Timing belt change turns into more than bargained for.

After my recent purchase of R467 Bac, as with any new vehicle I have purchased, a timing belt change was in order. Unlike some of the other cars I have bought recently this one actually came with service history indicating that the belts were due to be changed as it had been 7 years since they were last done, and although in that time the car had covered very little mileage, I don't like to mess around with these things.

Into the workshop she went, first thing to do was the timing belt and then i would do the fuel pump belt, by doing them one at a time i would know if i messed something up i wouldn't have two things changed at the same time which eliminates a lot of diagnosis time.

Now at this point i should clarify i am not a mechanic, i am fully self taught so i certainly make my fair share of mistakes but this is why i love working on cars, learning from my mistakes.

Everything was going well apart from not being able to find where to put the timing pin in the back of the engine. The timing belt tensioner required a special tool to wind it back to release the tension on the belt, but i got around this by making a tool out of M6 rod, some washers and nuts, as per the Haynes manual instruction. With the old belt removed and a new belt fitted, i began replacing the timing covers and began to refit the engine mount (bloomin transverse engines!!). But as i was replacing the engine mount bolts two of them went in slightly askew due to the engine being a bit off-kilter, and of course when i began to take them out, but with the force of the engine pushing on them they ended up snapping right off flush in the block - nightmare!!! The first setback was due to the nature of the snapped bolts was my normal tactic of welding some nuts onto the bolt wasn't going to fly. So my next plan was to drill the centers of the bolts and use some bolt extractors to whip the bolts right out! Believe it or not this also didn't work, now i would imagine a lot of people would hear the words 'bolt extractors' and roll their eyes but i have to give these "Dormer" brand bolt extractors some credit. Very kindly lent to me by Iain's dad Gordon, we gave these extractors a heck of a beating and they took it well. The next plan was to drill the bolts out completely, and to be honest this was much less time consuming then i was expecting! The next problem was that i didn't own a tap and die set that was big enough so there was more money i didn't want to spend, but i suppose i cant complain about a new tool set!

After all that i thought i was out of the woods - rookie mistake! I wasn't expecting anything out of the usual when doing the test start. But believe it or not the car gave nothing but a few coughs and a splutter, the first thing i assumed was the fuel system had an air lock so i spent a few minuets bleeding and priming the fuel system but this didn't work either, i knew i had fuel air and compression so that just left one thing, the timing. So off all the timing covers came once again and my mistake came to light - the timing was out -duh! I guess the lack of timing pin was not precise enough. With the engine timed correctly it ran correctly once more!

Like new!

While running the engine it became apparent i had bigger issues than timing belts. I noticed a puddle of diesel underneath the car, at first i assumed the fuel pipes needed nipping up but that didn't solve the issue either. After a lot of troubleshooting (and frustration) it became clear the pump was leaking from the seal itself. So off it came and i began to research rebuilt pumps and diesel specialists. The first problem i quickly found was the lack of availability for L series parts, coming from working on a 200tdi disco to the Freelander was certainly eye opening! So with pump seal kits and pre done pumps out of the window, it became apparent that i needed to get my own pump sent off to a diesel specialist, the first place i went wanted 1000 pound plus Vat! Not a chance! The next place i found was Thomas fuel injection in Blyth who were super helpful (and a lot cheaper). A few days later the pump was rebuilt and refitted.

Pump newly fitted

The next job was to change the fuel pump timing belt, an odd quirk of the L series engine. This job was much more simple as the access was much better and the tensioning setup was simpler too (no engine mounts to remove on this end thank goodness). When i removed the pump i noticed someone had been messing around with it before, a 'common' thing done with the L series is advancing the pump timing for easier cold starting, the fuel injector company obviously reset the pump timing to factory specification. So for ease of fitting and to uncomplicate it i decided to refit the pump without modifying the timing. But as with everything else on this job the car wouldn't start! This was concerning as if the pump timing was out i wasn't sure if it would be lost and need re-timing at an injection specialist, meaning all my work would be for nothing -again.

At this point i was very fatigued with the work as the car had been off the road for four months! This was very disheartening and i began to doubt myself, but i kept pushing and the next day me and my dad came down to the workshop and retimed the pump as we had nothing to lose if the timing was already lost! With the pump retimed i said to my dad "the pump might take some time to start up as it self bleeds". Just as the words were out of my mouth the car sprung to life, just on the tap of the key. The relief that came over me was amazing as i checked over the car and the test drive showed up no problems!

What a pain this whole job turned out to be! I can't believe that a four hour job turned into a four month job, but with the pump rebuilt and re timed and the rebuilt/ renewed injectors fitted, the car runs absolutely amazing and starts on the first tap of the key every time no matter the temperature.

-Kira