Focus Cambelt Damage

[johkaz]

Hi,

Can i pick the brains of someone who is motor mechanically minded? As this is the damage that a garage has found on the cambelt of my 2005 Ford Focus estate car.

The cambelt was changed in May 2015, and this damage was only found by accident, by another garage mechanic today.

Who was trying to diagnose another fault on my car, and in the process i presume he had to remove the cover to expose the cambelt, and he found this damage as shown here.

Does anyone have an idea what might have caused this, on a cambelt that has been in place from new for 2 years and 2 months?

I forgot to add, that the cambelt was supposedly changed at 62.571 miles and the car has now done 80,353 miles (17,782 miles difference)

Thanks.

[stants]

Was the belt change during your ownership ? As that one looks alot older than two years

Either that or it's not been aligned properly as there looks to be alot of wear on it

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Micro]

To me that looks well worn too. Are there any date marks on it? If the belt is cleaned up the markings may become visible - which should also include a date mark. Is the tensioner, and any other pulley that contacts the flat face of the belt? Has the tensioner seized or has it got a bad bearing?

[MrRedman]

How lucky are you for him to come across this 👍

[johkaz]

Hi,

Many thanks for the replies.

I have owned the car since 2009, and the mileage at purchase was 15,269 miles.

I am having the belt changed again tomorrow, along with the other belt that was supposedly changed at the same time as a precaution.

I will also ask about the tensioner, as this belt does look overly worn to me.

And I am just wondering how the hole could have occurred?

I will ask for the belt to be kept aside for me, and i will check for the date marks that you have mentioned.

Yes i am lucky for the mechanic to have found this.

Thanks.

[Russ]

Looks like it's been rubbing on the cover rather than 'worn'

[iantt]

that looks like a pulley siezing . what engine is it?

[johkaz]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I will check the inside of the cover tomorrow.

I am puzzled as to why there should be shiny high patches on the belt and dark low patches.

I would have expected a flat uniform wear colour on the face, it makes me think of a 'bounce' when the belt is moving

I am not sure of what engine it is, i think the car is a petrol Ford Focus Duratec 16V 1.6LX automatic.

Thanks.

[JW1982]

On the 1.6 Duratec Petrol engine that is used on the Focus MK2 the timing belt and tensioner must be replaced every 160.000 KM/100.000 MLS or 8 Years (whichever comes first). On a 2005 vehicle the original timing belt should have been replaced back in 2013.

This kind of damage and wear pattern is not normal at all. Even an 8 Year old timing belt should look better than this. As Ian said this kind of damage/wear suggests a defective tensioner bearing.

In this case you should have the complete timing belt kit (timing belt, belt tensioner, crankshaft bolt and camshaft bolts), (both) auxiliary belts and camshaft cover seal replaced. If not changed before you should also consider changing the waterpump. The waterpump is a relative inexpensive part. Changing it now can save you a lot of money on the longer term. The waterpump is mounted behind the timing belt and driven by the auxiliary belt. A new auxiliary belt (in this case a stretchbelt) will have a different (higher) tension on the water pump pulley. This higher tension can cause premature water pump bearing damage. Changing the waterpump on this type of engine usually also means changing the timing belt again. 

[johkaz]

JW1982,

Many thanks for the reply.

Looking at what you have written, makes me think of the other fault that the car had, which originally put it into the garage for repairs. And i am now wondering if this could be the cause of the problems i am having?

I was driving to work on Monday, i drive 25 miles to work each way. And 3 miles from work as i went to stop at traffic lights, and when the revs dropped the car stalled. I could keep the revs up when i re-started, but when i went to select gear the revs dropped and the car stalled.

As it is an automatic, i had to start the car keep the revs above idle, select gear and drive the car onto the pavement. Before that everything was ok and no problems with idling at any stops i made before before this.

The garage i had the car recovered to, found a temperature sensor showing 175 degrees, and they changed the sensor and the lady said this dropped to 125 degrees. They have done other work, but it has now been stopped as the cover for the cambelt has been removed and they found it as in the picture above.

So they do not want to run the engine anymore until i get there tomorrow, to see this for myself.

Thanks.

[johkaz]

3 hours ago, Micro said:

To me that looks well worn too. Are there any date marks on it? If the belt is cleaned up the markings may become visible - which should also include a date mark. Is the tensioner, and any other pulley that contacts the flat face of the belt? Has the tensioner seized or has it got a bad bearing?

Hi,

Are the date marks an expiry date for the rubber belt?

As i work maintaining trains, and we have rubber parts we fit to the trains which have expiry dates.

It is surprising how many pieces get thrown away from stores.

Thanks.

[v530anh]

You can see all the dust that has been sanded off around the belt.

[johkaz]

I saw the belt this morning and it looks quite new, the manufacturers marks are very clear and i could not see the shiny damage as shown above.

But when photographed with a flash, the damage does show up.

So the belt is going to be changed again, all of the pulleys and tensioners will be checked and maybe replaced.

The timing will be checked, and i have also asked for the water pump to be changed as well.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

[Micro]

11 hours ago, johkaz said:

Hi,

Are the date marks an expiry date for the rubber belt?

As i work maintaining trains, and we have rubber parts we fit to the trains which have expiry dates.

It is surprising how many pieces get thrown away from stores.

Thanks.

Was thinking more the manufacture date, i know rubber parts degrade though over years.

[isetta]

I do recall a lot of scuffing on the back of the cam belt on my old mk3 escort years ago. it was due to a misaligned tensionser wheel. The tensioner wheel was riveted to a bracket with one large rivet. The rivet had worked slight loose which meant that the tensioner wheel was at an angle against the belt. I put a blob of weld on the rivet to the brocket whilct holding it straight (whilst removed form car) and it was fine after that. I do not know what the tensioner and idler wheels are like on your car, can they be slightly misaligned?

[johkaz]

Hi,

I have just got my car back from the garage yesterday, and to say that i was surprised at the damage found is an understatement. Because in the process of doing the checks and repairs on it. They reckon that the cambelt jumped one tooth, and that is why it would not idle and broke down on the way to work last week. As they said that they found that the timing was out, the cambelt had a hole in it, and the tensioner also has a piece of metal embedded in it.

And the recovery guy from hell, ran the engine three times up to 3000 + revs, before he had to admit he had to recover it back to my choice of garage.

I suspect that when I had the cambelt changed 2 years ago, one of the rocker cover bolts had to be drilled out as it broke when the fitter tried to remove it. And I think that some of the swarf ended up on the cambelt area. The stud was replaced, but the swarf was left on the cambelt. I have the cambelt here, and around the hole I can see slivers of silver on both sides. Also it was pointed out to me by the garage that did the work this week, that the tensioner wheel is made of hard plastic. But it has a sharp piece of swarf embedded in it.

 

 

[Focusoap]

A near miss glad to hear there are still reliable garages out there!