Cam Belt fail only 9 months after replacement by dealer - what would you do?

blued

Premier wrote: »

There are lumps in the belt that mesh with the pulley to ensure accurate timing, correct, but not what I would call teeth.

It would be interesting to know whether it is the tearing of the belt that the OP was referring to rather than the failure of teeth on a gearwheel.

The ribs on the belt are known as teeth, just like the teeth on the gearwheel. I have seen the teeth on a cambelt sheer off on 2 occasions. One was caused by oil leaking from the cam cover which had made the belt soft and the other had no apparent cause other than belt failure. If there is no sign of oil on or around the belt and the water pump and oil pump are fine then the idler pulley needs to be checked. This can sieze and cause the belt to snap so I'm sure it could also strip teeth. They are normally changed with every second belt so it would not have been required with the OP's change. Lets hope that this isn't the case because if it is then the garage isn't liable. In any other case I'd say they are though.

Premier_2

mchale wrote: »

I would read post again, carefully, all relevant info is there

Yes I've read it again but don't see anything modified yet.

Hopefully the OP will be along later and address the questions I posed.

Premier_2

blued wrote: »

The ribs on the belt are known as teeth, just like the teeth on the gearwheel. I have seen the teeth on a cambelt sheer off on 2 occasions. One was caused by oil leaking from the cam cover which had made the belt soft and the other had no apparent cause other than belt failure. If there is no sign of oil on or around the belt and the water pump and oil pump are fine then the idler pulley needs to be checked. This can sieze and cause the belt to snap so I'm sure it could also strip teeth. They are normally changed with every second belt so it would not have been required with the OP's change. Lets hope that this isn't the case because if it is then the garage isn't liable. In any other case I'd say they are though.

If a belt becomes damaged because oil is leaking from elsewhere onto it, nothing to do with the replacement of the cambelt the dealer was ealier requesed to carry out, then the garage will not be liable for the subsequent deterioration of the belt due to such oil leak. (unless you could prove the oil was leaking at the time of fitment and the garage should have been reasonably aware that such leak would damage the belt)

vikingaero

If you can, check your old service/cambelt invoice to see that you were charged for a cambelt or a full cambelt service kit. The cambelt service kit includes new plastic pulleys and tensioners. It's nothing to do with the water pump. On these Vauxhall Ecotec petrol engines the plastic pulleys and tensioners often fail. We had a tensioner fail on one of our fleet Corsas at around 9k - it was covered under warranty.

SignificantAlter

Premier wrote: »

There are lumps in the belt that mesh with the pulley to ensure accurate timing, correct, but not what I would call teeth.

It would be interesting to know whether it is the tearing of the belt that the OP was referring to rather than the failure of teeth on a gearwheel.

It is the lumps on the belt that mesh with the pulley that are referred to as 'teeth' in this instance.

goldspanners

SignificantAlter wrote: »

It is the lumps on the belt that mesh with the pulley that are referred to as 'teeth' in this instance.

and any instance ive been involved with aswell.

ive never heard them being described as "lumps" by anyone in the industry.

Premier_2

How big is the cam pulley in diameter?

As previously mentioned by slimer3K, more than a couple of the ribs/teeth on the belt would have to usually be missing for the timing to be out.

I'm surprised these have been ripped off anyway without snapping the belt.

Edit: here's what the cam pulleys originally looked like - not sure if they have made them significantly smaller recently, but as you can see, even a couple of ribs out of a belt wouldn't affect the timing







Edit 2:
This picture from a Vectra probably demonstrates better:


There appears to be a good dozen ribs engaged per pulley.

Premier_2

goldspanners wrote: »

and any instance ive been involved with aswell.

ive never heard them being described as "lumps" by anyone in the industry.

Which industry do you work in? I'm not particularly familiar with GM, but the likes of Ford, Nissan, Rover & many others do not refer to teeth on rubber belts.

No they don't call them 'lumps' either

Mind you, the fact the belts are referred to as a "cam belt" in this thread suggests it's not the engine design industry anyway, so let's not get too pedantic over terminology, as long as we all know what we are describing

bennymac

Jeepers guys I have worked in the car industry for many years including having my own garage for a wee while. the cam belts are referred to as having teeth not bumps and where Vauxhall are concerned there only tends to be older round tooth and newer square tooth belt profiles.
I have seen lots of different reasons for cambelt failure including mechanical parts failure but I have also seen belts fail for no reason well within the service interval. Normally Vauxhall uses Gates belts which is one of the most highly regarded manufacturers of belts but in this case I suspect the belt is of faulty manufacture. I would send the car back to dealer for a report but do not let them repair anything at your cost without your say so.

thescouselander

I'd certainty call them teeth on the timing belt - as far as I am aware this is the common terminology.

Anyway, my dad had a similar incident with his omega of a similar vintage. The tensioner pully seized, a few teeth were removed from the belt in the process as the drive pully slipped over the teeth on the belt.