:: Camshaft Variator (inc. timing belt) Replacement ::

This is an abridged version of the article by Jaap Bouma, often used by owners of Twinspark equipped cars to assist with changing the troublesome cam variator. The belts have to be removed to do the job so it's a good guide for their replacement too.

To hear if your variator needs replacing, click on the lnks below:

Badly worn Variator | New Variator
(clips by Graham Williams)

It's worth looking at this link if you aren't intending to replace the belts and tensioners on time (36k/3yrs) - Worn Tensioner. DO NOT use the old Alfa recommendation of 72k miles, doing so is likely to result in dead engine and expensive repair bill, even Alfa quote the lower intervals now.

If you have any queries about this technical piece or you wish to submit your own article, please email technical@alfa155.co.uk


The Achilles heel of the 16V twin spark engines has always been the phase variator on the inlet camshaft. According to an Alfa Romeo service bulletin, there have been several editions, the earlier of which were particularly prone to premature failure.

A service bulletin (Pages 1 2 3) indicates that the earliest version cannot be replaced without replacing the inlet camshaft. Later versions can be replaced or even repaired with a seal/spring kit. Personally I wouldn’t bother with the repair kit, because in my experience the splines in the variator are also prone to wear. On my car this gave between 1 and 2 mm of play at the circumference of the pulley.

Replacing the variator is a fairly straightforward job, provided you have the right cam locking tools to set the timing correctly. If you don’t have the cam locks, don’t even think about doing this job. Depending on the condition and mileage of the engine, you may decide to combine this job with some other jobs. The water pump is an example. It doesn’t have a reputation for failing, but on my car it had been on the engine for over 195,000 kms, and it’s not expensive, so I decided to renew it regardless of condition.

Finally, on a job like this, where you will be opening up the engine on the car, cleanliness is essential. If you get sand, dirt or grit in the engine you’re well and truly up that creek. I wouldn’t do this job outdoors, especially if it’s windy!

Torque Settings

The Phase Variator
(Variator Solenoid details)

The following parts are essential if you’re going to do the job properly:

  • Phase variator
  • Timing belt
  • Balance shaft belt
  • Timing belt tensioner & idler pulley

Also recommended:

  • Camshaft oil seals
  • Inlet camshaft bearing shells (the bearing that the variator runs in, the other cam bearings have no shells)
  • Poly-V belt (PS pump, alt)
  • Water pump
The workshop manual says that you will need a number of special tools, fortunately, the job can be done without most of these tools. The only ones you most definitely need are the two cam locking tools which are readily available online.
The bolts on the spark plug cover, valve cover and inlet camshaft wheel are of a Torx-like type called RIBE, but a Torx T40 bit will work equally well and is more easily available.

A more or less complete list of tools required is as follows:

  • Cam locks for your engine type
  • RIBE no. 7 (I think) sockets or keys OR Torx T40 (both short and long)
  • Torx T30 key or socket for variator solenoid
  • Allen keys 5 and 6 mm
  • Sockets and spanners in sizes 10, 13, 15, 19 mm (I only use six-sided sockets).
  • Torque wrench
  • A homemade tool for the variator and the camshaft pulleys (see picture below)
  • A steel pin, 8mm diameter, ca. 10 cm long (4”)
  • A bench vise
  • Thread locking compound (Loctite) medium and extra strong
  • Non-hardening gasket compound, non-silicone! (I like Blue Hylomar or Comma Red)
  • Lots of brake cleaner, tissue, rags, brushes etc

1. First step is to drain the coolant if you’re going to do the water pump, and remove the short hose between engine and expansion tank.

2. Raise the front of the car on axle stands and remove the right-hand front wheel. 3. Remove the plastic cover plate that sits in front of the crankshaft pulley.

4. Find the Top Dead Center mark on the crank pulley and the corresponding mark on the lower timing belt cover. Turn the engine until the TDC marks line up (put the car in fifth and turn the brake disc to turn the engine).

5. Remove the oil filler cap and check that the cam lobes for cylinder 1 are pointing toward the rear of the car. If they are not, turn the crankshaft another full turn until the timing marks line up and the cam lobes below the filler cap point backwards. Piston 1 is now at TDC on the compression stroke. The notches on the balance shaft wheels should line up with the marks on the engine block.

6. Working from the wheel arch, remove the poly-V belt. Use a 15mm spanner on the tensioner pulley bolt (see photo) to push the tensioner back (rotate counter-clockwise), until you have enough slack to slip the belt off the PS-pump pulley. A second pair of hands comes in handy here. Remove the belt and bin it

7. Loosen the four allen bolts (6mm) holding the  crankshaft poly-V belt pulley, check the TDC marks still line up and remove the pulley.

