🛢️ Engine and consumables🧽 Car maintenance

Replacing the timing belt “Renault Megane 2” (Renault Megane II)

By Lukas Müller On Jun 10, 2022

The second generation Megane was produced with various engines ranging from one and a half to two liters. A common feature of all power units is the camshaft drive using a belt. Cars have been quite popular lately and are now quite widely represented in the secondary market. After buying a car, many owners are faced with the question of how and when to replace the belt drive on their Megan 2.

general information

The plant recommends replacing the camshaft drive belt every 115 thousand km. The design of the engine is such that when the valve belt breaks, they meet with pistons, so it is better to replace the belt in advance, at 65-70 thousand km. During the operation of the machine, it is recommended to check the belt after about twenty thousand km. Such simple recommendations will help to avoid long and costly engine repairs.

The main difficulty in replacing the belt is the lack of marks on the parts by which you can set the correct position of the elements of the gas distribution mechanism. The main types of engines on Megan 2 that are found on the current market:

gasoline 1400 cubes (98 forces), 1600 (113 and 116 forces) and 2000 (150 forces);
diesel 1500 (86 forces).

Special tool

To set the correct valve timing, you will need a fixing bolt for the crankshaft and a template to block the rotation of the camshafts. Original parts are numbered Mot.1054 and 1496 (for motors 1600 and 1400).

Many car owners make such fixtures on their own, using schematic drawings of fixtures.

Replacement materials

Details for replacing the timing belt with a Renault Megane 2 with a 1.6-liter engine:

Belt repair kit (belt, two tension rollers and a bolt that serves to attach the main pulley).
Pulley hex bolt (since around 2016, not supplied in the timing repair kit).
Plugs for camshafts.
Coolant pump.
sealant for installation.

A similar set will be needed to service any other engine on Megan 2.

Instruments

For work on replacing the timing belt on the Renault Megane 2, you will need:

Standard wrench set.
Additional sockets for 16 and 18 mm.
Hexagon with a size of 5 mm.
Key under “asterisk” 5 mm.
Clips (original or homemade).
Screwdriver with a flat sting.
Hydraulic jack.
Rolling jack.

Work sequence

The following describes the procedure for replacing the timing belt on a Renault Megane with a 1.6 engine with 16 valves (the most common option):

Put the car on a lift or in a pit.
Raise the car on a jack and remove the front wheel (on the right) and the protective plastic locker in the arch.
Remove the engine shield and slightly raise it with a jack. Between the crankcase and the head of the jack, lay a wooden insert, since without it you can easily damage the pallet. A standard mechanical jack or a hydraulic jack can be used for lifting.

Remove the top plastic cover from the motor.
Loosen the bolts to secure the engine mount to the head. There are five bolts in total. The bots have a different dyne, it is better to mark their relative position.
Remove the three bolts that secure the support to the body side member.
Remove pillow. At the same time, it must be carefully removed through the gap between the air conditioner tube and the body.
Remove the upper part of the metal belt cover. It is fixed with two nuts and three bolts. Access to one nut is only possible through the mounting hole in the wheel arch. Under the removed cover, you can see the belt, two gears and the phase shifter.

Remove steel reinforcement plate between subframe and body.
Remove the poly V-belt of the aggregates.
Turn the shaft by the pulley nut in a clockwise direction, setting the marks on the gears for rotating the camshafts. Achieve the direction of the marks upwards, while the right mark should not reach the groove in the head housing a little.
Fix the crankshaft with a special bolt by screwing it into the hole in the crankcase. It is located next to the flywheel (below the dipstick hole) and is closed with a screw plug. After screwing the bolt to the stop, you need to turn the shaft clockwise until contact with the latch rod is reached. In this case, the piston in the first cylinder will be in the maximum upper position. The position can be checked through the hole in the head for the spark plug.

Remove the air supply line and throttle assembly.
Pry out the plastic plugs on the camshafts with a screwdriver.
Insert the retaining template into the grooves of the camshafts. The grooves must be on the same straight line and be below the axis of the shafts. A latch with a thickness of up to 5 mm should enter without effort.

Loosen the bolt and remove the pulley. The bolt is unscrewed either by the starter or by turning on the gear and holding the brakes.
Unlock the lower part of the metal belt cover, secured with four bolts.
Loosen the idler pulley retaining bolt.
Take out the belt.
Drain the fluid and remove the pump, mounted on eight bolts. To drain antifreeze, a hose from the expansion tank is usually used.
Remove the bypass roller.
Apply sealant to the gasket and mating surfaces of the pump and block. Install the pump and tighten the bolts in a circle.
Install the tension roller and put the belt on the camshaft gears. When installing, take into account the direction of rotation of the mechanism. Temporarily fix it with plastic ties.
Pull the belt over the remaining gears and install the bypass roller. Do not forget to put the washer left over from the old one under the roller.
Turn the eccentric in the center of the tension roller with an internal hex wrench until the eccentric pointer aligns with the mark on the housing. The direction of rotation is indicated on the eccentric.
Tighten the bolt to secure the roller to the stop. Install the lower half of the casing and the pulley. Remove braces and fasteners. Turn the motor shaft 4-8 turns and check the alignment of the marks and grooves for the template.
Fill with fresh fluid.
Reinstall all removed parts.

Alternative Method

Another way to additionally check the correctness of the installation of the phases is to mark the old belt and drive gears. Marks are applied to all contact points of the belt and gears.

Then the marks are transferred to a new belt, and it is installed on the gears in accordance with the marks on them. After that, the engine is turned by hand several times for another stage of control.

Features of replacement on other motors

The procedure for replacing the timing belt on a Renault Megane 2 with a 1.4-liter 16-valve engine is absolutely identical to the procedure described above on a 1.6-liter counterpart.

And what about the diesel? Replacing the timing belt on a Renault Megane 2 with a diesel engine does not have any major differences from gasoline options. But there are some differences:

The belt cover is made of plastic and is fastened with latches and a pin that connects the cover halves. This pin can only be unscrewed through the hole in the side member. To do this, you will have to vary the position of the engine until the pin is opposite the hole.
Before removing the casing, it is necessary to remove the sensor that determines the position of the camshaft.
The camshaft is fixed with a pin with a diameter of 8 mm, which is inserted into the hole in the gear and into the hole in the head. The crankshaft is fixed with a stopper (original number Mot1489). Gasoline and diesel engine stoppers have different lengths!
Since the belt also drives the fuel supply pump, its gear is set with a mark in the direction of the head of a single bolt on the engine crankcase.

Replacement price

When doing do-it-yourself work, the cost of replacing the timing belt on Renault Megane 2 will consist only of the price of spare parts. So, the cost of spare parts for a diesel car will be:

Belt kit 7701477028 – 3200 conditional units.
Bolt 8200367922 – 400 conditional units.
Pump 7701473327 – 4700 conditional units. Or an analogue from SKF, article VKPC86418, worth 2300 rubles.
New coolant 7711428132 GLACEOL RX (Type D) – about 2.5 thousand standard units.

The total cost of replacing the timing belt at Renault Megane 2 will not exceed 11,000 conventional units, which is much cheaper than overhauling the engine or buying a new contract engine.