Clio 182 - Belt on wrong?

Let me just preface this by saying that I'm a complete automotive noob. Jacked up a car and did a service myself for the first time ever only a couple of weeks ago, so this might be a really obvious question to most. But I thought I best ask anyway!

I was fitting the fuel rail guard (mine didn't have one when I bought it) and noticed this belt which didn't seem to be fully sitting on the pulley (?)




Am I right in thinking that the belt should be fully flush on and if so, how do I go about rectifying it please?

That is indeed wrong, you need to slacken off the tensioner and move the belt towards the engine. Belt should be in the middle of the pulley.

Sometimes you can do it by turning the engine over by hand (socket on the crank pulley) and manipulating the belt over. But its likely just faster to get it on properly before it shreds itself and wraps around everything it shouldn't.

Flob said:

That is indeed wrong, you need to slacken off the tensioner and move the belt towards the engine. Belt should be in the middle of the pulley.

Sometimes you can do it by turning the engine over by hand (socket on the crank pulley) and manipulating the belt over. But its likely just faster to get it on properly before it shreds itself and wraps around everything it shouldn't.

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Thank you very much.

Would it be an easy thing for me to slacken off the tensioner and move the belt back on properly? How would I go about doing that?

Ahh sorry - I assumed you had fitted the belt.



Thats the belt tensioner, let me find some photos of the engine out the car so you can see whats happening a bit better.

This is a shot of the auxiliary belt with the engine out the car


You can see that some pulley have flanges and ribs and others are smooth, you need to have a really good look at everything, sometimes when an idler pulley fails it can let the belt walk off the ribbed pulleys - thats really bad.

It could also be that whoever fitted it last cocked up and didn't notice. The aux belt needs to be changed every 3 years - yours may very well be due, when the fail they can take out the main cam belt and that causes significant grief and expense.

The easiest way for you to get the belt back on is to use a jubilee clip around the tensioner spring, from memory 100mm works, others will know better, the picture below isn't very good - its from the front of the engine but you should be able to spot what I did. You put the jubilee around the tensioner spring and do it up until the belt is slack enough for you to push pack into place, as said, have a good look at the other pulleys too the crank pulley, alternator and ac compressor especially to make sure the belt is properly in place.



Good luck.

Just to add - when checking other pulleys, making sure nothing is out of line of pissed (which might have been a reason for the belt jumping out of place) be sure to check the alternator is and bracket are both tight.

Flob said:

Just to add - when checking other pulleys, making sure nothing is out of line of pissed (which might have been a reason for the belt jumping out of place) be sure to check the alternator is and bracket are both tight.

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That's much appreciated thank you.

Had a quick look at the other belts/pulleys and I do think it's just that one that's off. Had to see though without taking bits off.






I'll have a try with the jubilee clip and hopefully I will be able to sort it.

Thank you again!

Just run it and see if you can move it over

Louis said:

Just run it and see if you can move it over

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Its an old belt so has been like that for a while presumably.

Looks like it could do with changing.

Looking at the service history the belts and dephaser got done in 2022, at 98k miles. Car is on 108k miles now. I've only had the car a couple of months.

However, I've got a suspicion that someone has put a 172 engine in the car at some point. So whether or not the belts done in 2022 were in the original 182 engine or the 172 engine, I have no idea. There is no paperwork for the engine swap.

What makes me think there is a 172 engine in it, is that it has a 172 phase 2 intake manifold upper and lower and matching 172 breather plate. My understanding is that you can't put the 172 intake manifold and breather on the 182 engine?

I didn't know it had the 172 engine in when buying the car.

May have had the pas pump replaced, common issue causing the belt to jump like this. Alternatively the pump could have also worked loose from the mountings. Worth seeing if anything seems loose

Well my first attempt with the jubilee clip failed.

Took me ages to get it in place and when it came to tighten it up, the clip slipped teeth.

I'll get a heavy duty clip ordered and try again.

Aiden123 said:

Well my first attempt with the jubilee clip failed.

Took me ages to get it in place and when it came to tighten it up, the clip slipped teeth.

I'll get a heavy duty clip ordered and try again.

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Cheap ones don't work, either jubilee or i have used the ones from machinemart in the past

Thought I would provide an update.

Found out that a Renault specialist had opened up a few months back about a 15 minute drive from me.

Took the 182 and got the timing belt, dephaser, water pump and aux belt done. Would have needed doing by February 2026 anyway I think. Me and my partner are due a baby in February 2026 so didn't want a big bill around then.

Roundabout and expensive way to get a belt back on properly 😂

However, the car does feel so much better and drives smoother than before.

Good man.

Aiden123 said:

Thought I would provide an update.

Found out that a Renault specialist had opened up a few months back about a 15 minute drive from me.

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Always handy having one of those close by…

Aiden123 said:

Roundabout and expensive way to get a belt back on properly 😂

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In for a penny an all that. Least you have the big bits sorted for a few years.

Think of it like this, next time the belts are due your little one will be in school 😂