Cambelt replacement interval for J636 petrol

[mhi]

The cambelt on my 1994 Espace RXE (J636, engine 2.0 petrol or J7R) was last changed in 2005, 52 000 miles or 85 ooo km ago. Is it time for a new one?

It looks like a fairly major job, all day for do-it-yourself in the drive, and I'm guessing I should replace the other three drive belts at the same time. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Mark

[Anders Dinsen]

Oh Yes, it's time! Way overdue, in fact. The job is fairly easy once you get the radiator off, but then you will have easy access to pulleys, belt etc.
Good luck!
Anders

[mhi]

Thank you for the advice. I've ordered three drive belts and a timing belt.

What is the proper interval? My car service handbook says 72 000 miles (120 000 km) and the Haynes manual says 80 000 miles. Both out of date, presumably.

Mark

[Anders Dinsen]

I'd replace the cambelt every 60 000 km or every 4 years, whiever comes first. It's so much easier og cheaper to replace it often than having to rebuild the engine if it breaks :-) by the way: replace the tensioning pulley too - the bearing won't last forever and it can cause even a good belt to snap if it fails.

Good luck :-)

[mhi]

I tried, and I've given up. My car has air-conditioning and I can't work out how to remove the radiator, attached to the condenser, without damage or loss of refrigerant. A Saturday afternoon of trying has convinced me that I may as well take the car (and my set of new drive belts and timing belt) to my local garage.

For what it may be worth, I got as far as removing the radiator grille, the reinforcing bar above the radiator and the brackets at the top of the radiator. I could then tilt it away from the engine, but only a little, and not enough to start work on the power steering and alternator + water pump belts. At that stage I decided not to experiment with removing the front bumper as well (which might have made a bit more space, with access to remove the fans and angle the radiator a bit more).

At least all the fittings I've undone, cleaned and replaced will come off again easily for the professionals. Discovered an unrelated problem, too: the exhaust gasket between manifold and front pipe is leaking. Grr.