Anyone ever had 2 timing belts snap on them?

dirtydiesel

Talk about bad luck! I bought a fiat ducato in Wexford recently 101k on the clock, decent clean van, got it home and bought a timing belt kit for it, bought the van on a Wednesday, bought the kit on a Friday, with the intention of fitting it on Saturday morning.
Anyway was leaving tesco carpark on Friday evening when the belt snapped!
Stripped engine down, 3 bent valves, not too bad, could of been worse.
Spotted another ducato going cheap, decided to buy it and swop the cylinder head from it to the first van.
Bought it ON a Thursday and wait for it the belt snapped on Friday morning!
I snapped this time too, felt like taking a sledge hammer to both vans.
Took head off and again 3 valves bent and scoring on the pistons, the bottom pulley catches when i try to turn it so more serious damage done this time.
Have now got one cylinder head repaired and fitted to first van, new head gasket, water pump also fitted and belt kit waiting to go on, just having difficulty with the timing on it, it needs special timing pins to set it up, which I don't have.
Have heard all the fix it again jokes! #
I have never done a timing belt on a Ducato so if anyone has any useful info on setting it up I would be grateful.

darragh o meara

To be honest. Timing belts are best left to someone who knows exactly how to do them ie a mechanic!! I'm not trying to be smart but I do a lot of work on cars and would consider myself to be able to do 99.9% of jobs to a car but I won't do a timing belt! If the belt goes it does serious damage hence you had to get the head done... If you get the belt out by one tooth, when you try start it you will bend valves!

A mechanic would prob charge you about 100 euro to do it right.

Daegerty

darragh o meara wrote: »

To be honest. Timing belts are best left to someone who knows exactly how to do them ie a mechanic!! I'm not trying to be smart but I do a lot of work on cars and would consider myself to be able to do 99.9% of jobs to a car but I won't do a timing belt! If the belt goes it does serious damage hence you had to get the head done... If you get the belt out by one tooth, when you try start it you will bend valves!

A mechanic would prob charge you about 100 euro to do it right.

100e? the timing belt kit costs more.

Now I put on a timing belt recently enough and it's not exactly easy to get it 'out by 1 tooth'.

And beside with the 'best left to professionals' attitude you never learn anything

mickdw

If the OP gets hold of the correct equipment, he sounds like he is well capable of doing the belt.

Mar4ix

I've done on my fiat punto timing belt. easy peasy .... just make sure crankshaft and camshaft pulleys on marks. and tension bearing tight enough.

johndaman66

darragh o meara wrote: »

I'm not trying to be smart but I do a lot of work on cars and would consider myself to be able to do 99.9% of jobs to a car but I won't do a timing belt!

I'm not trying to be smart either but I do find it rather difficult to take in that you are able to do 99.9% as in 999 out of 1,000 repairs and maintenance tasks in a car, yet aren't able to do a timing belt. Now I'm not for one minute suggesting you are not competent in completing many various tasks involved in the repair and maintenance of a car but to me that figure doesn't add up. Not least that there are many jobs that you wont be able to complete until you are able to do a timing belt which straight away going to throw your 99.9% figure out the window. But also there are many jobs that would have a higher difficulty level than a timing belt on many cars.

lomb

I wouldn't bother with timing marks. Id want the pins to lock it before removing the old one. I was going to attempt one of my cars but bottled it as didnt have proper equipment, and gave it to a good garage instead. Its not hard from the guides ive read but one has to be meticulous with belt direction, and torque settings, changing all pulleys and the water pump of course.

paddydriver

FIAT = Fix It Again Tomorrow; Sorry to say in OP's situation its "Fix It Again The" following week!

darragh o meara

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'm not trying to be smart either but I do find it rather difficult to take in that you are able to do 99.9% as in 999 out of 1,000 repairs and maintenance tasks in a car, yet aren't able to do a timing belt. Now I'm not for one minute suggesting you are not competent in completing many various tasks involved in the repair and maintenance of a car but to me that figure doesn't add up. Not least that there are many jobs that you wont be able to complete until you are able to do a timing belt which straight away going to throw your 99.9% figure out the window. But also there are many jobs that would have a higher difficulty level than a timing belt on many cars.

This isn't a thread on my competence in car repairs. Yes if I really wanted to I'm very sure I could do one. I just prefer not to get too involved in them for the specific reason that different cars need special tools to lock the camshafts etc. Plus setting the timing on an engine that has snapped a belt is difficult enough to do. Setting a cylinder to tdc can be tricky too, if your a couple degrees out the toothed pulley could have moved 1 tooth, put a belt on then an turning it over will do damage.

In my opinion if you have to ask on a forum like boards how to do a job then your probably not 100% sure about it so instead of trying and paying another lump of cash if you get it wrong is a lot worse than giving a mechanic a few quid to do it right first time.

dirtydiesel

Fix it again tomorrow is hardly a fair comment when its a timing belt thats snappped, no one could say its a fiat problem, its just pure bad luck its happened twice, a common problem on a ducato can be gearbox trouble.

As for tackling the job myself, ive no bother changing a timing belt, just this is a bit more tricky as pins are needed to line it all up, and thats the hold up, was hoping some mechanic here may of done a belt change on one where the belt had snapped and could share a tip or 2 with me.

Anyway i am waiting on a call from a friend who knows someone who might have the pin set i need so fingers crossed.

Has this put me off fiats? no not yet! the way I see it ive 2 vans to make 1 good one and plenty of spares if I need them.

johndaman66

darragh o meara wrote: »

This isn't a thread on my competence in car repairs. Yes if I really wanted to I'm very sure I could do one. I just prefer not to get too involved in them for the specific reason that different cars need special tools to lock the camshafts etc. Plus setting the timing on an engine that has snapped a belt is difficult enough to do. Setting a cylinder to tdc can be tricky too, if your a couple degrees out the toothed pulley could have moved 1 tooth, put a belt on then an turning it over will do damage.

In my opinion if you have to ask on a forum like boards how to do a job then your probably not 100% sure about it so instead of trying and paying another lump of cash if you get it wrong is a lot worse than giving a mechanic a few quid to do it right first time.

Im not questioning your competencies or capabilities in the slightest darragh o meara. Just making an observation that your figure of 99.9% wouldn't appear to make too much sense on the face of it. Its just I feel 99.9% or even 99% is a figure many seem to use too readily without even thinking. The more realistic figure is often most likely lower. I'm just being pedantic really:D. You are right not to attack such a job unless you are 100% confident in doing so. Its too serious a f*ck up if it goes wrong

-Chris-

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'm just being pedantic really:D.

Yes, yes you are....


Let's move on please.

DublinDilbert

Do you or anyone on here know the size & lication of the locking pins?

If you got thier sizes you could just use done old drill bits or even bolts to lock them in position.

http://www.lasertools.co.uk/items/pdf/Products/4636_Instructions.pdf
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-15619.html

dirtydiesel

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Do you or anyone on here know the size & lication of the locking pins?

If you got thier sizes you could just use done old drill bits or even bolts to lock them in position.

http://www.lasertools.co.uk/items/pdf/Products/4636_Instructions.pdf
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-15619.html

Yesterday we routed out drill bits and all sorts of pins from the shed, took a while to line everything up, but we got it in the end, turned engine with a 36 socket on bottom pulley and everything seems good, turned it 6 times by hand and everything looking good, connected the battery and turned it over, turning over fine but no diesel coming to injectors, its coming to pump but not any futher, had to leave it as ran out of time, today IT WILL RUN.
It sure is a pig of a job on the Ducato, had it been a transit life would of been so much easier.

dirtydiesel

Fixed and running sweet!!!!