When did your timing belt break?

[Folkranger]

Just about to get mine changed as five years have passed and it's like being on borrowed time. I missed it's five year anniversary because it gets serviced on 2, 4, 6..... years.

Just wondering if anybody's had a failure in under five years.

Would also like to hear from anyone who's had a failure after five years (just being inclusive )

 

[jollyrodger]

Just noticed the price on the link I gave

The firm I got them from £3 Inc pp but a minimum spend of £10 so bought 4, used 2.

 

[gus-lopez]

Ford 2.5di NA. Smiley:

On mine I used to change them every year

That is a common fault as the torque setting for the M. 8 bolt into the alloy head is very low (20nm +90°) and tends to get overtightened resulting in failure of the threads in head.

On the mark 7 Transit fords think a 5" x 8mm bolt waisted to a 6mm thread is a great way to hold down a cast iron double yoke retaining 2 injectors. Even better is the setting is 4Lbs/ft ( 6Nm) plus 180º

twice i have changed mine, & each time doing them up fills me with dread.

 

[IRHP]

Not on the motorhome but had one go on a Vauxhall Cavalier. It didn't snap but the teeth broke. It was over 30 years ago, I'd never heard of a cam belt so didn't know it needed changed. I think it had done about 70,000 miles.

 

[Bobby-gg]

Yeah, mine let go on my 1600cc sierra e-max, bent 5 valves and destroyed a valve guide.

Very expensive on my yts wages at the time

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[Fdhadi]

Had one go on an Escort R/S Turbo doing about 70mph . Luckily, no damage.

 

[RM_Marine]

So

I got mine changed after 16k miles and 9 yrs, yes I should of got it changed before but Im going to be doing more miles now

It's risky and I was always worried

 

[the1andonly]

Apparently only 1% of timing belts fail within 10 years or 100,000miles of use.

Knowing my luck I would be in the 1%

Been in that one percent, had got it booked in for 50000 just over 4 years since last change then bang one written off Passat.(a week before ) probably in the 1% of 1%.

 

[Folkranger]

If you buy a new timing belt is there anyway to tell when it was manufactured?
For all you know it could have been sitting in a box for 6 years and actually be older than the one you are removing!

it would still be OK

 

[gpat]

Been in that one percent, had got it booked in for 50000 just over 4 years since last change then bang one written off Passat.(a week before ) probably in the 1% of 1%.

Wow. I have found someone even more unlucky than me.

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[gpat]

Yeah, mine let go on my 1600cc sierra e-max, bent 5 valves and destroyed a valve guide.

Very expensive on my yts wages at the time

YTS. Those were the days!

 

[CazPaul]

Wouldn’t it have been better to just design all engines with proper thick chains instead of a bit of rubber

 

[gus-lopez]

Wouldn’t it have been better to just design all engines with proper thick chains instead of a bit of rubber

& mandatory non interference engines.

My mates' peugeot car belt snapped when he left it idling whilst getting his letters out of the postbox.

 

[Drexl]

General comment on cam belts - so far I've never had a belt failure 'touch wood', however on two occasions I have had problems AFTER a garage provided belt change. Both cars below were on the original belt, tensioners and water pump.
Car 1: 1.8 ford zetec petrol 98000 miles - sweet as a nut when it went in - ran slightly lumpy after the belt change. Turns out the cams hadn't been timed properly using the correct spacer under the flats on end of the cams - fixed it myself and it ran perfectly afterwards. Obvs the person who did the belt change didn't know what they were doing.
Car 2: Renault 2.0 litre petrol engine 68000 miles. Car sweet as a nut when it went into the garage. Got a call to say sorry there has been a problem after the belt change. The engine was very tight to access the belt so they had removed an engine mount and manoeuvred the engine to make more room. Unfortunately they had unknowingly fractured a plastic pipe connected to the intake manifold and when they started the engine a small piece of plastic was ingested into the intake and jammed a valve open Result bent valve, head off and repair. The engine came back and had a intermittent misfire that couldn't be traced. They also trashed a coil pack during the fiasco and charged me for it. Got it back and ended up selling it on.
Our last car was a Ford S-max 2.0 litre diesel with 125000 or 10 year belt change interval. Never touched it and sold with 85k 9 years use no problems. My current 2020 Peugeot boxer has similar design 2.2 engine and same belt change interval.
So in my experience there are risks both ways when changing a cam belt. Currently have a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid which has a timing chain - no worries with this one.
I think the Fiat belt change interval is aimed at commercial vans where they expect to be doing 25 to 30k per year so 5 years is reasonable. If I had a Fiat engined van and was doing typical motorhome 6-8k per annum, personally I would leave for longer than 5 years before changing the belt.

 

[Bustup15]

Citroen/Peugeot have informed me my timing belt change schedule is ten years...

I would treat that with great caution. We run Berlingos at work 2 let go within 5 years and 80k miles. Dealer serviced from new but neither dealer or Citroën would accept responsibility because 'it depends on how they have been driven'

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[Bobby-gg]

& mandatory non interference engines.

