Disaster - cambelt failure, KV6 heads wanted NOW DISASTER mk2
 

Went up to Conisbrough yesterday, on the way back on the A1 the cambelt failed at Tuxford. Got home with the AA ok (great service) and started investigating today. I shall know full details possibly tomorrow, but expecting valve damage? I therefore will probably be looking for a pair of heads - can anyone assist please?

Stewart

What have you found so far Stewart? Was it your diagnosis or the AA's? I'd be very interested to know the service history and in particular the mileage covered by the tensioner and idler pulleys.

I offer my commiserations.

Simon

I've got the back covers off and those belts are ok. I had diagnosed before the AA came that it was a likely cambelt fault. The engine suddenly lost power on the A1, rev counter still showed rpm when in gear. Took it out of gear and coasted round the corner at the junction; rev counter stopped . Turned the key and the engine spun over. Seemed to be low compression, confirmed by the AA. Plugged my test box in, it gave a fault of the cam sensor.
Tomorrow I'll jack up the engine and remove the o/s engine mount etc so that I can remove the cover off the the front belt. I've already loosened the cover, and the belt feels very loose. As it was turning over, I suspect it may not be broken? Possibly the tensioner seized - we will see.
I've had the car about 3 years, 123k miles. When I bought it, (around 90k?), I had proof of cambelt change at around 70k. My initial thoughts were that a rear belt had gone, possibly because they had been untouched (it appears these can be overlooked). Not to be however.
In the boot was a brand new water pump, suggesting that hadn't been changed with the belt, and probably the tensioner wasn't either.
I converted it to lpg, and extended the hose from the heater, at its join under the throttle body, round to the lpg vapouriser (near the osf suspension mount) and back to that joint. I've had a minor leak for a while which I thought was a manifold gasket in the V; now I've got better access I've also found a leak at the join to the heater hose! So this gives me opportunity to not only sort the belt (or whatever) but catch up on a few other things. The list appears to be:
Change all 3 belts anyway.
Water pump.
Belt tensioner.
That heater hose joint.
Thorough check of all hoses etc while I can see them.
Manifold gaskets.
Heads/valves - probably damaged.
Camshaft cover breather (?) hole check/clean.
Anything minor that I get access to as well.
Quite a list, might as well do it all at once. Going to be a busy time, but I'll get it done. Thinking that s/h heads might be cheaper/easier than replacing valves?

Stewart

Thanks for an excellent report Stewart. I'm pleased to see that you're thinking positively.
Maybe, but I'd stick with the heads you know.

When you expose the front of the engine, a photo would be interesting! :}

Simon

I've done some more dis-assembly today, got delayed by a couple of awkward bolts and ran out of time before I could get the bottom pulley undone. However I did get a few pics.
Pic 1 and 2 are incidental to the belts. Pic 1 shows the water leak I was aware of, seems to be the manifold gasket on cyl 2. However, with things now removed I have sight of the connector on the heater hose, which looks worse. Ignore the fresh puddles from removing the hose!
Pic 3 shows the mess inside the belt cover on bank 2, and pic 5 shows the inside of bank 1 cover.
Pic 4 shows the first sighting of the belt, on bank 2 pulley. At this stage I still had a lot of dismantling to see more.
On removing the bank 1 cover it became apparent the belt was broken. I've lifted the end of the belt to show this in Pic 6
Pic 7 shows a split in the belt at bank 2.
Pic 8 is viewd down towards the idler pulley, with more damage to the belt, and more 'swarf'.
All in, quite a mess.
Tomorrow morning I should have full access to the full belt area.

Stewart

Not always a good idea, you have the risk of damage to valve guides and seats that can be difficult to spot.

I rebuilt a members 190 engine earlier this year following a similar breakdown, I put two good known heads on as its a lot easier as well!

Remaining pics from post above

Id say that front belt was original, no way has that only covered 53k, can you see the date code printed on the belt, id be interested to compare it with the dates on the rear belts.

No pics today, I'l hopefully be in a better position tomorrow to take some. Quick update however.
I've been struggling with the odd bolt etc that was tight, but I've got to the stage of having the front plate totally free. Just got to wriggle it out. I pulled the broken belt out - what a mess. The front edge has been rubbing, and in places that has torn into the belt, as well as the break. No sign of any date printing on it. Looking at the run of the belt, its like a birds nest in there, where the belt has been shaved. The two smooth pullies (tensioner and water pump) are shiny over only 1/3-1/2 of their width, the remainder is an orangey rust colour; seems the belt has been running out of alignment for some time.
More when I lift the front plate out of the way.

Excellent observations Stewart. You're on the way to deducing the cause of the breakage. I await your further evidence with much interest. :}
Long term readers won't be surprised to hear that I disagree with Andy's hypothesis! As for the so called date codes, when I checked the numbers on my original Rover branded belts they did not correspond at all with the explanation given on the forum so I'm not convinced about this either. :(

Simon