Urghhh its that dreaded time again.......

My camblet is due to be replaced and may as well do the auxillary belt at the same time. Looking in Haynes it seems a straight forward job if you take your (i mean for a diyer).

I'm just trying to justify if its worth me having a go at it or let the pros do it.

What kind of prices sound about right for a mechanic to change both belts? Its a Sunday and i can't ring my usual one so just want a rough ballpark figure.

Cheers

Russ

do it yourself, I've not done it on a polo but its not a massive job, it will take you the best part of a day tho if your nervous with these kind of things. just follow the instructions and youll be fine. heres a tip tho, when i do a job I've not done before or i know is a bit tricky ill write out 2 check lists, 1 is for disassembly and the other is for assembly, as you go you check of each item so you know your doing it in order and you havnt missed anything.

bit of a cheesy way of doing it but its always helped me and to date(touch wood) every job I've done has gone well.

good tip.

I would like to have a go as i think i could do it.

The only thing I'm a tad nervous about is losing the correct cam / crank position. Is there a technique where you can find the correct positioning if the crank or cam are accidently turned out of sync. I can see you could use TDC as an indicator but how do you tell if its on compression/exhaust/intake stroke etc?

When I rebuild old mini engines you can see the valves moving or staying stationary to help deterime which stroke the piston is traveling on.

One final question; on my old mini engines the cam and crank timing marks on the pulleys were notoriously inaccurate. The only way to determine the true position was to use a dial gauge on the rockers/valves to determine lift. Are these more modern Polo engines more accurate in terms of the timing marks?

there should be an imprint on the pully so it shouldnt be a problem..

i cant remember how this works exactly as its my brother that showed me this but its something like you get a screw driver and put it down the first cylinder, turn the pulley untill you can feel the piston is at the top of the stroke, you can feel the screw driver raise and fall as it comes to the peak of the stroke and falls again.

cars have a firing cycle, so you find the first in the firing cycle ie cylinder one and you mark it when the piston it at the top of the stroke and that is the central position. ill try and find out exactly how to do this before you go ahead incase I'm wrong. I'm sure someone will be along to correct me soon tho.

If you would like a copy of the procedure from the "Autodata manual" gives a bit more detail than Haynes PM me or text me your email to 07765060766

What car do you drive?

hi guys

Sorry its been a while, been busy fixing other things (non car related luckily lol)

Its a 1.4 8 valve. 1997

cheers

russ

Nige

Thank you for the kind offer, I have text you my email.

russ

Nige

Thank you for the kind offer, I have text you my email.

russ

Hi Russ,

Your email comes back as non-deliverable?? so here is the info