Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Migalot on 19 April 2024, 23:06:33

Title: Wet belts
Post by: Migalot on 19 April 2024, 23:06:33
Amazing what one can learn by idly watching the latest car-related videos on YouTube.

I had never come across the "wet belt" term before, but apparently it refers to the engine design in which the timing belt (rubber) is part of the internal engine, not on pulleys outside. The belt goes round through the oil in the sump. Consequently, they degrade and trash the engine. Apparently, this feature is common in Fords, Citroens and now Vauxhalls, too.

Unsurprisingly, it costs a grand to have the belt changed in a Transit and the recommended mileage interval has been reduced. Furthermore, you are obliged to use a specific Ford oil. If you don't, or can't prove it, and the belt goes the you have no recourse even if the vehicle is under warranty.

Think I'll stick with my exterior-belted Omega (always changed within the 4-year limit).  :y

[urlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nog_0Oe7Z_M][/url]
 
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 20 April 2024, 03:05:32
Staggering !!! Seen a few youtube videos, literally cannot believe a rubber belt would be intentionally immersed in used engine oil!! Bonkers.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Nick W on 20 April 2024, 08:43:38
Staggering !!! Seen a few youtube videos, literally cannot believe a rubber belt would be intentionally immersed in used engine oil!! Bonkers.


What's really staggering is just how complex changing the bloody thing is, when it's a regular maintenance job on common, relatively cheap, vehicles. The book time for a 1.0l Focus is 9 hours and requires numerous and expensive special tools. That's without mentioning the cost of the parts. This is a job that instantly sucks up the £20pa road tax in one impossible to forget bill.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 20 April 2024, 10:34:54
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: STEMO on 20 April 2024, 10:58:14
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\
Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: henryd on 20 April 2024, 12:26:12
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\

I've done two in the last couple of months due to age,quite a job !!
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Migv6 le Frog Fan on 20 April 2024, 13:32:15
The question has to be - Why ???!!!
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Nick W on 20 April 2024, 13:32:50
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\
Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.


That's the one :y


What the hell is a 1.0l Pinto? And don't forget, the normal 1.6 or 2.0l Pintos are long, tall and heavy when compared to similar capacity 4 cylinder engines. Not to mention expensive now that the cars they came in are well over thirty years old.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Nick W on 20 April 2024, 13:34:49
The question has to be - Why ??? !!!


Because it provides some minute, theoretical advantages for the designers that anyone paying for the bloody thing will never notice. I suspect that the originator of the idea was German, and we all know that German engineers are incapable of resisting any complication that can proved, no matter how tenuously, to be 'better'.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 20 April 2024, 14:03:12
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\
Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.


That's the one :y


What the hell is a 1.0l Pinto? And don't forget, the normal 1.6 or 2.0l Pintos are long, tall and heavy when compared to similar capacity 4 cylinder engines. Not to mention expensive now that the cars they came in are well over thirty years old.
Wasn't that the original 1.0/1.1/1.3 Fester lump :-\
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Nick W on 20 April 2024, 20:16:34
Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place :-\
Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.


That's the one :y


What the hell is a 1.0l Pinto? And don't forget, the normal 1.6 or 2.0l Pintos are long, tall and heavy when compared to similar capacity 4 cylinder engines. Not to mention expensive now that the cars they came in are well over thirty years old.
Wasn't that the original 1.0/1.1/1.3 Fester lump :-\


You're thinking of the Valencia which is mostly the crossflow found in mk1/2 Escorts, but with virtually no interchangeable parts - like the weak three main bearing crank instead of the original unbreakable five bearing one....
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 20 April 2024, 20:40:53
Still got to be better than that modern shite.

Although Ford only build shit cars, and only ever have. Purely a ploy to sell more finance/cars.

Buy a cheap car that lasts three years... first major issue you trade it in for a new one because "it's worth more as a deposit" than the cost to fix it.

Repeat until the customer stops driving.
Title: Re: Wet belts
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 20 April 2024, 21:46:34
Why not fit a Kevlar Timing Belt - apparently good for at least 100,000 miles