Timing belt change on a budget

[gumby6371]

I'm trying gauge opinion on this;

I'm getting decidedly twitchy over the belts on my 1.9td, the timing belt is less than 20,000 miles old but WAY over on age. The aux belt is showing a fair bit of cracking so I'm assuming the timing belt will be as well.
I want to change the lot, belts tensioners w/pump etc.. but I'm not going to have the cash until probably February time.

Is it worth changing just the belts and giving the tensioners a bloody good look over and then do the rest in the new year or do I risk leaving it all to do in one go?

Labour charges are nil so that's not an issue.

If I just do the belts assuming they're not showing any signs of wear I'll re-use them when I do the proper job as I can garuntee they'd only be 3-4 months old and only have a couple of thousand miles on them.

I know I should do the lot now but I just can't afford it.

Thoughts ?

[jasper5]

The tensioner and guide pulley on the 1.9td are steel so are more likely to take more stress than the plastic HDi ones.

Are you planning to do a lot of miles between now and february?

Personally, as your present belt has only done 20,000 miles I would leave it until february.

The cracking on the aux belt may not be as bad as you think, if you have splits that flow acroos the belt then i would replace it, the tensioner on the aux belt is fairly strong and like the timing belt tensioner is steel so more likely to last longer and be more durable.

To sum up, If labour isn't a problem then get the belt cover off and have a look at the timing belt to see if it has any cracks, at 20,000 miles I would doubt it, but any doubt you may have after looking at it then replace the belt only until later.
Inspect the water pump and see if you have any leaks, no leaks then leave it until later.

The aux belts on these are only about a tenner so not that expensive to change anyway, so change that and leave the tensioner until later.


It's your car and I can't see the condition of anything, so it's not my responsibility if anything goes wrong, but I'm confident you won't have a problem.

[madmadmax]

a timing belt kit is only £60 from gsf or you could go to http://www.mister-auto.co.uk they have a permanent discount of 35%on so that should get the lot down to about £70 for an aux and timing belt kit that premium brands too

[gumby6371]

my concern is that my car was a repmobile for the first 3 years of it's life meaning the timing belt was done around the end of 99. It then went into semi retirement doing 5/600 miles a year. I'll have to strip the covers off and have a good look i suppose.
Thanks for the replies