Cambelt

well what a day!

i have started to do the cam belt on the old girl today and im very happy with how far i have got with it! (1st time on a 300tdi) i have done very few cambelts in my time but this is my project and now my hobby

got the bas***d viscous fan off as needed replaceing (going electric i think)

i drained the cooling system and removed the rad and intercooler as i wanted to clean them ready for refitting. (cleaned and found lower cores of the rad fins rotten, rad will need replaceing soon)

removed the aux belts and the 27mm crank bolt (not easy but she came off in the end)

timed the engine up to tdc and locked it off an experience that was at 1st daunting but in the end not so bad

removed the cambelt, tensioner and the idler as i feel its the 1st cambelt change i have done on her and i want to know she is done right.

started to put the old girl back together and found the idler pully different to the old one (new one ordered) and that was as far as i got

now waiting for that and the case gasket (hope i get them by the weekend)

i noticed the antifreeze was green and wanted to know what type i need as i havent come across green anti freeze before i have blue or the sexy pink at home but never seen the green type available before

thanks for your time and help

Did you go for the upgrade kit with the new guided crankshaft pulley and new tensioner and idler??

Daz

I didn't no I brought the belt and tensioner as a kit and later purchased the idler it said go 300 tdi thought job done guess not lol I brought bits about 3 months ago just my luck I guess :-(

Not to self buy a kit next time

Now I know what it all looks like ill never make that mistake again

The pully is the right one and looks very good but I purchased one of them incase as well

Yep better off just buying the kit and replacing it all at the same time

Daz

Yup my bad cam belt came with tensioner it was an after thought for the idler to be replaced

Ive just done the same with mine and i had also decided to renew a lot of the cooling system just in case as its done 185k.
So i bought a new stat and gasket and a new p gasket as they alway go. Also replaced the waterpump and top and bottom hose and by pass hose.
I also found the rad looked past its best so i picked up a recored unit from my local rad specialist for £126.
i was looking at Ebay but they dont look as good a quality.

Also while you are doing it replace the bleed screws with ones that you can bleed easier.
Hosehold radiator bleed valves fit straight in and are just over !1 each from wicks made mine so much easier to bleed up.

A tip when bleeding the system leave off the viscous and fan housing and then unbolt the header tank and lift it up as high as poss above where it fits and support it with a block of wood. This will then bring the header tank uo higher than the rest of the cooling system.
start filling the header tank with a couple of litres of coolant then fill the rad up and refit the bleed valve. Then fill up from the stat housing untill fluid starts coming out of the rad bleed valve then nip it up. Then fill up the header tank until fluid comes out of the stat housing bleed valve then nip it up.
Then fill up and put the cap on put the heater controls to full heat and run up to temp which may take a while as they take a long time to warm up when stationary.

If all goes well you should have a very hot heater with no air lock.

Works for me every time but it is important to get the header tank up high.

cool ill give it all a go

Having a second attempt at doing the belt on my 200tdi tomorrow. I have bought me a breaker bar and made up a tool for holding the damper.

Deffo need them

These and a beaker bar all helped

Hi ref the anti freeze I reckon all green ones will be ok for a oem type rad, some red 5 year life stuff might be ok but some red stuff is not recommended by some of the manufacturers for use with brass or copper rads, only ally rads.

If not having the long life stuff does not bother you I'd say stick to green as it's the safest option.