Hi,

How easy is it to change the cambelt youself on an 03-05 STI? I am soon on the look out for an STI around this age but for my price range an imminent cambelt change will be more than likely in order, whichever car.

I have searched on here and the kit seems to be around £200 and £600 ish for a garage to do it. So I would have to budget that into offers for cars I see!

I know its generally 50k miles for a change but what length of time is a change needed? Often 5 years or so on other cars! My dads cambelt did give on age even though nowhere near mileage!

I changed the cambelt on my last car, VX220 Turbo. It was hard to get wrong with that though as you could get a cam locking tool from Ebay. And have only paid garages to MOT cars in all the time I have been driving, I prefer to do things myself!

Cheers, look forward to joining the fold soon!

 

Piece of cake to do yourself mate,

air intake duct off
remove the two radiator fans to give more access
Remove aux belts & aircon belt tensioner
Undo the crank bolt usually by means of a long bar wedged behind the passenger headlamp and give a quick flick on the key, then remove the pulley
undo the timing cover guards and remove.
Rotate the engine round until the marks appear Crank sprocket at 12 oclock
passenger inlet cam 12oclock
driverside inlet cam 12oclock
Passenger exhaust cam 3oclock
driver exhaust cam 9oclock
Usually fit a tool into the passenger intake cam and exhaust cam to stop them moving
gently push up the tensioner and fit a retaining pin in
and remove the belt.

reverse order of the above

 

Just do what he said, damn ninjas!

 

driverside cams run free when the marks are lined up so dont need holding, its just the passenger ones which are under tension, 2 x10mm allen keys can hold them quite easilly....

 

if you havent got a camlocking tool, is it ok to let the passenger side cams rotate to their zero lift position, and then turn the cams (obviously the directions shown from the manual only) back to there necessary positions and fit the new belt?

 

Thanks for the speedy response and help guys

 

Oh and what about time? Say I see a car with only 40k miles but is 7-8 years old? Is it 5 years like most cars or longer?

 

If you see a 7/8 year old car with 40k you can bet its been changed as like you say i think its 5 years or the milage whichever comes first.Tbh i have always wondered about the age thing though,what happens if you buy a belt thats been sitting in a box for 3 or 4 years

 

I'm guessing when not under tension it isn't going to suffer. Most I have seen of this age with lower than 50k miles haven't been changed though.

 

Maybe?? Subaru did mine on 42,000 5 years tbh as said its not too bad a job but if your buying its a way to knock the price down.

 

mind ya fingers in the right hand bank ... rob will know what i mean

 

ahhh Yes It brings tears to the eye, when those swines spin round

 

I have been a bit naughty with mine - its a 2004 sti WR1 which I picked up with 55,000 on the clock. its now got 61,500 on it and I am getting the cambelt done tomorrow... needless to say I have been driving it very gingerly recently... but its being done now!

but I am having mine done at a specialist for £190+VAT. I don't think it is too unreasonable, plus the peace of mind of having it done professionally, warranted, and a stamp in the book

 

Thats a good price for sure but it must be only the belt and not full kit, as parts alone are around £200 for the kit I think.

 

hmm, not sure mate. phoned the specialist, they quoted the price, and thats it!

 

sorry to hijack the thread but im just about to change mine on my classic impreza 2.0 turbo year 96 looks very similar to the pic u have up. i might be doing something wrong tho on lining them up have looked at the book about 20x and im positive im lining them up right.

on turning the crank i seem to line up all 4 sprokets no problem at all but cant c a mark on the crank pully anyway once they are lined up i take the crank pully back of there is an arrow on the crank pully sproket and it is facing at quarter past i would of thought that had to be at 12oclock and i know 2 full engine turns i one turn of the crank so its always gonna end up pointing at quarter past can anyone shed some light on this plz

kind regards
scot

 

This might help
http://www.scoob.co.uk/timingbelt.pdf

 

Does this apply to the blobeyes as well or have there been drastic changes?

 

There the same

 

Ahh, nice one!

I could easily get by with rob84's description but a printout with pictures just makes it that little bit more reassuring

Thanks everyone!