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Kangoo Express 1.4 timing belt/waterpump job

23K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Rolfe 
#1 ·
Hi guys, what a wonderful relevation this forum was when I stubmled across it earlier this evening.

I have a Kangoo 1.4 which now leaks coolant in the timing belt area. As I have heard the pump make some whining noise when starting up only to quiet down after 5-20 seconds I have more or less been waiting for it to happen.

I called different garages today including the local Renault dealer/garage. The "cheapest" wanted £900 to replace the pump and install a new timing belt kit, and the Renault garage was even worse. The price included parts and they calculated 6.5 hours for the job. Is it really that time consuming to replace the waterpump and timing belt on a Kangoo (more model information below). Do they have to take the engine out or loosen it from its mounts to swing it sideways to work on it? Taking a look today the workspace might best be described as "cramped" I think :d

I ended up ordering a waterpump, timing belt kit and "fan belt" kit. I have done some work on engines before but never on the Kangoo or any Renault. Are there any special pitfalls to look out for on this model?
Is the cooling system self-venting? If not, where can I find the venting?


Model information on my Kangoo:
RENAULT KANGOO EXPRESS VF1FC0BAF
Chassis # VF1FC0BAF25238171
Engine code: K7JA7
Paperwork says it is a 2002 model, but it is registered first time 2001.august.06

It is a 5 speed 1.4 petrol engine without AC.

It has 160.000km on it now so the cost of having a garage do this job is almost as much as the worth of the car. I figure if I replace the pump and timing belt I'll get 5 years/100.000km more out of it.


Last piece of information: I live in Norway and things are pretty expensive here so doing as much as possible yourself is a real money saver. Number of garages are limited and distances are long.


Any help or hints greatly appreciated. Have not found a Haynes book or any online photo-documentaries on the water pump/timing belt process on this engine.
 
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#6 ·
Oh well

CRC, an impact wrench at 10 bar and loads of airflow and the bolt came off.

Removed the rest of the covers and got to the timing belt. I was really surprised by how loose the belt was on the passive side (from crankshaft to camshaft). I could easily work it 1-2cm each direction.

Now I have identified the marks on the pulleys, but where the deuce are the timing marks on the block? I even checked the covers and on the lower cover there is what might be a timing mark. On the top cover I dont see any.

Any pointers on where I should look?
 

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#7 ·
the pulley should have came off with a spanner on an 8 valve engine.

Anyway, the belt shoudl have the marks on it which are fine to time it up, however if you simply must line it up with the block as well, the cam pulley mark should be at 12 o'clock and the crank mark at 6 o'clock.

Some of the blocks have the marks cast on them but many don't yours seems to be one that doesn't just line them upo as I said and the marks on the belt will further confirm it.

The belt on these is an easy 30 min job, did you get a new tensioner as well?
 
#9 ·
Done.

I was unable to get the timing marks at 12 and 6 o'clock so I set the camshaft at 12 and the crankshaft at 5, marked the positions on the block with some white paint and took off the timing belt.

Unbolted the waterpump. Hosed the cooling system. Cleaned up and cleaned the area around the pump. Dried of and installed the new pump. Scratched my head a bit at the plastic gasket that came with the pump. Who have seen plastic gaskets before..

Anyway, bolted the new pump on. Checked that it could run freely and then put on the timing belt tensioner. Put on the timing belt with the marks on the belt matching the marks on the pulleys. Was careful to not accidentaly move the pulleys while doing this. Tensioned up the timing belt (next time I'll make sure I have the tensioning tool) and checked tension (with the tool I did buy). Cranked the engine around 2-4-6-8 times and checked that the timing marks still lined up, which they did. Hooray. Put on all the covers and the drive pulley. Installed a new drive belt, tensioned it up and filled coolant on to the car. Started the car with some apprehension, and it ran faultlessly. Left it running and continued to fill coolant on it as the system vented. Went for a drive and everything seems OK.

Great experience, and the next time it will be much - much faster. Thanks for the answers I got here!
 
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