This information relates to a 2003 Renault Clio. 1.2 16V D4F Engine.

This was
done June 2008.

I offer this in the hope that it may help others, it worked for me so I am sure
others may find it useful.

This information is supplied to help other DIY ers. If anyone wants to use it
for commercial use or commercial gain please ask.
Please Note. This information relates to the Renault D4F Engine. This is a 1.2 16V Engine has a single
Cog driving the Cams and is different to other Engines fitted to Renaults. Make sure that you have the
D4F Engine by looking at some of the pictures below and comparing with what yours looks like. Some
of the other Engines in the Renault range will be completely different and will require different
techniques and methods as those described below.

It was time to replace the Cam Belt on the wife's Clio as she had the car from new
for five years. I had read lots of stuff from manuals and various message boards
on how to replace the Cam Belt and the advice was to replace the Cam Belt at
75000 miles or five years whatever was soonest. The information I had read while
helpful still left me somewhat confused. There was information about a special tool
to lock the Crankshaft etc but I found none of this was necessary as long as care
is taken not to move anything. There was also advice recommending to replace
the Water Pump. This is a good idea as to replace it requires removal of the Cam
Belt and as the pump only costs £40:00 it was best to do at the same time. Also it
is advisable to replace the auxiliary drive belt (The one that drives the Alternator
and other things dependent upon your version ) I did not do this as I had replaced
this belt a short while ago. Due to old age brain fade whenever I do a job on a Car
I always make notes to remind me how to do things again next time and as I have
made these notes and taken pictures I thought I would share in the hope that it
would help others. I have done this when I do work on my Car a 1972 Scimitar.
Any information regards the Water Pump can be ignored if you are only changing
the Belt although I strongly recommend you replace the Water Pump as if the
Pump fails it will cause damage to the Cam Belt resulting in severe damage to the
engine. When a Cam Belt breaks the Engine does not get damaged a little bit, it
gets damaged a lot. There are no special tools required apart from a normal
socket set, a small Torx screwdriver to remove the inner splash guard, a 6mm
allen key to fit the tensioner and a special spark plug spanner, see below. You will
also need a few cable ties as there are a couple of clips that hold stuff, these clips
are very fragile and brake as soon as you look at them, cables ties will be required
to replace the broken clips. The sharp eyes amongst you will notice what looks like
lots of black paint etc. This is waxoyl that I have applied to the Car in all the
vulnerable places like inside doors, underneath, in the chassis etc and in areas of
the Engine bay. It may not be necessary but make me feel better as the wife is the
type of Car owner who buys a Car from new and keeps it until if collapses in a
heap on the roadside so any protection I can apply will help to prolong the life of
the car. Any reference to left or right must be thought of as if you are sitting in the
driver’s seat so right means the offside, that is the side away from the kerb
assuming you are in a country that drive on the correct side of the road, that is the
left.

The Cam Belt Kit I used was a Continental, Part Number: CT1045 this contained
the Belt and Tensioner, the Water Pump was a Quinton Hazell Part Number: QCP
3523 this contained the gasket.

As with all work requiring working under a Car always make sure that the
vehicle is well supported. Do not rely on a jack or things like bricks, bricks
can and do crumble. A Clio landing on you is guaranteed to give you a sense
of humor failure.

It is recommended that the battery is disconnected as you will need to loosen the
Alternator and one of the connectors to the Alternator is always live. Make sure
you have the Radio Code as it will be required when battery reconnected. You can
do this work without disconnecting the battery if you are VERY careful not to make
contact with the Alternator connections, you have been warned so take great care
as if you do short the Alternator contact when in this area you will be applying the
full load of the battery and there will be a VERY big spark.

The first thing to do is to drain the coolant from the engine and radiator. The stuff I
had read advised removing the bottom hose from the radiator, a better idea is to
remove it from the Water Pump as you will need to do this anyway. Undo the two
bolts holding the hose to the Pump and push the hose down below the level of the
bottom of the radiator. Remove the Cap on the filler/expansion bottle and the drain
nipple and allow the coolant to drain. This can be a bit messy so a good idea is to
do this outside in the road. There are some who would want to save the coolant
but why not replace with new, it's not expensive and it is more than coolant, it
helps prevent corrosion inside the engine waterways so best to replace.
Remember when driving the Car back to where you are doing the work do so as
quickly as possible as there is no coolant in the engine.

