Is my cambelt due?

The cambelt on my VIS was last changed in July 2013, and I have done approx 15,000 miles since then. When should it be done again?

Last year....

Mine was done three years ago, maybe done around 10,000 miles. Whats the verdict?

Official figures from Fiat are 6 years or 72K miles for the 20v, whichever comes first. That's in every owners handbook, maintenance schedule and service manual that I've seen. People often quote lower figures but I've never seen anything from Fiat saying other than the above.

I left mine until 9 years as it had only done 33K , but I think I was secretly hoping it would snap so I could just scrap the car and wouldn't have to bother changing the belt and clutch myself.

When I picked up my Coupe in Feb it had the original belts which were by then 19 years old- but with only 36,000 on the clock. I was bricking it as I drove it at a sedate pace back from Glasgow to Leicester after reading some of the previous belt posts on the forum and horror stories about what went wrong. I booked it in to JBT to change the belts as part of the work I wanted doing and he did this but remarked the old ones were still in excellent condition.

My belt still looked fine at 9 years old but there wasn't much tension on it so it had definitely stretched and needed replaced. There's only so much adjustment possible in the spring of the automatic tensioner. I think the 6 years/72K belt limit is reasonable.

Is it really overdue Nigel? Eek!

Just thinking this myself. Looking through my documents the cambelt was done 7k miles ago but that was in 2009 . I'm thinking though that a belt change on a 16v could be done by any decent garage as it's less hassle than the 20v? Also I've read that an uprated Alfa pre-tensioner should be used as the original Fiat component is cr*p. Anyone heard of this?

It depends on your viewpoint - we tend to be very cautious with cambelts and suggest every three years, regardless of mileage, but I’ll accept that we’re erring on the safe side

4 years is ok, given your mileage, but I would be getting it done soon. Low mileage is just as bad, if not worse for belts, as they can perish through lack of use

I have finally succumbed to the constant niggling in my mind about the cambelt on my 20vt and I have booked it in with Antz @ AutoSportivo next week to have the job done.

It has been a constant concern since I bought the car in Mar 2015 - as although the seller told me it had been done and it did look like a new belt (in my most humble opinion of course) the best I could get from ringing all of the garages I could find receipts and stickers on the car was a suggestion it had been changed in 2013.

So a huge sigh of relief will be made by me when I drop Blue off next week.

Is there actually a recorded case of a cambelt going on a 20v / 20v Turbo? It's my understnding that auxillary belt failure is what normally fouls the cambelt?

That is something I heard too so had changed the aux belts and pulleys when I bought the car

I used to change my auxillary belt every 2 years as it was only £20 to do for peace of mind and cam belt every 5 years .

I dont want to cause panic... but my experience has been VERY lucky due to a couple of very close calls with the belts - the worst by far can be seen in one of my old posts Here See photos on near the bottom of page 2 to see just how lucky I was!

As such I plan on getting mine done in the spring when I plan on putting her back on the road. Admittedly mine is a turbo and possibly more prone to failure due to the extra power? I have probably only done a couple of thousand miles since they were last changed. Expensive job but far cheaper than the alternative.

Woooow - you were lucky

Get yourselves a cambelt guard



Leighton added a few short words in my build thread

When I had my belts done a couple of years ago I paid a bit extra and had JBT fit one of his 'Modified Lower Pullys'. This is in the hope of reducing catastrophic engine destruction by stopping the auxiliary belts wrapping themselves around the cambelt. Hopefully I'll never need its services...

I had one cambelt guard fitted when the above happened too! I hope I never need to test the theory behind its installation but it does give me a bit more piece of mind...

I've had two cambelts taken out by auxillary belts over the years. One bent every valve so I had a new head fitted - when they were rare (and expensive )

It went again in 2012 but only took out half of the cambelt at the time.

For the price of these guards, it's a no-brainer really.

Anyone have a link to anywhere you can get the guards from?

Modified pulleys do not protect from aux belt failures, it's not a 100% safe guard and I've repaired several that have jumped.

To date the only one that works 100% is Flea's alloy plate design, he'll supply and fit only if anyone is interested.

That is the one I was trying to find about Joe - thanks
So I will contact Flea

tl,dr: 16v cambelts are fragile and when they break they kill the engine - change at 3 years or 36000, whichever comes first.

20v cambelts are tougher but they will get wrecked if the aux belts die - change at 4 years or 60000, whichever comes first, but change the aux belts every two years without fail and inspect at every service.

Apropos of breaking cambelts: pootling around at low revs doesn't help, daft as it sounds... what breaks the belt is more tension than it can handle. That's related to the angular acceleration of the crank, and that's greatest at low revs (think how much faster the engine goes from 1000 to 2000rpm vs 5000 to 6000).

I think I can do my 16v myself

Coupes never pootle, they ROAR!!!!

After reading all the posts I feel nervous to drive my Coupe until it's done!

It's only 4 years old so it'll be fine Annie, running and driving the car keeps the belts moving so it's healthy for rubber, in the mean time save up to have it done when funds allow, not driving the car will just cause more harm then good.

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What Joe said... use is much better than standing; it reduces the chance of idlers and bearings seizing.

It's good when you have the belts done, you can happily give the car some beans and not have the nagging doubt which you get circa 5yrs after the last replacement.

I took my last main one up to 7+ years (did replace aux's at 3.5yrs) with 30K miles they looked in good condition. I don't thrash the car from standstill/traffic light grand prix's, I think that helps.

Blue is in the very capable hands of Ant at Autosportivo for cambelt and usuals.

I checked out Nathan's punto whilst I was there, modern classics editor I was told. He had taken out Antz newest acquisition of a silver 20vt and I briefly missed Tony in his coupe which had also been featured in the magazine like mine. Quite a reunion it could have been lol.

A pretty tardy belt then by the looks of it, phew

https://instagram.com/p/BauJQNND7Xo/

Oh dear! I'm afraid I do! It's all part of the fun!