Can I do my timing belt on my car easily or should I fork out another £200 in labour. I can buy the part for about £80 and will change the water pump at the same time.

It’s a citroen c2 gt 1.6 16v manual.

Oh if a STWer Wants the job and is in south London/Croydon area please email me at sbayliss1111@gmail.com

i would advise not to do it DIY, out of most of the car DIY things i’d attempt i’d give it a miss, if you get it wrong you could seriously mess your car up.

ive changed the oil and pads on the fiesta but ive looked into doing the cambelt and thought sod it.

you have to know what your doing, you need to set the tensioners and pulleys up properly etc etc (excuse my crap car jargon) + maybe take alot of other stuff OFF to get at it properly!

im sure the serious car buffs on here will be along shorlty and tell you its easy…. 😉

but thats my 5p worth!

If your handy with spanners and can follow instructions give it a go. Whats the worst that can happen 🙂

It’s a simple job if you can get at the engine.

I have read it can be a mare, but then I have read it can be easy.

I would normally give most things a go. The car is in on Wednesday for a clutch change, and was wondering if I should get the timing done at the same time.

I’ll get a price from the mechanic to do this at the same time.

Oh and to boost it all Haynes don’t make a manual for my car.

just remembered i had mine done about 6 months ago, got it back home and had a gander, opened the bonnet and looked ‘at a belt’ and thought THATS NOT BEEN CHANGED!!!!…

took it back to the garage the next day stormed in all guns blazing, the guy looked at me funny, walked me to the car got me to open the bonnet and said show me the cambelt… i pointed to it and he said..

“thats the auxillary belt not the cambelt”

he then pulled my old cambelt out of a bag and gave it to me…

i left pretty quickly

Unfortunatly timing belt is at the front of the engine and clutch at the rear so not likly to be much cheaper doing both at the same time.
On the plus side if you let the mechanic sort it you have a piece of mind that it has been done right.
You do need special tools to set the engine and a belt tension meter to check it afterwards
My advice would be to leave well alone as it will cost a lot more if you get it wrong and bend a valve and possibly damage a piston etc

if someone takes the engine out for you and stands it on an engine stand and you have the correct tools then it is really easy. I would not really advise doing it though as the error penalty is catastrophic if you are not sure or 100 confident
Can you find TDC ? can you guesstimate correct tension?have you got a free weekend to get annoyed?

5thElefant – Member
It’s a simple job if you can get at the engine.

Perfect answer. I’ve done a few myself but was completely defeated by a 306 with the 2.0HDI engine. I just couldn’t get access. I even went to the extremes of removing the engine mounts, brake master cylinder etc and jacking the engine (partially) out of the car. still couldn’t get the covers off the bloody thing.

Don’t believe the Haynes manual. EVERY step of the description of mine was wrong!

I have been advised that to get to the clutch you have to remove panels etc that you might have to remove to get to the timing belt. So it might be a bit cheeper I’ll ask him. It would help me if I could off set them to spread the cost

Access is tight, but the belt change is straight forward. Some special tools are required, but you can get away with old bolts and plenty of ‘tippex’. Waterpump is a must do job, whilst it is all apart.

Haynes cover the belt in the Saxo manual. My information suggest you have the TU5JP4 engine fitted. Code is ‘NFU’ (look at the VIN to confirm this).
Hth
Marko

Thanks