Cambelt change in East Essex!

[JoshMcD95]

Hi all,

My puma has a comprehensive service history but is on 65k on an R plate with no history of a cambelt, so I need to get it done. I've done a lot of reading on how the replacement can be tricky and easy to stuff up the VVT if not done correctly; I've driven a couple of puma's and mine is certainly the quicker, the other one had recently had a cambelt change and felt slower than my current one so can only assume the timing/VVT wasn't preserved correctly! Can anyone recommend anyone in the Essex area (I'm in Colchester) who is sort of a puma specialist? Or anyone who has had one done locally for a reasonable price and done well?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ElDude at Allison Automotive]

Remember the earlier the puma...the quicker... :lol:

 

[JoshMcD95]

Owned a P plate one, so early as they come, with 80 odd k on the clock, no service history for £200 as a donor for my fiesta! Now own an R reg on 65k with full ford service history, religiously serviced more or less same date every year and its damn quicker haha. So both early cars but still looking for someone who knows their Puma lumps

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Josh
I was waiting to see if anyone local to you would post but as far as I know STEAVIE on here does good cambelt changes not too far from you.
Barry

 

[ElDude at Allison Automotive]

I do engine servicing... you'd have to come up to Nottingham though.. :idea:

Here's the most recent one I worked on.. FRP477 http://www.pumapeople.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=110265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IMO a 'cambelt change' is a complete waste of time and money..there's probably a fair few issues to deal with that you can see more easily when the engine is properly out and more visable.. remember also the whole point of changing the belt/tensioner is to 're-time' the engine and re-tension the cams not to just change the belt for a newer one... a point which seems to get missed a lot I think.. :idea:

:grin:

Chris

 

[Smudge]

OC Motorsport near Chelmsford know everything there is to know about Pumas. Very highly recommended by many.

 

[JAC]

I do engine servicing... you'd have to come up to Nottingham though.. :idea:

Here's the most recent one I worked on.. FRP477 http://www.pumapeople.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=110265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IMO a 'cambelt change' is a complete waste of time and money..there's probably a fair few issues to deal with that you can see more easily when the engine is properly out and more visable.. remember also the whole point of changing the belt/tensioner is to 're-time' the engine and re-tension the cams not to just change the belt for a newer one... a point which seems to get missed a lot I think.. :idea:

:grin:

Chris

Sorry to hijack this thread, but could you explain the "waste of time"?

I just bought the car with 120000km (75k miles) and although it has the full service history, there is no record of a cambelt change.

I planned on doing this first (along with brakes), as I was under the impression that it was a must to save possible breaking of the cambelt (and all the damage this can cause).

My mechanical partner plans on doing this, (as it will cost 70€ instead of 450€), but it is the first time we will work on a VCT engine, although we are gathering as much info as possible first.

The car runs fine at the moment, so the "waste of time" is the bit that concerns me.

(BTW, I checked with the Ford dealers and another couple of local garages, and none have ever done this on a Puma either, so the 450€ would be for them to follow the instructions also).

 

[tractorboy]

Definitely not a waste of time, but I don't think el dude means that. I think he means a waste of time if you try and do it by marking up the pulleys rather than fully re-timing? Anyway, whatever he meant, it's certainly not a waste of time replacing it properly. That includes setting the tensioner correctly (it's a 2-stage pin removal as described in the Gates installation PDF.) My son's was set wrong and after about 10K miles the belt jumped and bent all the inlet valves. When I changed mine I found that it was tensioned wrong too; I suspect that there are a lot of Pumas out there with incorrectly set tensioners :-(

Bob

 

[red]

I think El Dude actually means that there is typically a number of other potentially more pressing matters to address? And that a cambelt change should be done with other preventative measures such as gaskets, water pump, re-timing the engine, checking for leaks etc etc.

Neither one is less important, all should be reviewed.

 

[JAC]

Ok, thanks for putting my mind at rest, I was starting to think that changing the cambekt was going to do more damage than good

I remember years ago taking a BMW for a cambelt change, and the BMW dealers told me not to bother, the change was going to cost me so much that it was worth waiting until it broke! I think that was the last time I went to the BMW dealers