Picture below shows bottom hose unbolted from Water Pump. Push hose down
below bottom of radiator to drain coolant.
Remove Alternator belt (Yours may have other things driven by this belt ) by
slackening the bolt at the top and the bolt at the bottom, only one bolt at the
bottom, undo from the connection end of the alternator. If there are other things
driven by this belt take note of how the Belt runs over the pulleys. Remember if
you have not disconnected the battery take care. If you look at the picture above
you will see a red lead going to the alternator, this is live all of the time when
battery connected so easy to make contact when undoing the bottom alternator
bolt.

Picture below shows Air Filter. Remove Air Filter Lid and Filter by unhooking the
hose from the Lid, undoing the two bolts and hinging the lid forward and unhooking
it. You will also need to remove the Air inlet pipe from the lid. This is done by
pushing in the location lug on the inlet connection to the housing.
Picture below shows Air Filter with Lid removed showing location of Cylinder Block
coolant bleed nipple.
Once all coolant drained you will need to remove the spark plugs. These can be
accessed by removing the Engine Top Cover.
This cover is removed by pushing in the three lugs as shown below.
Once the cover is removed you will see this.
The spark plugs will need to be removed to enable you to turn the engine later, the
H.T. Leads will have to be removed to do this. Take care not to pull on the leads
but to pull using the plastic bits. These are very fragile and are broken easy as can
be seen in the picture. This was done by a Renault garage so even the dealers get
it wrong. Unless you have something that will fit you will need a special spark plug
spanner to fit into the hole and to fit onto the spark plugs. These are not
expensive, I obtained one from my local Partco/Unipart dealer for £8:00. The
Partco/Unipart part number is TMITMSWPS14L. This Spark Plug Spanner is
common for a number of makes of cars and was on the shelf and did not require a
special order. The spanner can be seen below.
Once the spark plugs have been removed jack up the right front of the Car and
remove the road wheel, make sure that the Car is well supported. You will now
see this. Take note the jack you can see is only there to support the engine and is
not supporting the car.
Remove the inner splash guard. This is done by undoing the screws around the
wheel arch and mud flap, note that there is a screw holding the front of the splash
guard that is under the front of the splash guard and cannot be seen unless you lie
down and look up. Once these screws are removed remove the plastic rivet things.
Take care as these plastic rivet things can be broken it you do not take care. What
you are removing can be seen below.
Once the slash guard is removed you will see this.
If you look up you will see this.
Now support the Engine on it's right side as you will be removing the engine mount
on that side. Place a piece of wood between the Jack and the Engine so as not to
damage the sump. That is what the jack is doing above. You only need to gently
apply the jack as you only need to support the engine. When the Engine Mount is
removed the Engine will move back a small amount.
Now remove the Engine mount as shown below.

The Engine mount looks like this.

Now you need to remove the bottom pulley. The bolt holding this can be tight but
is easy removed and has a "normal" thread, anti-clockwise to undo. Put the Car in
fourth gear and get someone to press the brake pedal, now you can undo the bolt
without the pulley turning. I found using a long handle it was easier to have the
handle pointing up between the engine and chassis when undoing the bolt. Once
the bolt is removed the pulley can be taken off. No worries about alignment of the
pulley are there is a keyway that aligns with the bottom belt cog. Keep the Car in
gear, it will be needed later. Now remove the covers over the Cam Belt area.
There are three. Remove the middle one first, two bolts hold it, then remove the
bottom cover, one bolt holds it, then remove the top cover, four bolts hold it.

The covers look like this.

Once the covers are removed you will see this.

