Living Dedra

[ben]

Well I was a bit optimistic in predicting it being all downhill once I had identified my problem as a slipped timing belt but I am happy to report that all is now well again.
In case anyone out there is considering doing a belt change on an automatic Dedra (or Thema I guess) you need to start by making some special tools because
                              a)  There is no way to rotate the engine manually--engaging a gear and turning a wheel doesn't work---
                    and     b)  There is no easy way to lock the engine when you are trying to undo the bolt retaining the crankshaft toothed pulley.

   The "tool" that I made to lock the crank can be seen in the photo.The steel plate is about 1/4 inch thick and cut away sufficiently to allow access for the 22mm socket to fit to the central bolt. This is a left hand thread and is b****y tight---19 deca Newton metres which equates to 140 lbf ft---but seems much more to undo! 
    For checking purposes you might suppose one could wind the engine around using this bolt head but when the pulley for the alternator and the power steering pump is still in place the 22mm bolt head is in a recess with insufficient clearance for any sort of spanner. In the photo this pulley has been removed and three of the four M8 socket headed bolts that held it on have been used to retain the locking tool.
    To turn the engine while all the pulleys are in place the tooling ref a) above comprises two longer M8 bolts with collars so that they stand proud of the face of the pulleys and provide leverage points for a bar or tyre lever to wind the engine around.

    Happy mechanicing 2015 to all
                                               Ben
  PS  If anyone wants more info on the belt changing procedure I would be happy to oblige---eg on the ridiculously obscure locations of the various timing setting marks.

[ben]

   And this is how you apply lots of dNm's.

[peteracs]

Having just wrestled with removing the CV nuts on the hubs of my Beta, I can highly recommend a decent air gun to get these difficult nuts off. I spent some time with a similar arrangement as this without success, finally removed the hubs, took along to my local friendly garage guy and it took him all of 3 mins to do both including the usual hello's and fixing the CV joint in the vice........

Peter

[the.cern]

Ben, that does look as though it will help with the dNms!!!

Please will one of the more academic and/or practical members of our community explain when it is best to put a huge long lever arm with a relatively low load on a nut or similar to undo it and when it is best to use a relatively short but stiff lever arm and clout it with a large hammer to shock and/or surprise it into undoing!!!!

                                                      Andy

[lancialulu]

Ben, that does look as though it will help with the dNms!!!

Please will one of the more academic and/or practical members of our community explain when it is best to put a huge long lever arm with a relatively low load on a nut or similar to undo it and when it is best to use a relatively short but stiff lever arm and clout it with a large hammer to shock and/or surprise it into undoing!!!!

                                                      Andy

although having never met Harry I think he was right to banish hammers when working on Lancias. Unless the fixing in question is not even remotely connected to a bearing surface, I would always use a long lever. Clouting will potentially damage bearings. I am not sure where this puts the windy guns?

[JohnMillham]

Ben, that does look as though it will help with the dNms!!!

Please will one of the more academic and/or practical members of our community explain when it is best to put a huge long lever arm with a relatively low load on a nut or similar to undo it and when it is best to use a relatively short but stiff lever arm and clout it with a large hammer to shock and/or surprise it into undoing!!!!

                                                      Andy

although having never met Harry I think he was right to banish hammers when working on Lancias. Unless the fixing in question is not even remotely connected to a bearing surface, I would always use a long lever. Clouting will potentially damage bearings. I am not sure where this puts the windy guns?

Harry didn't banish them, but insisted they were only used under strict supervision. There are times when they are the apropriate tool for the job.
Regards, John

[lancialulu]

John

Perhaps you could explain the strict supervision and appropriate tool decision making?

Cheers

Tim