Timing belt stories

Larbre34

Got a new TB and water pump yesterday, this is my cars third, first replaced at 58k miles, this one at 132k. Mechanic gives me an ear full for leaving it to a 74,000 interval. I knew I was riding my luck a bit but no harm no foul in the end.

So, in the great expensive necessity that is the timing belt, who has played TB chicken and lost? Whose went far earlier than expected? (Opel drivers can take a pass on that one) Who is in a 64bhp SDI on the same timing belt for the last 300,000 miles? Share and shame the models here!

SV

My car didn't exactly have the timing belt snap but due to negligence on behalf of a main Renault garage the alternator came loose from it's bracket, causing a domino effect.
The fan belt snapped, managing to get underneath the timing belt cover and skip the timing.
The results were disastrous to say the least..

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/398912_333324083389981_1232461839_n.jpg
that's how much the valves were bent

I also needed new camshafts, cam rockers, new alternator.

Yeahhhhh.

comanche_cor

That's gas I had pretty much the same story on a 99 megane - pully wheel on alternator came loose and threw the belt into the timing belt. End result top end rebuild and a lighter wallet ...

SV wrote: »

My car didn't exactly have the timing belt snap but due to negligence on behalf of a main Renault garage the alternator came loose from it's bracket, causing a domino effect.
The fan belt snapped, managing to get underneath the timing belt cover and skip the timing.
The results were disastrous to say the least..

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/398912_333324083389981_1232461839_n.jpg
that's how much the valves were bent

I also needed new camshafts, cam rockers, new alternator.

Yeahhhhh.

dgt

Not us or a car but the person who drove the Daily with this 8140.23 played timing belt roulette.... And lost.

And of course, we were left to clean up this mess. Meant we got the engine for naff all though

So what happened?

Well to start with


2 valves bent, 6 broken


Every bucket smashed, all forced up with hairline cracks


Pistons marked but thankfully not damaged


The cam itself was alright. But to get the broken valves out was a right pain in the arse. In the end it was easier to get new stems put in. Not cheap...


TLDR: don't do it. It's an expensive mess to clean up. Change the feckin belt when it needs it!!!

Gosub

When I bought my Multivan the seller told me the TB had just been done... but no paperwork to prove it.

To be safe, to be safe, I had it renewed. The mechanic showed me a brand new VW belt that he took out. Gutted, but peace of mind was bought.

Hootanany

Hi I have been quoted €399 fot Timing belt and water pump is that a good deal

dgt

Hootanany wrote: »

Hi I have been quoted €399 fot Timing belt and water pump is that a good deal

What car???

George Dalton

We had a 2004 Transporter with 140k miles on the clock in last year for a clutch and flywheel and the owner asked us to do the timing belt as well.

When he picked it up he told us that the belt had never been done previously :eek:

The belt didn't even look that bad when we took it off!

L-M

66k due at 60...

Lost that one

Donnelly117

Larbre34 wrote: »

(Opel drivers can take a pass on that one

I don't get it...

Larbre34

Donnelly117 wrote: »

I don't get it...

I heard a long time ago GM cars were infamous for throwing timing belts early and causing carnage, presumed those stories had already been flogged.

Larbre34

George Dalton wrote: »

We had a 2004 Transporter with 140k miles on the clock in last year for a clutch and flywheel and the owner asked us to do the timing belt as well.

When he picked it up he told us that the belt had never been done previously :eek:

The belt didn't even look that bad when we took it off!

Thats just the sort of thing I was wondering, do some models go easier on them than others.....

You're a well regarded expert around here George, does driving style affect the lifespan of parts like belts and pulleys? As in, if its thrashed, are they the bits to feel the effects most?

Larbre34

Hootanany wrote: »

Hi I have been quoted €399 fot Timing belt and water pump is that a good deal

For a family car its a small bit lower than average. Main dealer I got a quote from were doing €320 winter special offer for the job, on a normal price of €450 - standard size TDI engines......

canhefixit

A mate has a 2005 2l avensis estate and belt change was over due by 10k we were on a wee country lane in middle of nowhere and snap it went...he's in the process of having another engine fitted...

