Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[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

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.

As Nick W taught me to do some years ago. What usually fails is the bearing, not the belt. But when the bearing seizes up, the belt breaks, I loose water pump and alternator, and have to walk home.

[terry paget]

Looking where to insert the locking tool, with little success. Here is the view from below of the sump above the front engine mount and near the exhaust downpipe. Haynes suggests a steel strip inserted somewhere into the teeth of the flywheel ring would do the job too. Where should I be looking?

[dave the builder]

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)

your pic is upside down to mine BUT the bolt that holds the locking tool is the same by the looks of it
(so the tool slides in between sump and block,where the shadow is on your pic, right of the nut/bolt)
(you need to remove the bolt, add the locking tool,refit the bolt,which secures the locking tool)
in my pic you can see the oil filter above it,hence oil everywhere 

you need to get the timing bang on to insert the locking tool
with a torx socket on a bar on the crankshaft bolt, a slight movement clockwise or anti clockwise will allow the locking tool in 

just to clarify , the engine needs to be set to factory timing marks BEFORE the locking tool will go in

[terry paget]

Timing is set correct at the crankshaft. Above is a slightly differentr pic without the shadow. I will try again, wiggling the crank.

[terry paget]

About to remove the old belt. Haynes instructs me to rotate the tensioner clockwise to release the tension and lock it there with a drill bit in the slot on the inner edge of the tensioner. I cannot lock the tensioner thus. Please advise.

[Doctor Gollum]

Have you rotated the tensioner pulley to the stop?

[dave the builder]

the Tensioner design has been changed twice, early ones you could lock off with the thin pin in the locking kit , later ones you use an allen key /hex key  to slacken the belt .
the aux belt tensioner can be locked off with the pin from the locking kit

IF you checked to see the kit is the same as fitted ,correct belt etc
and IF you have all the locking tools in place and the engine is timed and locked
just remove the belt idol pulley bolt and belt will come off

if you purchased a Gates kit as per my link then there is full instructions sheet in the box 

and remember to hold the crankshaft pulley/harmonic damper onto the keyway and hand tighten the new bolt to ensure it sits correctly BEFORE torque it up or put an impact on it 

and once the new belt is on and and under tension, remove ALL the locking tools (put them back in the box and make sure non are missing) BEFORE rotating the engine by hand a few times to check timing 

[terry paget]

Thanks for good advice, Dave. Funny thing is I changed the cam belt kit in my 2006 Astra and it was a piece of cake. This 2008 car is quite different. I should have bought the Gates kit, but too late now. I am using the pin from the kit to lock the auxiliary belt tensioner.
The Haynes 2004-2008 Astra manual was fine for the 2006 car, but quite wrong for the 2008 car. The 2009-2013 manual applies, but even that is out of date.
Belt is now on, and looks OK. Thanks for the tip on the crankshaft pulley refitting; I think that's where I went wrong last time.

[dave the builder]

Ok Terry , glad you managed to work it out 
the later VVT engine is slightly different but all pretty similar
I don't bother with Haynes manuals anymore because there are so many revisions AFTER the manual is written 
and GM bounce around different part suppliers ,and parts end up being slightly different 

[terry paget]

All reassembled, took it for a 12 mile test run, it's fine. Obviously drove the same as before, but now I can send my daughter back to London in it next weekend with every hope it will not let her down. Thanks for your help Dave, I was struggling for a bit. I wish they would not change things, but there you go, I suppose that's progress.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Well done Terry! 

[terry paget]

Reading this thread again, I realised what I had failed to do was grease the auxiliary belt pulley bearing. I have suffered two failures of such bearings; they don't wreck the engine, but are jolly inconvenient. Today I rectified my failure.