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[cem_devecioglu]

may sound daft but pour some water from top to cambelt area.. you will hear an increased noise with increased rpm..
 
thats how I discovered my cambelt was loose accidentally..

[maracus]

You can eliminate all the ancillaries by removing the aux belt and running it briefly to see if the noise is still present.

Cool beans, I'll have a look later at the car when I finish work 

You'll have no cooling as the water pump is driven by the aux. belt, so make it brief.

Cool  nearly done it just now but decided to wait until later as I need the car shortly and knowing my luck the spanner will slip and break the inlet pipe or something daft, so will wait til there's less pressure for a 5 minute job to actually take 5 mins!

Went to order the bits from my local vauxhall earlier, only ordered the cambelt kit- the rocker covers can wait for now as it all came in at £sillymoney so I've ordered the more essential bits- cambelt kit, grey sealant and a air filter for good measure. At least I can have the sump off to check the oil pickup and change that suspect tensioner and co. so at least that's going to be spot on.

Although I am slightly concerned by the fact that I've found Mayo staining down the oil fill, and that the car seems to steam out the exhaust a lot- nothing like clouds of it just a little, but even so its a bit of an eyebrow raiser... Hmmm. But that said, there's no apparent coolant loss, oil levels as close to spot on and no signs of excessive pressure/depressure in the header, no exhaust smells there either, although the oil smells a bit gassy maybe. No signs of oil in Water either so again looks like I'll see how it goes.

[maracus]

may sound daft but pour some water from top to cambelt area.. you will hear an increased noise with increased rpm..
 
thats how I discovered my cambelt was loose accidentally..

I'll change the cambelt regardless so hopefully I'll know from that if it's that but an interesting diagnosis method!

Reminds me of a technique i heard once for checking a radiator for leaks after a repair- fill it with fully skimmed MILK apparently it's thinner than water and will find the smallest if holes!

[maracus]

I have dropped the aux belt and it seems to still make the noise, just the way it was at that particular time or somehow related, but it took more encouragement to get it to make the sound, but it DID do it still. Also after listening from various angles it does seem possible that it's coming from inside the cam belt cover, so all I can so is wait for the kit to arrive and get stuck in at the weekend. Also I gotta look at a blow that has opened back up on the exhaust (again) so looks like I'll need replacement cat pipes- preferably without cats lol, so I've got that to keep me busy for a bit this evening. Oh the joy...

And in reflection about my previous thread regarding the Mayo in the oil filler, it's disappeared. And no it don't smell gassy, just the hot oil fumes hit me hard in the nose like a vix vaporub!

[maracus]

Exhaust sorted again for now... Seems my floor vs floor incident has popped the seams on the silencers! Sooo out came the 'exhaust in a tube goo' and a good smear round all the areas I coud get without too much contortism as the car wasn't much high off the floor. Still a slight blow from somewhere around the top but my fingers were starting to go hard and I nearly ran out of putty so will save what I got for the next hole that develops! Will get back on subject with the cambelt I promise...

[maracus]

Huh. Just when you think all is coming together..

I had my locking kit on hire and a rocker gasket set arrive today. Impressed. I only called them yesterday afternoon.

So anyway, went bouncing in to the stealers to collect my 1)cambelt kit 2)gasket goo 3) sump goo 4) air filter 5) ATF, only to be told the order hadn't came in!

So I said id be back in the morning to see if it comes in, and took the ATF thinking at least I could check that when I get home- nice quick and easy.

So I jacks the car up, placed a spanner after a squirt of wd, turned, and the head practically fell to bits from rust! D'oh!!

So there you go, if this order fails to come in, there's no cambelt, no gasket, no air filter (failed by an air filter dammit!!) and no ATF top up at least til tomorrow when I can be arsed to go back out there!

Very unsuccessful one of them hours I think!

[maracus]

Getting there with it.. Got as far as removing the inlet trumpets and had a call, got roped into doing a hospital run for a friend. So the car sits in bits in the shed, as expected lol. But on the plus side, I haven't broke anything yet and have decided to pick up some plugs for it tomorrow. What a ballache to do them another time eh lol


Quick question, when cleaning the breathers out, (I have read the guide), are replacement seals/orings essential or just if they are perished?