8. Remove the four allen bolts that hold the lower timing belt cover and remove the cover. IMPORTANT: Mark the crankshaft toothed pulley and the engine block with paint to make your own TDC marks.

9. At the top of the engine, remove the spark plug cover (six RIBE bolts).

10. Undo three allen bolts and lift up the coil pack assembly. It helps if you pull the high tension leads for the secondary spark plugs first. Put to the side as far as the cables allow.

11. Pull the injector plugs and the variator solenoid plug. Unclip the plastic rail holding the cables from the fuel rail and move the whole thing out of the way as far as possible.

12. Remove the allen bolts from the black plastic timing belt cover, and pull the cover upwards to remove.
13. Clean out the spark plug wells, as the valve cover tends to leak oil into them. Clean the timing side of the cylinder head and engine block as much as possible.

14. Remove the belts from the engine.
15. Undo the 10mm nut at the back of the balance shaft belt tensioner (just above the oil filter), and remove the tensioner and the belt.

16. Loosen the 13mm nut on the white timing belt tensioner wheel, and slide the timing belt off of the pulleys.

17. Undo three allen bolts (6mm) and remove the timing belt tensioner – idler assembly.

18. Optional: undo two 13mm bolts and try to remove the water pump without marking the cylinder head mating face.

19. Undo the nine RIBE bolts and lift off the valve cover. Be careful not to damage the rubber seal.
20. Check the camshafts for wear. The tips of the lobes will be shiny, but any wear on the up- and downslopes is bad news. Most likely to wear are the first two lobes on the inlet camshaft, as they sit right underneath the oil filler cap where sand or the oil filler nozzle at your friendly local dealer can get at them.

 

Pictures on the left show a dead camshaft!

21. Remove the camshaft pulleys. The inlet pulley is fitted with four RIBE bolts (I used a Torx T40 socket), the exhaust cam pulley with a 19mm bolt which is TIGHT (or should be). Use the pulley tool to keep the pulleys from turning.

22. Undo the four bolts (10mm) holding down the camshaft bearing end cap next to the pulleys and remove the end cap.

23. Remove the small oil seal from the exhaust camshaft end.
24. IMPORTANT: Mark the inlet camshaft bearing caps (1 to 5). The numbers cast into their tops are meaningless: I found numbers 1, 4, 2, 4 and 14 respectively.

25. Remove the bearing cap bolts, firstly just half a turn each to ensure an even spring load on the camshafts and bearing caps.

26. Lift out the inlet camshaft. Clamp it in a vise with soft jaws (I used bits of wood).

27. Using the homemade tool, unscrew the phase variator from the camshaft. This may be very tight, as it’s loctited in place.

28. Clean the threads in the camshaft and on the variator.

29. Put red Loctite (extra strong) on the threads of the new variator, taking care not to get any into the oil channel, and screw it into the camshaft. Tighten with the pulley tool (see picture) and leave overnight for the Loctite to cure fully.

30. Remove the old variator bearing shells from the cylinder head and the camshaft bearing end cap.
31. Clean the bearing recesses and fit the new shells. Put some oil on them.
32. If you’re replacing the camshaft as I was, take out the cam followers (use a magnet or your fingers) and put in eight new ones.
33. Put the camshaft back in with the cam lobes for cylinder 1 pointing up and towards the rear of the car.

34. Place bearing caps 1, 3, 4 and 5 on the camshaft and GRADUALLY tighten the bolts most of the way, but not fully.
35. Now fit bearing cap 2 (the one with the oil supply for the variator). This cap controls the end float of the camshaft, so jiggle the camshaft lengthways until the cap slots over the locating dowels.
36. If you just fit it and tighten the bolts, chances are the cap will catch on the edge of the dowels and you’ll end up ruining the cap as you tighten the bolts.

37. Oil the new oil seals and slide them over the camshaft ends, but don’t push them fully home yet.

38. Very carefully clean the mating face of the camshaft bearing end cap and the head, removing all traces of the old gasket compound.
39. Put some liquid gasket on the bottom of the end cap and fit it over the camshafts. 40. Push the oil seals fully home.
41. Refit the camshaft pulleys, but don’t fully tighten the bolts.

