Cam Belt Replacement

[robinrussellcook]

I am arranging to have the cambelts done and wanted to check what else, such as the idler pulley, should be done at the same time?

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

[lotus4s]

I am arranging to have the cambelts done and wanted to check what else, such as the idler pulley, should be done at the same time?

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

What year car and how many miles?

[bingoking]

I am arranging to have the cambelts done and wanted to check what else, such as the idler pulley, should be done at the same time?

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Just had my belts done a month ago.

My car is 4 years old with 12,000 miles. Over and above the service and the belts it needed a new water pump as it was begining to seize up. I was a bit sceptical so asked to see the car and right enough the technician showed me the pump still in situ and he could hardly turn the pulley and when it did turn it was squeeking. The total including the dreaded tax was

[gmendoza]

Just had my belts done a month ago.

My car is 4 years old with 12,000 miles. Over and above the service and the belts it needed a new water pump as it was begining to seize up. I was a bit sceptical so asked to see the car and right enough the technician showed me the pump still in situ and he could hardly turn the pulley and when it did turn it was squeeking. The total including the dreaded tax was

[cweeden]

I am arranging to have the cambelts done and wanted to check what else, such as the idler pulley, should be done at the same time?

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Make sure they check the bearings on the intermediate shaft which drives the cambelts. This is a short shaft and the bearings have been revised at least once by Lotus. Mine was very badly worn at 26k despite an engine rebuild at 16k for the dreaded water leak.

One bearing was 200 GBP alone from Lotus while a comparable bearing from SKF was only 40 GBP! I bought the Lotus one as they claimed it was a special, when it arrived it was the SKF bearing in a Lotus bag and box!

OBTW, you might as well check the exhaust maniold studs, the passenger side (UK) on this and my previous V8 had broken studs at the rear of the engine. I have replaced mine with ARP studs in an attempt to resolve this.

While all this was done I replaced the water pipes to the turbos due to corrosion and the turbos themselves for the same reason. I chose to keep them standard apart from 360 degree bearings. I am a Lotus fan but sometimes I would like to call them to task on one or two issues, build quality is one of them.

cheers

-Chris

Edited July 9, 2007 by cweeden

[2003 V8 TT]

FYI -

According to Lotus Cars USA: 12k-mile cam belts inspection and re-tensioning, free of charge. Cam belts change at 100k miles! Can this be correct?

-Will

'03 V8

[gmendoza]

FYI -

According to Lotus Cars USA: 12k-mile cam belts inspection and re-tensioning, free of charge. Cam belts change at 100k miles! Can this be correct?

-Will

'03 V8

Yes Lotus USA will do one free adjustment and one free replacement.

As for the adjustment intervals, I've heard from the local Lotus specialist say every year/6k miles to the local dealer saying every 3 years/15k miles.

As for the replacement, I've also heard to replace every 4 years while the manual says every 8 years or 102k miles.

Talk about inconsistencies.

[robinrussellcook]

Thanks All - I have a 96 V8 with 38,000k - live in Australia.

SJ Sportscars were recommending that I have the cam belt tensioner bearings replaced as well. Is this common?

Chris, do you have a product code for the SKF bearing and know where I can order one? It is often cheaper to buy from the UK (no VAT as well!!) than buying in Australia and much quicker than ordering through the local distributor.

- Robin

[nicksoldies]

FYI -

According to Lotus Cars USA: 12k-mile cam belts inspection and re-tensioning, free of charge. Cam belts change at 100k miles! Can this be correct?

-Will

'03 V8

Lotus had to certify the cars for 100,000 miles in the USA. NOTHING other than service items can fail before that. On a recent trip to the factory, I listened to this and questioned it to confirm. The answer was that the belts are good for 100,000 miles with regular cheks and adjustments. I asked my local specialist about this as mine is well below the mieage required for replacement but past the age. He told me not to worry, he had never seen or heard of a cam belt breakage on even a 4 cylinder with the later tooth profile.

Edited July 9, 2007 by nicksoldies

[fmxa]

I've seen 2 V8's with broken cam belts, and I have mine checked and adjusted every year just to be certain.

Lotus had to certify the cars for 100,000 miles in the USA. NOTHING other than service items can fail before that. On a recent trip to the factory, I listened to this and questioned it to confirm. The answer was that the belts are good for 100,000 miles with regular cheks and adjustments. I asked my local specialist about this as mine is well below the mieage required for replacement but past the age. He told me not to worry, he had never seen or heard of a cam belt breakage on even a 4 cylinder with the later tooth profile.

[joeyoesprit]

Lotus had to certify the cars for 100,000 miles in the USA. NOTHING other than service items can fail before that. On a recent trip to the factory, I listened to this and questioned it to confirm. The answer was that the belts are good for 100,000 miles with regular cheks and adjustments. I asked my local specialist about this as mine is well below the mieage required for replacement but past the age. He told me not to worry, he had never seen or heard of a cam belt breakage on even a 4 cylinder with the later tooth profile.

I was concerned about the cam belts breaking too. I purchased my Esprit new as a leftover model in late 2003. I requested a letter from Lotus USA about the cam belt service mid-way thru the warranty period (after the 1st year). Lotus USA sent me back a nice letter stating the yearly free adjustment and that Lotus would replace my cam belts at either the acquired mileage point (can't remember what that was) or in March 2008 which is about 4 years after I purchased the car.

This letter has saved me a couple of times when the dealer tried to charge me for the cam belt check. I show them the letter and then they say "no-charge."

It is nice to have this issue in writting from Lotus USA.

I wonder if they will cover the cam belt tensioner bearings or just the belts?

JoeyO

2001 V8

Edited July 10, 2007 by joeyoesprit

[redshift]

I asked the factory recently and got this reply:

Lotus' current recommendation for cam belt servicing is for a tension check

every 20,000 km (or 24 months) and belt renewal at 40,000 km (or 4 years),

in each case being the first occuring of distance or time interval.

It is true to say that there has been some confusion over this issue, but

this is the current recommendation.

I hope this helps.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Massey - Technical Service

Senior Technical Author

[2003 V8 TT]

I already got my one free belts inspection and re-tension at 12k-miles. Could someone please tell me when I could expect (at what mile and/or time) to get my one free timing belt replacement via Lotus Cars USA?

[joeyoesprit]

I already got my one free belts inspection and re-tension at 12k-miles. Could someone please tell me when I could expect (at what mile and/or time) to get my one free timing belt replacement via Lotus Cars USA?

According to the Letter I recived from Lotus Cars USA on this subject matter, Lotus will inspect the cam belts 12,000 miles or 18 months and will change them once during the first 8yr or 80,000 miles (usually at the 4- 1/2 years or 36,000 miles).

JoeyO

[bingoking]

Why did you replace the belt at 4 years and 12k mi when the manual says to replace every 8 years?

Yes you are correct, in the hand book the service schedule for the car states that the cam belts should be changed after 24,000miles or 8years, whichever comes up first. At the 3 years service I was told that the next service i.e. at 4 years would require the belts to be changed. I checked with the factory and they confirmed that they had moved the interval for changing the belts from 5 years to 4. For the life of me I can't see how they can change their minds like this, unless of course there has been a spate of V8's younger than 8 years old with broken belts. It would have been just my luck to not chnage the belts and something happen.

Regards,

Brian