Can't be arsed to wait for new ones to come if I don't need lol

[albitz]

Only if they are perished. ...........mayo on oil filler neck is not a big problem,usually caused by short journeys and made worse by colder weather.Some steam from the exhaust - most likely just H2o from combustion process.No cause for concern unless accompanied by other symptoms such as loss of coolant. Would have advised a gates or contitech cambelt kit from ebay but probably too late now.
Easier to change plugs while you have all the other inlet stuff already off,but not a big deal either way,its a bit awkward and takes a bit of time whichever way you go at it.

[maracus]

Only if they are perished. ...........mayo on oil filler neck is not a big problem,usually caused by short journeys and made worse by colder weather.Some steam from the exhaust - most likely just H2o from combustion process.No cause for concern unless accompanied by other symptoms such as loss of coolant. Would have advised a gates or contitech cambelt kit from ebay but probably too late now.
Easier to change plugs while you have all the other inlet stuff already off,but not a big deal either way,its a bit awkward and takes a bit of time whichever way you go at it.

Mayo  the filler is only after stop start 'return from work' journeys, so that's ok... Steamy exhausts is something that lifts an eyebrow for me every time lmao! I just can't help but worry when I see it! Mind, I've noticed if you leave it parked a few days, if it really is a problem, you tend to get coolant crystallisation around the tailpipe! (and, Loss of coolant  ) Had that with a previous car.
This don't seem to use any coolant, I filled it when I had to change a pipe and it dropped to marginally below the full level, I'm assuming after some trapped air bled out, but hasn't seemed to drop since so not too concerned there.

A mate of mine swears by gates belts, if it's not gates he won't use it. Got a good price at vauxhall but can't help but feel I could have saved £30 by getting elsewhere.. It's in my poseeion now so a thought for next time.

Plugs are going on! NGK's from the local factors  jobs a good'un!

[albitz]

Vauxhall use Gates and Contitech belts.
Sounds like your car is getting a good sort out.Should run sweet when your finished.

[maracus]

Vauxhall use Gates and Contitech belts.
Sounds like your car is getting a good sort out.Should run sweet when your finished.

Lol the plan is to have it all top notch so when I gas it I won't have to get my hands dirty again for a while, bar regular oil changes!

Another quick one, the tensioner for the aux belt. There is the slightest of play in it, but when you spin it by hand it's a bit noisy. Are they serviceable or just stick it back on with a good squirt of wd??

[The Red Baron]

Vauxhall use Gates and Contitech belts.
Sounds like your car is getting a good sort out.Should run sweet when your finished.

Lol the plan is to have it all top notch so when I gas it I won't have to get my hands dirty again for a while, bar regular oil changes!

Another quick one, the tensioner for the aux belt. There is the slightest of play in it, but when you spin it by hand it's a bit noisy. Are they serviceable or just stick it back on with a good squirt of wd??

you can re-pack these with grease, carefully pop the seals & grease.

[maracus]

Vauxhall use Gates and Contitech belts.
Sounds like your car is getting a good sort out.Should run sweet when your finished.

Lol the plan is to have it all top notch so when I gas it I won't have to get my hands dirty again for a while, bar regular oil changes!

Another quick one, the tensioner for the aux belt. There is the slightest of play in it, but when you spin it by hand it's a bit noisy. Are they serviceable or just stick it back on with a good squirt of wd??

you can re-pack these with grease, carefully pop the seals & grease.

That's good for me 

[albitz]

Mine got very noisy last xmas.Repacked it with grease and its been fine ever since.

[maracus]

I think I know what was the issue here- tensioner was slack. It was barely off the stop when I first saw it, and was on the stop turning it over by hand! Scary!!

Anyway I don't know how long it's been on there but the print was 99.9% rubbed off, and there was belt dust around the place, but the belt don't compare any narrower than the new one so I don't think it's tracking in or out, either the belts done 72,000 miles or the belt was slapping about and wearing because of that. Idlers seemed nice and tight so I suspect he did change the kit, but new kit going on regardless because I don't know what the loose tensioner has done to the belts longevity.

As for the rocker covers, the plugs were full of oil, looked like the engine equivalent of a <expletive - admin edit - sorry!> and oil oozing out from a couple of the rocker cover bolts. What's the score with the idler pulleys; fit the belt round them and pull the tension out? I notice they are eccentric. Do I need to position the top one that's in the carrier with the tensioner, or is that pre-set?