300tdi Timing Belt Won't Go On .

Hi , I'm really stuck with this one . I can't get the new timing belt over the tensioner pulley on my Defender 300tdi . I would really appreciate some help with this . Thanks , Gerry .

Loosen the three small bolts on the injector pump pulley, sometime helps to fit belt then slide the tensioner in, especially if it or the crank gear are the lipped type.
Only use a 6 sided socket on the three bolts, use a 12 point at your peril.

Always putting a rough location as someone here might be local, not your postcode though!

Hi Lynall , I tried all that , basically nothing works . I managed to get the belt on by putting the idler in with the belt in place , but that just resulted in a misaligned pulley and belt , so I had to take it off again .

Did you check new belt against old belt?

Not done a 300 for years, but I always seem to have much the same issue with my 200s, I think it is because the belt is so wide and so short that there is little to no wiggle room.

lynall said:

Did you check new belt against old belt?

Not done a 300 for years, but I always seem to have much the same issue with my 200s, I think it is because the belt is so wide and so short that there is little to no wiggle room.

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I did , and they are identical . Tooth for tooth and the same numbers on the belt .

If you put the old idler in place, does it fit?

Basically if you reassemble it with all the old parts, does it fit?

It will be somthing silly, I'm sure. Pretty much must be idler related.

Here is one I did a couple of months back.

I doubt there is anything you can see in the photo that is of help to you, but, as I have it on my phone, I may as well post it up, just in case you can spot somthing?

julianf said:

If you put the old idler in place, does it fit?

Basically if you reassemble it with all the old parts, does it fit?

It will be somthing silly, I'm sure. Pretty much must be idler related.

Click to expand...

Is the tensioner correct ?

julianf said:

If you put the old idler in place, does it fit?

Basically if you reassemble it with all the old parts, does it fit?

It will be somthing silly, I'm sure. Pretty much must be idler related.

Click to expand...

Actually tried that too , even using the old pulleys and belt I can't get it back on . I did this job for the first and only time seven years ago and had no problems . I'm sorry I went near it now because the old belt and pulleys are like new !

Dippypud said:

Is the tensioner correct ?

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Yes , all correct . It will be something silly you can be sure .

Edit - where I say idler, I mean tensioner!

I seem to remember that there's some complication with the idler. You can put the bolt in the wrong hole on the idler or the wrong hole on the chest or somthing. Or you use a bolt with a skirt around the head and it pushes the idler a bit further out from where you want it... Somthing like that?

My memory is not good and I only did the one in the photo a couple of months back but I recall somthing about the bolt skirt and having to use a different bolt (might have been that I was using the old bolt and it was incompatible with the new idler or the other way around?)

Again it's very hazy, but do have a look at yours. Somthing might spring out.

I'd bet that the issue is somthing to do with the idler. I mean, how could it not be?

I realise I may be interchanging idler and tensioner. I'm on about the tensioner!

julianf said:

Here is one I did a couple of months back.

I doubt there is anything you can see in the photo that is of help to you, but, as I have it on my phone, I may as well post it up, just in case you can spot somthing?

View attachment 268988

Click to expand...

JulianF , when you zoom into your photo the way your timing belt comes off the pulley at an angle is just the way mine was when I put the new belt on . Is it supposed to be like that ? I was convinced it was misaligned and took it off again . Also the idler pulley looked to be ever so slightly more prominent than the tensioner pulley . Is that normal ? Also , how did you go about getting the belt onto the pulley ?

Comes off which pulley?

Are you sure its not just a photo angle issue?

Here is another snap of the same, you may, or may not be able to see somthing else?




This one was a mess. The nothing had broken, but the IP had been taken off years ago, without setting anything to reference. I took the rocker shaft off to get it all back into sync again, but obviously yours should just be a "simple" belt swap...



It only got an mot a couple of weeks ago, and ive been driving it about a bit, and nothing has fallen off yet. I took off a belt that had done, probably, less than 20 miles, but a long time ago, so figured id swap it.

ps. youre doing the x rotations, and rechecking, right?

i dont know if these shots are before the rotations or after, but the belt is so solid that i doubt it makes much difference to its position anyway.

Problem solved . It eventually occurred to me that if trying to put it on with a loose pulley was insufficient then take the pulley screw out altogether . So that is what I did and with the pulley hanging even lower the belt went on easily . Then using the breaker bar in the square hole I levered up the tensioner and inserted the screw part way before setting the tension in the usual way . This method is so easy I don't know why it isn't the standard procedure for the job . Also the misalignment caused by the "pushing in the idler pulley past the belt" method was eliminated . Many thanks for all the replies .

Glad you got it sorted.