The mate who we got then to collect and tow the car also has a 06 avensis and after learning want happened the other car he whipped of the covers and inspected his own, about a 1/3 of the belt had frayed away and on the best part of it there was a big oval hole in the middle of it and it wasnt due to be changed for another 10k!!!

johnnydeep

canhefixit wrote: »

A mate has a 2005 2l mondeo and belt change was over due by 10k we were on a wee country lane in middle of nowhere and snap it went...he's in the process of having another engine fitted...

The mate who we got then to collect and tow the car also has a 06 mondeo and after learning want happened the other car he whipped of the covers and inspected his own, about a 1/3 of the belt had frayed away and on the best part of it there was a big oval hole in the middle of it and it wasnt due to be changed for another 10k!!!

think you are mistaking

George Dalton

canhefixit wrote: »

A mate has a 2005 2l mondeo and belt change was over due by 10k we were on a wee country lane in middle of nowhere and snap it went...he's in the process of having another engine fitted...

The mate who we got then to collect and tow the car also has a 06 mondeo and after learning want happened the other car he whipped of the covers and inspected his own, about a 1/3 of the belt had frayed away and on the best part of it there was a big oval hole in the middle of it and it wasnt due to be changed for another 10k!!!

None of the 2001-2007 Mondeo engines have timing belts, they all use chains

johnnydeep

bought an oul cavalier in a scrapyard years ago. the car wasn't charging. yer man told me the altenator was fecked. I looked in their wasn't even a belt on it. drove it home and had it running. it then cut out. when I looked the crankshaft pulley had fell of the timing belt pulley followed suit. luckily enough iput it back on setting the timing and she was running alright

Frankie Lee

Did a timing belt in a 2004 Avensis D4d a few months back that had 180k miles on the clock. Original belt still on it and it wasn't in too bad shape.

Synyster Shadow

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Did a timing belt in a 2004 Avensis D4d a few months back that had 180k miles on the clock. Original belt still on it and it wasn't in too bad shape.

the belt will usually be grand just when the water pump pully starts to seize it wears the belt and that =

unkel

Larbre34 wrote: »

who has played TB chicken and lost?

I'm such a coward I tend* to avoid those damn belts altogether

Chains FTW :cool:

*not always. Played chicken on a Rover 75 for several years. Belt didn't break.

canhefixit

George Dalton wrote: »

None of the 2001-2007 Mondeo engines have timing belts, they all use chains

Apologies lads was thinking of me own car!

ofcork

Why are chains not used more as they last unless you have a merc!

Hellrazer

ofcork wrote: »

Why are chains not used more as they last unless you have a merc!

They don't always last as long as a belt.

We`re forever changing chains on mondeo diesels and transits.

Honda Accord diesel also used to give chain problems.

Problem with chains is that they stretch instead of breaking.Usually they stretch too much and start rattling leading to the guides being worn and or the tensioner giving up.

cml387

Funnily enough my timing belt story also involves a Renault (megane 04) and a premature fail due to presumably faulty installation.That cost the garage a new engine.The garage (main dealer btw) is now gone,the way of many Renault garages.

CJhaughey

Changed 3 belts on My LC 90 series over its lifetime always on the 60k mile light, they looked like new when they came out.
After the 1KZ-TE engine they made the interval 90k miles on the 1KD-FTV.
More or less the same block and a 16v head.
I know of a 1997 Mondeo 1.8TD which broke the belt in the as it was being driven out of the workshop in a main dealer after being changed.
It depends on what the belt is driving and how hard its working.

reilig

Had a 98 vw caddy. Bought it with the belt just done at 66k miles. It was even written on the TB cover "TB done @ 66k". Had it 2 months and was pulling out from the yard and it just died. TB had snapped. Tried to follow garage for it, but they were gone bust. Had to get head redone and when it was being redone, they found that it was cracked, New head - 1200 euro. Mechanic friend did all the work. 2 weeks later, van stopped again. Pully wheel went rolling up the road. It's bolt had snapped. A warning to anyone doing one of these - always replace the stretch bolt with a new one. New head was all bent. Had to be redone. Can't remember the cost, but total cost for that month of driviing was far more than I paid for the van. Van did 200k miles after than before it finally rusted out. Belt was changed on time every time after that.

