astra 1.3 diesel

[spannerman 56]

i am replacing the timing chain on my astra estate as a valve spring snapped, can anyboby explain how to set the timing for the crankshaft ,ie have brought tool but where do you put the crankshaft locking pin.

[adyady1066]

If it's the same Z13DT engine as in the combo van then you will need a lot of patience and quite a bit of knowledge. I'm pretty sure they have the same stty Fiat engine which are nothing but trouble so I'll do a step through for you. If you need any help just ask. I had to struggle through my first one and got little help apart from people telling me how crap they are.

The flywheel has a recess in it for a locking pin....(or a 4mm diameter centre punch / screwdriver) and the cams are locked at the back of the rocker cover box. There's an 8mm hex bolt plug on the rear cam cover which, when you remove it, hides the second cam. In there you'll see, if you have a mirror and or you're a contortionist, a notch in the cam itself which should have a locking pin in it for timing setting. A 10mm bolt will suffice if you don't want to spend the money on a proper set. The crank is locked by putting the SD/Centre punch up through the bell housing from underneath. It will of course slot into place when you turn the crank and hopefully the cams will line up. If not, turn it another 180 deg until the SD disappears and the cams show the locking position as described above. (best to have a friend that will hold the said SD/CP.)

WARNING! The crank pulley bolt is left hand threaded therefore you 'tighten' it to loosen it (clockwise) and MUST be torqued down after re-fitting as it locks the bottom cam pulley like the Zetec engines. (anti-clockwise) (I found out the hard way and snapped 2xsockets trying)

I have rebuilt more of these than I care to acknowledge and am pretty familiar with them now. You can do it all on a jack on the floor but make sure that you time it up BEFORE removing the bottom pulley bolt and or the cam chain. You'll be if you don't and it'll leave you wishing you'd never touched it.

If you haven't already, you'll need to remove the fuel feed lines to the injectors, the wiring loom, the air intake pipes, etc to get to the rear of the cam covers. Heard enough yet or is it going to get the it needs?

Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.

[soundhound86]

Hi there I have found you're post on the z13dt engine most helpful, I just have a couple of comments/suggestions :-) I currently have a suzuki swift up on the ramp with the same z13dt engine. I am replacing the cam chains and tensioners and guides as the chan is really slack and making a right racket, I cnow it's a twin cam wich only has one cam chain sprocket, and both cams have a gear on them at the opposite end to the cam chain. So the cam chain rotates the sprocket on the exhaust cam wich turns the intake cam through those two gears at the opposite end of the camshaft, so my question is if I set it to tdc why should I lock the cam at the back if I have locked the front cam??? Is there any reason why this won't work?? You're help is greatly apriciated!

[S7Paul]

If I'm understanding you correctly, then you're probably right in that you only need to lock the front cam sprocket. The only word of caution is that if your engine is a similar design to the 150hp 1.9 diesel, the gears on the back end of the cams are not keyed in position - they rely entirely on the tightness of their securing bolts to keep everything aligned!