From above.
From below.
The Water Pump pulley can be seen on the right. Now you will need to align the
timing marks of the bottom and top cogs. You will need to do this by turning the
engine. This is easy, make sure that the car is still in fourth gear and if you refit
two road wheel bolts you can place a bar against the road wheel bolts and by
twisting the engine will turn, make sure that you only turn clockwise, never turn
anti-clockwise. If you look at the bottom and top cogs you will see an arrow on
each cog, turn the engine until the bottom cog arrow is at the bottom aligned with
the mark on the engine block and the top cog arrow is at the top. You may need to
turn the engine a few times to get them alligned. Once you have aligned both cogs
apply a blob of paint to the cog arrows and belt so if there are any problems you
know exactly what was where. There were marks on the Belt when new but these
marks would have been worn off so none will be seen. Once you are at this stage
DO NOT TURN ANY COG. If you count the number of teeth between each paint
blob you have made it should be the same as the new Cam Belt. The New belt will
have marks that should be in the same position as the paint blobs you have made.
The marks on the new belt can be seen below. Before you remove the tensioner
note the position of the belt in relation to the cogs, i.e. how central the belt is on
the cogs, you will need to remember this when fitting the new belt. Also twist the
Belt to see how much tension there is. Noting the amount the Belt can twist will
help in reassuring you that the new Belt is correct when it is fitted. Now remove the
Tensioner.

Pictures of the new Belt can be seen below, note the marks on the Belt, these
marks are used to align when fitting.
Assuming you are happy with all your checks remove the Belt. If you are changing
the Water Pump now is the time to do so. Remove all the bolts holding the Pump,
take care as there are some that cannot be seen, use a small mirror to look. Once
all bolts are off remove the Pump. It may be a bit reluctant so do not be be
tempted to use a screwdriver to lever off as you do not want to damage or scratch
any surface or you could have problems getting a good seal when fitting the new
Pump. Once the old Pump and gasket are removed clean the mating surfaces to
ensure a good seal. Make sure that you have cleaned really well as you do not
want any leaks. The picture below shows the Water Pump removed.
The new Water Pump looks like this.
Apply a good quality gasket sealer to the new gasket and fit to the Engine then
apply sealer to the pump and fit. Fit and tighten bolts, tighten to 9 Nm, 7 ft/lbs.
There is no need to apply lots of gasket sealer as you do not want any to squeeze
out, allowing sealer to become loose and get mixed with the coolant.

Now fit the new timing belt. Fit the belt on the bottom cog first making sure that the
mark on the belt aligns with the arrow then run belt around Water Pump pulley and
fit on the top cog making sure that the mark on the belt aligns with the arrow on
the top cog. Do not worry if the bottom cog falls off, it is located on a keyway to
align. Note that the belt can be fitted the wrong way round, if you have got it right
the two marks on the new belt will align easy with the arrows on the cogs, if you
have the belt the wrong way around the marks on the belt will be a long way off
but the Belt should have arrows showing the way to fit, i.e. the way the Belt
rotates. Now fit the tensioner. The new tensioner is fitted with a pin to hold the
spring in the tensioner in the correct position until tensioner fitted. Picture of the
tensioner with pin fitted is shown below.
Now fit the tensioner. This was something that caused me confusion as there are
two bits sticking out of the tensioner that I was unsure what they were for. They
are there to align and hold the tensioner in the correct position onto the engine.
These bits can be seen in the picture below.
The tensioner fits as shown in the picture below.
If you look before you remove the old tensioner you can just see the lugs but you
will need to look very carefully to see. Fit the new tensioner making sure that the
lugs are located correctly and making sure the new belt is around the tensioner
correctly. Align the belt on the cogs so it is central or wherever as you noted as
above.

Once the new Tensioner is fitted remove the pin and using a 6mm Allen Key turn
the Tensioner anti-clockwise until the pointers are in the position in the picture
below.
Tighten the Tensioner Nut ( 24 Nm ) then turn the Engine six full turns ( Using the
Wheel hub as described above ). Slacken Tensioner nut and using the Allen Key
turn the Tensioner clockwise until the lugs are aligned as in picture below.
Now tighten the Tensioner nut ( 24Nm ). All should now be correct.