My mates' peugeot car belt snapped when he left it idling whilst getting his letters out of the postbox.

Actually, you've just reminded me that I've snapped a belt much more recently!
A few year's back I was picking up cheap tdi powered vw's for converting VW T25's, I'd picked up a audi A4 that someone had already removed the cat and the diesel tank, so was starting it on easystart when it back-fired spectacularly and snapped the belt.
I just pulled the subframe complete with engine and 'box and it's still in the corner to this day

 

[Drexl]

I would treat that with great caution. We run Berlingos at work 2 let go within 5 years and 80k miles. Dealer serviced from new but neither dealer or Citroën would accept responsibility because 'it depends on how they have been driven'

Are the Berlingos the ones with the wet belts that are a design/materials disaster?

 

[Bustup15]

Are the Berlingos the ones with the wet belts that are a design/materials disaster?

Not sure 2017/19 build. Won't be buying anymore. Build quality/reliability and dealer network are very poor.

 

[Jake Royd]

Quite a few people responding to this thread have mentioned failure of bolts or studs holding tensioners or idlers.
Many of these fixings are torque to yield (TTY)when assembling.
This means the bolt is tightened until it reaches the end of it's elastic limit and goes into yield.
The reason for this is twofold.
One is to achieve the maximum clamp load for the size of bolt and bolt material. You can use the smallest possible bolt.
The second is TTY is very reliable.

Most torque and angle regimes are TTY.

VW use TTY on engine mounting bolts which can be interesting if you are not aware.

Any TTY bolt can only be used once , new bolts must always be used. A reused bolt is going to fail.

Most cambelt kits include bolts if you need them but I'm betting not all.

Just something to be aware of.

 

[Widge]

Just about to get mine changed as five years have passed and it's like being on borrowed time. I missed it's five year anniversary because it gets serviced on 2, 4, 6..... years.

Just wondering if anybody's had a failure in under five years.

Would also like to hear from anyone who's had a failure after five years (just being inclusive )

I was helping my brother move with a hire van, the van loaded to the hilt i was pulling into a filling station and the engine stalled, turned out to be the cambelt, talking to the hire company afterwards, apparently it had only been changed about a 1000 miles before, so you can never tell.

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[Folkranger]

I was helping my brother move with a hire van, the van loaded to the hilt i was pulling into a filling station and the engine stalled, turned out to be the cambelt, talking to the hire company afterwards, apparently it had only been changed about a 1000 miles before, so you can never tell.

There seems to be a recurrent theme here that as many people have problems due to having their timing belts changed as due to not changing them.

 

[AlunandFelicie]

I just looked up the difference. I learnt something new. Thanks.

Pray tell

 

[gpat]

Quite a few people responding to this thread have mentioned failure of bolts or studs holding tensioners or idlers.
Many of these fixings are torque to yield (TTY)when assembling.
This means the bolt is tightened until it reaches the end of it's elastic limit and goes into yield.
The reason for this is twofold.
One is to achieve the maximum clamp load for the size of bolt and bolt material. You can use the smallest possible bolt.
The second is TTY is very reliable.

Most torque and angle regimes are TTY.

VW use TTY on engine mounting bolts which can be interesting if you are not aware.

Any TTY bolt can only be used once , new bolts must always be used. A reused bolt is going to fail.

Most cambelt kits include bolts if you need them but I'm betting not all.

Just something to be aware of.

You certainly know the nuts and bolts on this one.

 

[Jake Royd]

You certainly know the nuts and bolts on this one.

I should do!
I worked for Land Rover transmissions Engineering for a long time.
These bolts are very common now in many areas of automotive design irrespective of make and nationality.

 

[RustyRuss]

My ex wife had a Peugeot 205GTI, fantastic little car with an 8 valve cylinder head. The cambelt snapped and bent 7 out of the 8 valves. My mechanic mate fixed it for £200 which was still a fair bit of money in 1990…..

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[rangi]

Having my Skoda Fabia done on the 14th of the 4th. Yea! OK! The thing is a 17 rego and 24-5k on the clock, with a service and a MOT, Belt, water pump, tensioner, gonna be just shy of £1100.
Did it need it?
Don't care! It's the "Peace of mind" that counts! If it gives me another 5 years without trouble, Job Done!

 

[Folkranger]

Having my Skoda Fabia done on the 14th of the 4th. Yea! OK! The thing is a 17 rego and 24-5k on the clock, with a service and a MOT, Belt, water pump, tensioner, gonna be just shy of £1100.
Did it need it?
Don't care! It's the "Peace of mind" that counts! If it gives me another 5 years without trouble, Job Done!

Wow! Sometimes the repairs are worth more than the car

 

[nicholsong]

Pray tell

It was with reference to #14 about interference and non-interference engines, and whether the valves protrude into the cylinder chamber or not. In the latter they cannot be damaged if the canbelt fails.