Thought I had a peach... (Check your timing belt)

[chronyx]

I have a 350 mile trip to do tomorrow, with this in mind I had the timing belt changed over the weekend, warning sign number one, a new crankshaft pulley was required as the belt had started to wear into the old one and fray as it was not properly secured on the crankshaft.

No problem I think, and thank the mechanic for making me aware and being thorough.

A whine from the timing belt saw me back there today to have the tension reduced, and while he was under the bonnet he noticed the belt is riding off to the side again and the head has been off at some point.

Something is out of alignment somewhere, I'm thinking the best option is just to run it for three/four years and replace the timing belt early, and if it lunches itself then it's probably cheaper to fit a second-hand engine than start dismantling the existing one.

[Coco]

That's bad to hear.

Just goes to show that you never really know what you've bought. The pulleys are a known weak point, isn't there mention on another thread about a belt slipping to the side?

Hope all goes well

[pidgeonpost]

Seems a pity to have to wait and see what happens, especially if something goes bang at the wrong end of a long trip. I've no knowledge of the belt path on these engines, but if your mechanic spotted the frayed belt and worn crank pulley, might he not also be able to slip the belt off again and check the other pulleys to see if he can spot just what's running out of true?

[Ol'Jeffers]

Someone else here noted that the belt tensioner assembly bearing gets very worn and I believe he had a similar problem.cratch:

[chronyx]

Cheers guys I will have a search. She did 330 miles today at 3000 - 4000 rpm and ran well so it's hard to know what to do! Done 109,000 which is nothing for a diesel!

[Barbecue Berlingo]

Which belt running off? Which engine?

[chronyx]

It's the timing belt on a 2004 DW8 (1.9 non-turbo diesel)

[pidgeonpost]

Always hard to know what to do for the best, but if the car is a peach in other respects it may be better to fix the problem you know of than to change the car or maybe fit an engine that's an unknown quantity. Decisions....decisions.... :o)

[chronyx]

That's the thing, to me now this engine is an unknown quantity! What else has been bodged...

You can get engines for around £250, so while I'm not going to purposely neglect or destroy this engine, I doubt it's economic to have it stripped down again so soon after a timing belt change.

[Barbecue Berlingo]

Depends which way it's running off, but either poorly mounted tensioner or worn water pump can cause it. If the belt breaks, 99% of the time the camshaft shatters instead of bending valves. Fail-safe design, I believe? New camshaft and belt, and off you go again....