottom plastic mud flap. Loosen wheel nuts, jack car up, use axle stand and remove driver's front wheel. Mud flap is held by 4x 8mm bolts. Don't need to remove all. Leave the tricky 2nd one from front in and rotate flap out of way. REMOVE STEERING PUMP BELT A few hex bolts and slacken off belt tensioner. Best remove top belt plastic protector too for ease of removal REMOVE ALTERNATOR BELT Just slacken alternator and remove belt. Straight forward couple of 15mm bolts and a 17mm tensioner. REMOVE TOP TIMING BELT COVER Remove clip and disconnect electrical connector to crankshaft sensor. You don't need to pull out cable as cover will rest out of way with cable still inside. Cover is held by nut on front cover and bolt around rear. Just move out of way REMOVE BOTTOM TIMING BELT COVER You may not see why at first but you'll need to remove exhaust top metal shield for access to a cover securing bolt on engine front. Needs a good tug and prise to pull it out. Note that cover has a nifty hinge to help removal DON'T REMOVE THE BELT YET!!! If you look at the crankshaft pulley then there is a 25mm "missing" area which marks the engine TDC .If you rotate the engine by means of the crankshaft centre bolt (15mm) then you can feel when the engine at TDC as well so you know where it is. Ideally for absolute safety then you want to move the engine so it's off TDC although it's not crucial to the way we're going to change the belt REMOVE THE CRANKSHAFT PULLEY (the crankshaft sprocket will be staying put throughout the operation) Put the car in 1st gear and have someone on the foot brake. Undo the three pulley bolts and remove pulley. MARKING THE CAMSHAFT SPROCKET POSITION If you rotate the engine by means of the crankshaft sprocket centre bolt (15mm), turning clockwise of course, then you can feel when the engine is at max compression (with spark plugs in of course) . I used the crankshaft sprocket to crankshaft pulley guide pin as a reference mark. Rotate the engine until the crankshaft sprocket next to the guide pin lines up with something at the back. (There are two nice lines in the casting behind you can use so you now have a nice, accurate datum you can find again. TO YOUR MARKS Without moving the engine again, now go the camshaft sprocket and choose a sprocket tooth on the top. Mark it on the front face and follow the sprocket tooth (which is under the belt of course) with a ruler and scribe a mark on the top engine case. Now you have a datum for the camshaft position. FEEL THE VIBES Feel and make a note of the timing belt tension as it is as it's been working fine up till now at that tension. REMOVE THE TIMING BELTTENSIONER Remove the timing belt tensioner first as you don't want to move the crankshaft or camshaft now unavoidably. It's held by a centre nut. REMOVE THE OLD BELT Put it out of the way so you don't put the same one back on! CHECK THE WATER PUMP FOR LEAKS Worthwhile to look at it now as having to change it later will mean doing all this again PUT ON THE NEW BELT Remember the engine rotates clockwise from where you are looking and the new belt must go on with the arrows in the correct direction. Note. Put the belt around the crankshaft sprocket first. Feed on in an anticlockwise direction, up and around water pump and make sure to have NO SLACK in the right hand side of the belt run as you engage with the camshaft sprocket. This will involve some "feeding" of the belt over the camshaft sprocket teeth. Keep it taught as you now put on the new cambelt tensioner. Push it reasonable tight up to the belt and do up the centre nut to secure the belt in place. CHECK YOUR MARKS Check the crankshaft and camshaft marks are still aligned. Rotate the engine the same as you did before using the crankshaft centre nut. Bring engine around to your marks and check again. All ok? TENSIONER TENSION The manuals state rotate the tensioner using right angle circlip pliers until the angle indicator lines up but this is WAYYYY tight! No wonder people complain of bearing noises if mechanics follow that out. Remember how the belt was when you took off the old one? Well you're not going to need it much tighter than that so just rotate the tensioner until you have sufficient tension and then tighten the tensioner centre bolt (use torque wrench). REASSEMBLY Pretty straight reverse of order above POINTS TO NOTE Always rotate the engine at least twice by hand and check your marks before attempting to restart the engine. CHECK AND CHECK AGAIN Make sure you line up the guide pin when putting the crankshaft pulley back on Make sure you reconnect the electrical proximity sensor connector. AFTER CHECKS After a few hours running. Recheck the alt and steering belt tensions. Also, if you're paranoid, take off the timing belt top cover and check the belt tension again with your fingers. 5mm of centre play would be fine. COSTS AND PARTS Timing Belt (p/n 46403659) £17.95 Tensioner (p/n 46403679) £32.79 Steering Pump Belt (p/n 71719398) £7.47 Alternator Belt (p/n 7704978) £7.01 Quotes for work from Fiat £240 Quotes from Halfords £210 Quotes form independents "Can't do it as you need special tools!"