How many cambelts snap?

[RPWC]

Originally Posted by murphyv310

I wouldn't say that French cars are fragile, look at how long the older Peugeot diesels lasted, also what the 2CV could do that 90% of today's offerings can't. These days cars are much of a muchness no real bad ones about now.
Even new Mercedes keyless cars can be nicked with a laptop and a receiver to store the signal. So that to me is a backward step.

Yeah the DW8 engine 1.9 d was virtually bullet proof, went on for years as longs it was serviced each year and cam belt changed at 70,000.

[jr.ewing*]

Originally Posted by Fusilier

Well

I got my car back today at around 1200 hrs, after an overnight stay at Turbo Dave's to have my belts done, he was working until 2100 hrs last night on the car and all three main belts, six new plugs, Aux Belt and a full services, and he mentioned that it looks like the belts had been done previously, as they were one tooth out on the timing, now done and peace of mind for at least the next six years or 90,000 miles, which ever comes first (suspect that it will be 6 years),

He has done a great job on the car and am really happy., and even the cost was less than I expected. Only problem was that it got dirty, going there yesterday and on the way home, but that has been solve, as soon as I got home it got a full wash

and want to thank Ronnie for picking me up yesterday, and bring me back home, that was really appreciated

Stu

I've decided to get mine done now, sourcing the kit off ebay, the parts come to £ 130 inc waterpump and an mg specialist near me is going to fit them for me. I need my mind to be at rest or it will literally drive me mad !!

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by jr.ewing*

I've decided to get mine done now, sourcing the kit off ebay, the parts come to £ 130 inc waterpump and an mg specialist near me is going to fit them for me. I need my mind to be at rest or it will literally drive me mad !!

Wise decision

Stu

[SD1too]

Originally Posted by KWIL

That's because on the auxiliary functions, it does not really matter if it does break, just inconvenient.

We're being led to believe that belts somehow become dangerously unstable after six years of below average use. So why wouldn't MGR specify timely renewal? After all, it's far less expensive than a timing belt job.

Also, I thought I'd read of a case of the auxiliary belt breaking, wrapping itself around the pulleys which then caused excessive stress on the primary cambelt which also broke. But my memory may be defective.

Simon

[StephenEssex]

Both of my 75's have been purchased on original belts;

2001 2.5 V6 Auto

14 years old @ 66k - Belt was changed by Best of British of this forum and described them as being in good condition, he wishes he hadn't of bothered starting the job when he got to the main belt.

2000 2.5 V6 Auto

16 years old @ 67k - Again, belts were ok although described as being a little dryer than a shiny new belt as to be expected, but certainly had more life left in them.

My local Rover friendly garage well regarded in Rover and MGF circles claims its very rare to see one break, in over 15 years working for Rover then going independent he has seen ONE break and it was a newish but high mileage car.

More evidence that these tend to break after mileage rather than time.

[Tiff]

Originally Posted by murphyv310

Hi.
The belt in the Panda is 60,000 miles or 5 years, It's narrower than the MGR belts but it's only an 8 valve engine and water pump, no sudden turns so fairly low stressed. I'll be doing it next year when the car is four years old and will most likely be still below 25,000 miles. Why you may ask.... well my version of the 1242cc fire engine has VVT and is a contact engine so I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'll be using a Fiat pump and tensioner but a marked Gates belt, not 100% sure who supplies Fiat but if I can confirm they use Gates then I'll order their belt kit..... not cheap though.

EDIT. this site says Fiat use Gates as OEM https://triscan.dk/en/news/timing-belt-kits-close-look

Older Panda's like ours are non-interference, so if you have a socket set and a belt in the boot, it's a roadside fix!

[Bolin]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

There is no reason to expect failure of a decent quality item

Brian, could you please let us know your opinion of the best quality water pump to fit to the KV6?

I am about to do belts and tappets and don't want to fit a poor quality pump, but cannot make my mind up as to what to buy

[maxi_crawf]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

"Nicht crimpen" very important if the fibre glass reinforcing fibres are not to be damaged, belt fitted using other than just fingers, forcing it onto pulleys using tools, the choices are endless Simon

Now that belt in the picture was a genuine Rover item, and as such had a date code printed upon it, as do most synchronous toothed belts.

That is how I know it was not the one the car came out of the factory with, and to put it bluntly to you, in the case of this car, I removed the front belt cover a few months back and visually inspected the belt along it's entire length and there was certainly nothing visually wrong at that point, so is time related replacement a myth then, and we can all rest easy that people are simply scaring us into parting with our money

My wife when I met her had a 1997 Renault Clio fitted with an 1100 "diet" engine, which she had bought brand new from the local dealership.

So when it was a little over five years old, and certainly well within the mileage limits set down by Renault, I bought a full kit for it with the intention of fitting it when she was on holiday from work the following week.

First day of her holidays, she went with her then boss to look at a birthing centre in West Yorkshire, and on the way home.....well I got a phone call from her proclaiming "The car lost power in the outside lane, and I slowed down using the gears, the RAC man is here and tells me the timing belt has snapped"

So that was a car where I knew exactly what had been done and by whom and using only genuine parts, and when I did the top end rebuild the belt looked perfect, apart from the fact it was no longer in a loop

Conversely I have a 1978 Morris Marina 1700HL which up until last year had the original belt fitted, in fact I had decoked the engine and refitted the head without changing the belt, and injected grease using a syringe into the tensioner because it sounded a little dry.

The fact of the matter is simple, do you take the risk? if you like the car then no, if you couldn't give a monkey's and see it as an old banger capable of getting you from A to B until something breaks, then as you say, don't bother it'll be fine

Brian

Brian,
Just out of curiosity how do you work out the dates on the belts? I'm going to get Trikey to do mine next month and I'd really like to know for sure how old they actually are.

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[Dorset Bob]

Originally Posted by maxi_crawf

Brian,
Just out of curiosity how do you work out the dates on the belts? I'm going to get Trikey to do mine next month and I'd really like to know for sure how old they actually are.

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On the Rover belts, the code starts with the year, followed by the week number.

To give an example, my belts were replaced in 2014 and these are the old ones that came off (previous belt change was on the 24th April 2008)

Main belt code starts 0736 which dates the belt to 2007 week number 36 ( w/c 3rd Sept).





The rear belts are starting 0624 indicating w/c 12th June 2006.



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I would also like to comment on the view, earlier on in the thread, that the belts are "everlasting" until they have done 90,000 miles.

In my case, the belts were changed on the time limit, rather than the mileage.
At this point in time the engine sounded like a bag of nails.
The rear belts visually looked brilliant, but were loose because they had stretched. The tensioner on the main belt was also noisy.

I believe that the time limit can be more critical than the mileage.
This is particularly true with engines that are covering less miles but at lower average speed, compared to when the vehicles were newer.

For all engines, a maintenance schedule on a usage (miles/ hours) or a time interval, whichever comes first, is well established and for very good reasons.

[maxi_crawf]

I agree, my 190 has 82K on the clock but is a 53 plate and as far as I know is still on the original belts (I bought it last year and they are to be replaced next month) 4 previous owners who probably thought I'll go by the mileage rather than the age when they realised the cost of replacement 😉

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