Hello everyone,

Stumbled across this forum by accident and I think someone out there can help me. My Wife has been given (yes, given) a 2000 Amica Si which had only covered 16,000 miles when she got it. It has now done 20,000 miles and I've just serviced it. My local dealer respectfully pointed out that I ought to change the timing belt (recommended at 50,000 miles or 5 years apparently and the five year mark is here! Trouble is, Haynes and the like don't do a manual. Now, has anyone out there done this change. If so, I would like to hear from you. If anyone knows of a workshop type manual or would like to give me a step-by-step procedure, again, I would be interested. Many thanks in advance for any help which may be forthcoming.

Regards.

 

I am not too familiar with your model, but I have done this before and most setups are the same. First thing to do is to buy the new belt. Now that you have the parts that you need, the only tools required will be a ratchet and I am guessing a 15 mil. socket. Remove the belt cover completely to access the belt. The cover should be held in place by a few bolts. Now farther down on the block will be a tension pulley, this is where the fifteen mil socket comes into play. Loosen the pulley until the belt can be removed. IMPORTANT, do not move the cam pulley or any other mechanism except the tension pulley or you will put the engine out of time. Put the new belt in place and pull the tension pulley until the belt is tight. Check the belt, if you have any slack you need to tighten the pulley more. Once finished put the cover back on and you are done. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. If you can post a picture of your engine, close to the belt side prefferably, I may be able to go more in depth. Hope this helps.

 

Hi Poacher,

Many thanks for your reply. Do I not have to obtain TDC and lock the camshaft into place as this is the procedure on my old Mondeo? Also, the mechanic at my local dealer said something about removing the pulley which, according to him, is tightened to about 100 ft-lbs and thats *** tight. Incidently, the Amica superceded the Atoz (apparently), so I guess these two models are similar. I suppose then I just tighten the tensioner until 'fairly' tight, whatever this means. I've heard some mechanics say until you can just turn it through 90 degrees with 'moderate' thumb pressure (again moderate is a matter of opinion). If I can work out out to post a piccie on here I'll take one Saturday and post it. I can only assume you don't know of any workshop manuals? Thanks again for taking the trouble to reply.

 

No problem, I have done this procedure many times and am quite comfortable with it. I don't know how comfortable you are with it, but there is another way other than locking the cam. What I do is mark the tooth at the top of the cam pulley and then set it ahead one tooth, when the new belt is on, in order to get it really tight, once the tension pulley is tightened take a wrench and set the cam back to the original tooth. This little turn puts everything back to where it should be and insures the belt is tight.

 

Thanks again Poacher for replying. I'll give it a whirl when the warmer weather gets here.

 

Hello, I hope you got a satisfactory answer to your cam belt question. However, I wondered if you can give me some information. I bought (not given!() an Amica a few weeks ago. Like your wife's, although it is a 2007, it only has 16,000 miles on the clock. Regardless, I have calculated the fuel consumption several times and I am getting less than 30 mpg, which seems low for a 1100cc. I wondered if you know how many mpg your wife gets out of her's?

Regards,