The picture below looks a bit strange but note this is viewed with a mirror so what
you see in the mirror is upside down. This picture was taken before the old
Tensioner was removed.
Once you are happy with the tensioner position turn the engine ( Via the wheel
hub as described above ) six time and check that the belt is still in the correct
position, i.e. the marks on the belt are still aligned with the arrows on the cogs.
The reason for turning the engine six time is it takes that many rotations for the
timing marks to be in the correct position. Do not make the same mistake as me
and turn the engine two many times as it will look like the marks are not aligned
correctly. There will be a point when the bottom cog arrow is pointing down
correctly and the top cog arrow is pointing up. Check the tensioner is still correct
and all is now complete. Check that you have tightened the tensioner bolt. Twist
the new Belt to make sure that it is the same ( or similar ) to what you noted before
you removed the old Belt, the only reason I did this was to give me some
assurance that all was O.K.

Now as all the good books say assembly is the reverse of the above and in this
case it is true. When fitting the covers fit the middle one last, I don't think it makes
a lot of difference but looking at the way they fit together fitting the middle cover
last makes sense. When covers fitted fit bottom pulley. I suggest using some type
of thread sealer on the pulley bolt ( Locktite ? ). When fitting the bottom pulley
make sure that the keyway is aligned with the bottom cog and as above get
someone to press the brake pedal while you are tightening it ( Making sure that
the car is still in gear ) tighten to 40 Nm +70 degrees +/- 5 degrees. This means
tighten to 40 Nm then turn another 70 degrees. Fit the top engine mount, remove
the jack from under the engine, fit spark plugs, fit H.T. leads, fit top engine cover,
fit Alternator belt. Remember if you have not disconnected the battery take care.
The connector at the end of the alternator is live all of the time when the battery is
connected.

If you have not replaced the Water Pump ( Mad Fool ) all will be ready to start up.
Before you do so check you have not left any tools under the bonnet and all is
fitted and you have no bits left over. Just before you start the engine I suspect you
will have that moment of doubt is all OK. Be brave as long as you checked the
marks on the belt aligned with the arrows on the cogs nothing can go wrong.

If you have replaced the Water Pump refit the bottom hose and make sure that
you have tightened the bleed screw under the Air Filter, refill with coolant, do not fit
Air Filter cover yet. Best to use new coolant and my preference is a 50 / 50 mixture
of new Antifreeze/Coolant and water. That will give protection to any winter
temperatures likely in the UK and give greater corrosion protection. Be aware that
Anti Freeze / Coolant is more than stuff to stop the water freezing, it has stuff that
prevents corrosion and will also help with water pump bearings etc. Fill via the
filler/expansion bottle until below the Max mark then place a rag below the bleed
nipple under the air Filter and un screw it, wait until the air has been removed and
only coolant is flowing, replace bleed cap. Start engine and allow to get to correct
temperature. When temperature correct remove cap from filler/expansion bottle (
Take care, use a rag to protect your hand, unscrew cap slowly as things will be
very hot and there will be pressure ) when cap removed and pressure released
undo bleed nipple to release any trapped air, refit bleed nut. It is likely that the
coolant level will have dropped so top up to between the Max and Min marks, do
not be tempted to over fill as this is why it is called an expansion bottle, the level
rises when the engine is hot and to over fill will just mean that to much coolant will
be pushed out. Fit Air Filter and cover and make sure pipe is located in clip on
cover. The next day when the engine is cold check the coolant level again as it
changes slightly when cold and undo the bleed nipple to make sure any trapped
air is removed. The best time to check coolant level is when cold, make sure the
level is between the Max and Min marks.

I suggest that you keep the engine revs down a bit for a few miles as the new Belt
will be a bit stiff. This is only my preference.

I hope this has made sense and was of use. One thing I noticed while doing this
job was a trap for mud and dirt which could cause corrosion. When I removed the
Mud Flap on inner splash guard I noticed a build up of mud and dirt. In this area
this could remain wet/moist and potentially cause corrosion. I know the wings are
made of plastic but the other areas are not. While I was in this area I cleaned dried
and painted on Waxoyl filling the whole area so nothing could get in there again. I
did of course do both sides. The picture below shows what I mean by a mud trap.