Wet belts

[Migalot]

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). 

[urlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nog_0Oe7Z_M][/url]
 

[JamesV6CDX]

Staggering !!! Seen a few youtube videos, literally cannot believe a rubber belt would be intentionally immersed in used engine oil!! Bonkers.

[Nick W]

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.

[Doctor Gollum]

Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place

[STEMO]

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.

[henryd]

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 !!

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

The question has to be - Why !!!

[Nick W]

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


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.

[Nick W]

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'.

[Doctor Gollum]

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


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

[Nick W]

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


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....

[Doctor Gollum]

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.

[Mr Skrunts]

Why not fit a Kevlar Timing Belt - apparently good for at least 100,000 miles