harg90

comanche_cor wrote: »

That's gas I had pretty much the same story on a 99 megane - pully wheel on alternator came loose and threw the belt into the timing belt. End result top end rebuild and a lighter wallet ...

doubt your pully came loose,

more likly it was a clutch pully which gave up.

this would have ben noisey for quite some time before it gave up completly?

johnnydeep

reilig wrote: »

Had a 98 vw caddy. Bought it with the belt just done at 66k miles. It was even written on the TB cover "TB done @ 66k". Had it 2 months and was pulling out from the yard and it just died. TB had snapped. Tried to follow garage for it, but they were gone bust. Had to get head redone and when it was being redone, they found that it was cracked, New head - 1200 euro. Mechanic friend did all the work. 2 weeks later, van stopped again. Pully wheel went rolling up the road. It's bolt had snapped. A warning to anyone doing one of these - always replace the stretch bolt with a new one. New head was all bent. Had to be redone. Can't remember the cost, but total cost for that month of driviing was far more than I paid for the van. Van did 200k miles after than before it finally rusted out. Belt was changed on time every time after that.

call me suspicious but if somebody wanted rid of a yoke without bothering changing the belt. writing on the cover with 5k less that t.b was done might help the sale

harg90

had a traffic in a while ago, alt pully seized and threw the belt.

was still running but with a slight miss, nothing much,

lifted the top timing cover just to be safe.

turned out part of the fan belt caught the timing and rung the keyway on the cam pully..

on a new tbelt kit, crossed my fingures and toes..

and it ran like a peach, belive it or not :L

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

call me suspicious but if somebody wanted rid of a yoke without bothering changing the belt. writing on the cover with 5k less that t.b was done might help the sale

noo, ur not serious?:eek:

Popoutman

At least it's relatively easy on the VAG tdi engines to pull the timing belt cover off and visually inspect the belt. A 5,000km old belt will still look a bit shiny compared to a 60,000km belt, based on my inspections on my Passat and A4 over the years, with 4 timing belts done on those cars in their time with me.

Nforce

Mitsubishi L300..350k miles in 4 years on original belt!

Hootanany

dgt wrote: »

What car???

Sorry I forgot to answer the question its a Golf 1.9 DSG TDI

Wibbs

Many moons ago my dad had one let go on his Ford Capri when my folks were on holidays in Cork. It let go within coasting distance of a Ford dealer. Well if it's to go... It being an old Pinto engine of a design James Watt would be familiar with no bent valves or anything. Lined up the timing slipped on a new belt, sorted.

Worst I saw after the fact were the results of a Honda K20 one letting go when yer man was right at the rev limiter. :eek: Ouch. The engine was fooked. The importer told him the belt was done. The oul tipex "guarantee". Eh no. 2000 k later and bang, crash, wallop plus major open wallet surgery.

H3llR4iser

George Dalton wrote: »

We had a 2004 Transporter with 140k miles on the clock in last year for a clutch and flywheel and the owner asked us to do the timing belt as well.

When he picked it up he told us that the belt had never been done previously :eek:

The belt didn't even look that bad when we took it off!

I might have a similar story on Friday...car with 143800 miles, no sign of any belt replacement ever happening anywhere and, by looking at it, it looks like the cover has never been lifted. Previous owner had no idea what a timing belt was.
Have quite a feeling I'll be looking at a 12-years old, 144k miles TB on friday night

Mycroft H

Wibbs wrote: »

Many moons ago my dad had one let go on his Ford Capri when my folks were on holidays in Cork. It let go within coasting distance of a Ford dealer. Well if it's to go... It being an old Pinto engine of a design James Watt would be familiar with no bent valves or anything. Lined up the timing slipped on a new belt, sorted.

