300 Tdi Cam-belt
 

Hi,
the cam belt on my 300Tdi blew this weekend... the odd thing is, it was replaced and fitted with a new one just 3000 miles ago. I've had a look myslef and I can't see any reason why it would have gone. Does anybody kno what sort of things might have caused a new cam-belt to explode ?

Obviously I need to figure out if anything is causing this other than an faulty belt... I'm about to leave for a 12 month trip ot Africa ...


thanks


Simon

yes, there was a problem, I believe with the alignment of the pulleys, which could cause premature belt failure, most should have been fixed though by now (I believe there is a standard LR kit for this) yours sounds rather too early for that though, was it installed correctly and definately not damaged before or during fitting?

Bad luck. It could have been fitted poorly, or possibly the idler/tensioner pulleys & the oil seals were not replaced at the same time (which most TDI boff's recommend)?

Hi Simon. Yes, there was/is a problem with the belt moving forwards on the pulleys. But (like Moggy 1968 said) it would have been fixed by now. If this problem does occur you get a lot of belt dust in the bottom of the front cover. If you have black rubber dust there then your belt has moved. If this is the case you will need newer pulleys to fix the problem. All bits are quite cheap.
If this is not the problem, then I would say it has been fitted badly or it is a faulty belt, or you've been done and it was never changed! (The latter is unlikely... but possible)
I would take the front cover off (remove the lower pulley and the rest is easy) and look to see if your pulleys and idler has a lip on them, they should.
If you are lucky there shouldn't be any damage, or maybe a bent push rod.
When you put it back together make sure you do up the big bolt that holds the crank pulley on VERY, VERY tight! and put some thread lock on it.

Good luck with it.

Cheers,
Matt Savage

Thanks
 

Hi,
thanks for your replies so far. The vehicle is with Foley Specialist Vehicles who are looking into it an repairing. The belt had been fitted (not by them, by another dealer) 3000 miles ago so should have been good for a long time yet.

I'll ask the questions about the pulleys and lips and all that and see what they reckon.

cheers,


Simon

An Update
 

Ok.

The bottom pulley lip has come off. It was sopt welded in place but actually has come apart. So I guess this means that a kit had been out on my engine ta some point. The lip on the idler is still there. There seems to be about 1.5 mm o play backwards and forwards on the Injection pump pulley (no sidewys or up and down, but in and out) - might be normal I'm not sure.

So I'm not sure if the belt came off because the lip came off, or if the lip was forced off by the belt... Anybody else ever come across this problem ? Foley's say they've never seen a fault like it before.

Simon

I thought that the "new" type of pulley, like Bearmach sell, were a one piece cast affair where the "lip" was part of the main material that the rest of the pulley was, unlike the spot welded on rather "weak" looking jobbie that's out there at the moment.

I don't think the FIP should have any end float either, can't remember if mine did, but i'm pretty sure it shouldn't.