42. Fit the water pump, which should come with a new O-ring. This is a bit of a pig, because the O-ring tends to slip out of its groove, which causes water leaks and misalignment of the timing belt wheel. Not good. I used a small mirror to check all the way round before pushing the pump fully home. Use a little Loctite medium on the bolts.
43. Fit the new timing belt tensioner and idler assembly. Don’t tighten the nut on the tensioner wheel yet.

44. Fit the new balance shaft belt tensioner, but do not tighten the nut yet. Use some Loctite medium on the three bolts.

45. Remove the inlet camshaft bearing cap on cylinder 2 (you marked this cap as number 3) and the exhaust camshaft bearing cap on cylinder 3. Fit the cam locking tools taking care not to damage them on the dowels.
46. Check your temporary TDC marks on the crankshaft toothed pulley.

47. Now fit the timing belt around the crankshaft toothed pulley, tensioner, water pump, idler, and camshaft pulleys. Fit the balance shaft belt around the crankshaft toothed pulley, tensioner and balance shaft pulleys, making sure that the marks (small notches) on the balance shaft pulleys are lined up with the marks on the block. For both belts, make sure that the arrows on the belts correspond to the direction of travel.

48. Refit the bottom timing belt cover and check that the TDC marks still line up. If they don’t, fiddle with the crankshaft and the belts and the whole lot until everything does line up.

49. Fit the 8mm pin (see tools list) into the hole next to the timing belt tensioner, and use that and a screwdriver or similar to set the tension of the timing belt to maximum (pointy indicator on tensioner points at the steel pin). Tighten the 13mm nut on the tensioner wheel.

50. Using a screwdriver or similar, adjust the balance belt tensioner until the indicator sits in the middle of the cut-out in the hexagonal bolt head in the center of the tensioner wheel (if you look at it you will understand). Tighten the 10mm nut at the back of the tensioner bracket. Also tighten the bolts on the camshaft pulleys, using the pulley tool to hold the pulleys.

51. Remove the cam locks and refit the bearing caps. Turn the engine by hand through two full revolutions, taking care not to let the engine turn backwards at the end of it; not even slightly!!

52. Adjust the timing belt tensioner, reducing the tension until the indicator points at the little hole in the base of the tensioner. Check that the balance shaft belt tension is still correct. You should end up with the timing side of the engine looking something like the picture below. Note the notches on the balance shaft pulleys.

53. Refit the valve cover. I like to use liquid gasket on the valve cover gasket, is this is prone to leaking oil all over the place. Be careful not to overtighten the bolts, as this may crack the cover.

54. Refit the remaining bits and pieces, connect everything up and put in new coolant. Refit the road wheel, take the car off the axle stands. Go out on a test drive and enjoy a reborn Alfa Romeo engine. You’ll be amazed at the difference.


The Variator Solenoid

The phase variator is controlled by the variator solenoid sitting between the fuel injectors for cylinders 1 and 2.

It’s an electromagnetic actuator that operates a hydraulic valve against a spring (see photo). On older cars, it may start to leak oil onto the inlet manifold. I took the opportunity to fix this leak at the same time that I did the variator, because the valve cover has to come off to undo one of the solenoid bolts.
I found that there is no seal or gasket on the solenoid.
I Instead, the bore that it sits in has an oil drain hole through which oil can flow back towards the sump (see green arrow). On older engines, crankcase pressure will force oil past the solenoid to the outside, causing the oil leak. I put some liquid gasket in the recessed edge (red arrow), taking care not to get any into the bottom of the bore. I then very carefully slid the solenoid back in, and refitted its locking plate and bolts with a little Loctite medium. This seems to have done the trick, but it’s early days yet. Also, it seems to me that the symptom of  an oil leak because of crankcase pressure must be a sign of worn cylinder bores. So the next job looms on the horizon….


Torque settings

General note: I always use a torque wrench wherever possible. I’m sure that the mechanic at my local garage doesn’t and maybe it’s not always necessary, but it does give me peace of mind. But it’s up to you whether you want to do so or not. 

Crankshaft pulley bolts - 21-26 Nm - 15-19 lb.ft

Timing belt tensioner nut - 24-29 Nm - 18-21 lb.ft

Balance belt nut - 12 Nm - 9 lb.ft

Inlet camshaft pulley bolts - 12 Nm - 9 lb.ft

Exhaust camshaft pulley bolt - 100-124 Nm - 74-91 lb.ft

Camshaft bearing cap bolts - 13-16 Nm - 10-12 lb.ft

Valve cover and timing belt cover bolts - 9 Nm - 7 lb.ft

Water pump bolts - 17-21 Nm - 13-15 lb.ft

Variator solenoid bolts - 14-20 Nm - 10-15 lb.ft


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