Good old non interference engines, gotta love them. Set the timing again and you're good to go.

Ronnie Beck

reilig wrote: »

Had a 98 vw caddy. Bought it with the belt just done at 66k miles. It was even written on the TB cover "TB done @ 66k". Had it 2 months and was pulling out from the yard and it just died. TB had snapped. Tried to follow garage for it, but they were gone bust. Had to get head redone and when it was being redone, they found that it was cracked, New head - 1200 euro. Mechanic friend did all the work. 2 weeks later, van stopped again. Pully wheel went rolling up the road. It's bolt had snapped. A warning to anyone doing one of these - always replace the stretch bolt with a new one. New head was all bent. Had to be redone. Can't remember the cost, but total cost for that month of driviing was far more than I paid for the van. Van did 200k miles after than before it finally rusted out. Belt was changed on time every time after that.

That's rough. Only 8-10 euro for one of them crank bolts. They're often reused.

Bpmull

I recently had to do the timming belt on my focus 85k km early. Crank seal was leaking all over the timming belt. So when the mechanic took of the belt it was saturated in oil. Since oil weakens the rubber I dont think I would have been driving around too long with it in one piece. So I was very lucky that I brought the car to the mechanic when I did. God knows how much it would cost to sort the engine if the belt snaps.

hoodie6029

I'm 5000 km over the interval for my Jetta. Ringing my mechanic in the morning!

Found out before that the mark 3 Escort had an interval of 25,000 miles. No wonder there was none of them left.

greasepalm

somebody mentioned wanting to go back to timing chains,new golf 1.4 tsi doing in timing chains at 30,000 miles and wrecking engines:eek:some bad ass engine they designed:rolleyes:

Chris_Heilong

I need to get the timming belt done soon, its meant to be done every 100,000km, its at 96,000km now but its a 17 year old car now. I have all the stuff to do the change but I may chicken out and get someone else to do it.

cerastes

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I need to get the timming belt done soon, its meant to be done every 100,000km, its at 96,000km now but its a 17 year old car now. I have all the stuff to do the change but I may chicken out and get someone else to do it.

100k km's, the mk4 fiesta were at 100k miles, well they were when I got the car, when I went in with a few thousand over the 100k, I was told it had been adjusted, to 80k miles. Still its a good duration.

I never considered it wasnt done at the time, Id intended to sell it long ago, but its still knocking around. It was done at a main dealers, but the auxillary belt was never replaced, from time to time Id wondered did they ever do the timing belt at all, why not stick on a 10? euro auxillary belt too.

Hypothetically, If the timing belt snapped these years later after I paid to have it done, where would I stand? in either situation, if it had been done or if it turned out it had not been completed? It is now still well inside the time and mileage duration for the current (second) timing belt but the car, although very clean, both kept and mechanically, isn't worth very much I'd say.

Pinch Flat

Bought a 98 vectra in 2001 - my first 'proper car' (don't laugh!) from a well known Dublin Opel dealer. My brother who worked in the trade at the time insisted I get the timing belt and water pump done and pass on the sale if it wasn't - said it was a virtual certainty both go on the vectra. There was about 35k on the clock. So I insisted this was changed as part of the sale. The dealer told me it was a new belt and pump on the car when I bought it (no paperwork evidence of this - big mistake).

So fast forward to almost 6 months / 5k miles later when I'm driving home from work - car dies about half a mile from my home. As it transpires the 'new' belt had snapped totalling the engine.

Car towed and the same dealer I bought it from quoted me almost €3k for the work. I remember the tone of his voice when he rang me with the bad news - he seemed quite chuffed about this and wanted to crack on with the work. Except there was one week to go on the 6 month warranty - he disagreed and insisted it was out of warranty. The look on the dealers face when I produced the paperwork I had signed the day I bought the car. Less than 7 days and I would have been €3k lighter.

greasepalm

ha ha love it that was his bonus gone for the year.

theteal

I played and lost this past January. 03 fiesta with 75k miles. Only spoke to a mechanic the week before and arranged to drop it in after payday.

