About to do the timing belt...

Anything to watch out for on a TD? Doesn't look like a difficult job in principle, which usually means it's impossible in real life

Did you get this done? Ive never changed a belt and want to change mine.

I managed to do the job after much cursing and eventually buying the right tools.

Started off by removing the fan and cowling, after which you have a large open area to remove the auxiliary belts.

The crank bolt on mine was a 41mm. The easiest way to get this off is to fit a socket to a breaker bar, with the end wedged under the right hand chassis rail. Disconnect the fuel pump solenoid to stop the engine firing, and flick the starter over a couple of times to loosen the thread. If you don't have a puller, removing the main pulley can be impossible. With a puller it comes off in about 10 seconds.

The rest of the process is fairly straightforward. The only slight difficulty for me was keeping everything aligned. There are timing marks on the crank, cam and injection pump sprockets you can use, but the belt does tend to skip a tooth on the crank as you tension it up. An extra pair of hands would be useful here. Then, as Haynes say, refitting is a reversal of removal

Cheers bud. Going to do mine. Turns out my rusty looking old 19J is actually in very good nick internally so its a keeper for now.

HYBRIDNI said:

Turns out my rusty looking old 19J is actually in very good nick internally so its a keeper for now.

Click to expand...

Nowt wrong with a 19J in good condition A few years ago when dead discos with good engines were a bit more plentiful, it might have been more cost-effective to do a 200tdi conversion. Now though, I'd much rather maintain a 19J where I know at least some of its history.