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[terry paget]

I have just bought a 2008 1.6 Astra manual, 108000 miles on the clock and no history of a cam belt change. In April I bought a kit from ECP for £44, but now they want £139.99. Any tips?

[dave the builder]

clicky    
 £82.50 proper gates kit including water pump

spec gates autocat clicky to check your exact model

I thought the cheap £44 kit you ordered was incorrect and you had to buy another 

I will see if i can find a pic of where to put the locking tools for you this time 

[STEMO]

clicky    
 £82.50 proper gates kit including water pump

spec gates autocat clicky to check your exact model

I thought the cheap £44 kit you ordered was incorrect and you had to buy another 

I will see if i can find a pic of where to put the locking tools for you this time 

Don't you dare! Poor old Terry.

[terry paget]

Thanks Dave. I wasn't planning to change the water pump. I have Astras showing 174K and 155K on their original water pumps running fine, and if the pump fails it's not serious. Cambelt failure is disastrous.

[henryd]

Thanks Dave. I wasn't planning to change the water pump. I have Astras showing 174K and 155K on their original water pumps running fine, and if the pump fails it's not serious. Cambelt failure is disastrous.

If the pump is cambelt driven it needs changing with the belt kit

[Andy B]

Thanks Dave. I wasn't planning to change the water pump. I have Astras showing 174K and 155K on their original water pumps running fine, and if the pump fails it's not serious. Cambelt failure is disastrous.

The point of changing a water pump on any car/engine that drives the water pump with its cam belt is that if the pump fails & the bearing on the shaft fails sufficiently that the belt slips ...... bye-bye engine

[dave the builder]

I will see if i can find a pic of where to put the locking tools for you this time 

Don't you dare! Poor old Terry.

Not those photos 


the crankshaft locking bracket bolts into the gap between sump and block near the front engine mount (locking the crank at TDC no 1 ,allowing easy bolt removal)


red chocks go between cam sprockets locking them



harmonic damper /crankshaft pulley removed showing lower timing mark @ 6 o'clock

Thanks Dave. I wasn't planning to change the water pump. I have Astras showing 174K and 155K on their original water pumps running fine, and if the pump fails it's not serious. Cambelt failure is disastrous.

If the pump is cambelt driven it needs changing with the belt kit

It's not cambelt driven on these 

Thanks Dave. I wasn't planning to change the water pump. I have Astras showing 174K and 155K on their original water pumps running fine, and if the pump fails it's not serious. Cambelt failure is disastrous.

your choice 

[dave the builder]

the water pump on these astra H 1.6 is driven by the aux belt
BUT , i've had an original pump completely mullered at only 100K and leaking before
while all the stuff is out the way, the water pump is just 4 or 5 very easy to get at torx bolts
I replace the pump and belt and bearings all in one go , you don't have too
I also grease the bearings of the aux belt tensioner
may as well do it all while it's apart ,ready for another 10 years or 100k of service 

[biggriffin]

the water pump on these astra H 1.6 is driven by the aux belt
BUT , i've had an original pump completely mullered at only 100K and leaking before
while all the stuff is out the way, the water pump is just 4 or 5 very easy to get at torx bolts
I replace the pump and belt and bearings all in one go , you don't have too
I also grease the bearings of the aux belt tensioner
may as well do it all while it's apart ,ready for another 10 years or 100k of service 

If Terry was to do that, we wouldn't get another thread entitled "astra keeps boiling up" or astra has shredded aux belt"

[Nick W]

the water pump on these astra H 1.6 is driven by the aux belt
BUT , i've had an original pump completely mullered at only 100K and leaking before
while all the stuff is out the way, the water pump is just 4 or 5 very easy to get at torx bolts
I replace the pump and belt and bearings all in one go , you don't have too
I also grease the bearings of the aux belt tensioner
may as well do it all while it's apart ,ready for another 10 years or 100k of service 

If Terry was to do that, we wouldn't get another thread entitled "astra keeps boiling up" or astra has shredded aux belt"

Or the collection of wrong/fake/undelivered water pumps acquired through TB's Ebay account

[dave the builder]

the water pump on these astra H 1.6 is driven by the aux belt
BUT , i've had an original pump completely mullered at only 100K and leaking before
while all the stuff is out the way, the water pump is just 4 or 5 very easy to get at torx bolts
I replace the pump and belt and bearings all in one go , you don't have too
I also grease the bearings of the aux belt tensioner
may as well do it all while it's apart ,ready for another 10 years or 100k of service 

If Terry was to do that, we wouldn't get another thread entitled "astra keeps boiling up" or astra has shredded aux belt"

Use the search facility 
these threads already exist 
AA man said "waterpump" 

[terry paget]

Thanks for the advice, Dave. That explains what the steel item on the left does. That still leaves the top and second down metal tools to find a use for.

[dave the builder]

Top black bar lock the cams at the other end if you removed the cylinder head
silver L shape is flywheel holding tool
neither needed to swap belt
but the silver item on the left is very helpful 

[terry paget]

Top black bar lock the cams at the other end if you removed the cylinder head
silver L shape is flywheel holding tool
neither needed to swap belt
but the silver item on the left is very helpful 

Thank you.
Over the years changing cam belts on 4 and 6 cylinder Omegas has become routine, but I am learning all over again how to do it on Astras.

I have known auxiliary belt failures on Omegas, so these things do happen

[biggriffin]

Top black bar lock the cams at the other end if you removed the cylinder head
silver L shape is flywheel holding tool
neither needed to swap belt
but the silver item on the left is very helpful 

Thank you.
Over the years changing cam belts on 4 and 6 cylinder Omegas has become routine, but I am learning all over again how to do it on Astras.

I have known auxiliary belt failures on Omegas, so these things do happen

Exactly, so put a new auxiliary belt on, remove the aux-belt pully and re-pack the bearing, or buy a new pulley,  preventative maintenance.