Anyway, driving to Stansted for a trip home, the fooker snapped just on the edge of town (could have happened in a much more inconvenient motorway location about 5 mins later). I had to leave it on the side of the road with a friend to babysit until the RAC guy got out to tow it home.

I'll look for the pictures but the damage was 12 valves and the two pulleys had chunks taken out of them. When I got the car back it had a rough idling issue so it went straight back to the "mechanic". 2 weeks and about 30 phone calls later, they still could not find the issue. I brought it home the Saturday morning. It would not start the Saturday evening, dead battery. Alternator fooked.

I had lost all faith in the car. I just about broke even when I traded it in there a few weeks ago. I'm now the happy owner of a Mazda 3. . . .with a chain!

unkel

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I need to get the timming belt done soon, its meant to be done every 100,000km, its at 96,000km now but its a 17 year old car now.

Belt needs to be done every x miles, or every 5 years. Whichever comes first. Rubber deteriorates over time.

You're 12 years late! :eek:

robtri

Last year, had the family zafira to be brought in for a new set of rubber, so stopped outside on a steep incline, jumped put and went into garage to see if a bay was free to bring her into... There was, jumped back in car and she refused to start, coughing and mis firing out of sync.... Couldnt get her going. Had her towed to friends garage....

Turns out the belt jumped a couple of notches on start up..... Hence she was coughing and mis firing out of sync, first timing belt i pushed to 90k miles. the replacement only lasted 25k before this happened.....

bigblackmug

vw ea211 engine has timing belt which "should" last lifetime of car according to this.

In complete defiance of the norm, the EA211’s camshafts are driven by a belt. Yes, a belt. The advantage is less friction loss than with a chain system. The kicker: VW says the EA211’s belts are good for the lifetime of the engine.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/we-sample-the-ea211-volkswagen%E2%80%99s-next-global-four-cylinder-engine-series/

cerastes

theteal wrote: »

I played and lost this past January. 03 fiesta with 75k miles. Only spoke to a mechanic the week before and arranged to drop it in after payday.

Anyway, driving to Stansted for a trip home, the fooker snapped just on the edge of town (could have happened in a much more inconvenient motorway location about 5 mins later). I had to leave it on the side of the road with a friend to babysit until the RAC guy got out to tow it home.

I'll look for the pictures but the damage was 12 valves and the two pulleys had chunks taken out of them. When I got the car back it had a rough idling issue so it went straight back to the "mechanic". 2 weeks and about 30 phone calls later, they still could not find the issue. I brought it home the Saturday morning. It would not start the Saturday evening, dead battery. Alternator fooked.

I had lost all faith in the car. I just about broke even when I traded it in there a few weeks ago. I'm now the happy owner of a Mazda 3. . . .with a chain!

In that case I was lucky to get the 103k miles out of it when I brought it into the ford main dealer to change it, I believe it has done less miles since I had it, think its only got around 125k on it now, makes me think my belt was done and they just put the same auxillary belt back on, which seems pointless to me.

bigblackmug wrote: »

vw ea211 engine has timing belt which "should" last lifetime of car according to this.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/we-sample-the-ea211-volkswagen%E2%80%99s-next-global-four-cylinder-engine-series/

It does make it sound like a belt driving the cam is new? Also, Ford were offering a 100k mile timing belt change interval 15 years ago in the 1.25 zetec, not sure of the other engines in the zetec range,maybe also, although it was later downed to 80k (which could happen to the vw?).

What engine is in the mazda 3? wouldnt mind reverting to a timing chain engine

bigblackmug

Quality of timing belts is very much an accountant's decision. I read that the one on the 1.7 litre puma was specced up by the engineers because it was so difficult to replace i.e. engine out job.

keithsfleet

Picked up an FTO there a few years back, 15 year old car with about 220k on it. Picked it up as a trade sale for a few pennies.
Had a look at the timing belt and the absolute hack of it, cracked to fcuk and slowly unraveling. Someone had been playing roulette a very long time.
Pretensioner was even rattling around.