What are the facts about 'wet cam belts', Vauxhall and others?

HillStreetBlues

Mildly_Miffed said:

Ibrahim5 said:

One of my wife's friends has just bought a brand new motorhome with a wet belt. They read that there was a problem with them and asked for my advice. I just said "bargepole". The next message was "OK we have bought it".

The correct answer would have been "make sure the oil is changed regularly (in a moho, I'd go for annually, forget mileage), and make sure it's the correct oil. Then change the belt on or before time schedule."

And then hope that's enough.

Baldytyke88

photome said:

Even doing all of that, doesn’t necessarily prevent issues

I don't see how the 'wrong' oil could make any difference. When I first read about this issue they were blaming the dumping of fuel from the regen process, but petrol engines don't regen. It now seems like wet belts are in millions of engines and issues always get exaggerated.

Is this issue being exaggerated, I don't know, but I would prefer not to buy one.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/609237/help-with-warrantee-needed-out-of-warrantee-but-only-45k-miles-and-gearbox-duff

ian16527

Watch Baz on youtube - he does loads of wetbelts and is top notch - this is the latest

VOLKSWAGEN AUDI SKODA 2.0D OIL PUMP WETBELT REPLACEMENT.... I WAS SHOCKED WHAT I DISCOVERED!!!!!!

paul_c123

Baldytyke88 said:

photome said:

Even doing all of that, doesn’t necessarily prevent issues

I don't see how the 'wrong' oil could make any difference. When I first read about this issue they were blaming the dumping of fuel from the regen process, but petrol engines don't regen. It now seems like wet belts are in millions of engines and issues always get exaggerated.

Is this issue being exaggerated, I don't know, but I would prefer not to buy one.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/609237/help-with-warrantee-needed-out-of-warrantee-but-only-45k-miles-and-gearbox-duff

The "wrong" oil can degrade the cambelt that's soaked in oil pretty much all the time. the correct spec of oil will have a package of additives designed not to damage the wet belt.

facade

I have to say that I agree with Ibrahim5. I'd have said "Don't touch it with someone else's bargepole!"

There have been threads on here about fleets of Transits scrapping their engines way before a belt change is due, and these are vehicles that won't have been doing a lot of standing around unused.

Good news for Puretech owners though 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLdDV9baDIo  

looks like kits will be available in the UK soon, just the usual B-word problems to surmount first.

(I am a bit worried by the simplex chain (rather than duplex) being made by the people who make BMW camchains- not exactly renowned for their long service life.....)

Joyfullife

Purchased a car on PCP in April 2024. Mar1st 25 we experienced a loss of power and an engine management prompt to stop the car. We were towed home and since then have discovered we have a wet belt problem. At this point we’d driven around 5,000 miles in the car with previous owners having had the car 3 years and around 42,000 miles driven. Contacted the finance company who arranged for an assessor to check the car. The outcome was excessive disintegration and delamination. From previous research we expected the finance company to end the agreement and refund what we’d paid but this didn’t happen. Warranty company have not been very helpful either. The warranty company did agree to pay for the car to be taken to the local Vauxhall dealership to be looked at, which also meant I’d have to pay for a diagnostic test. Car has been with Vauxhall now for around 3 weeks and nothing has happened. Vauxhall have said that the wrong oil was used when the car was serviced in Sept 24 but the garage have said that was the oil that was to be used at that time. The garage have written me a letter, which I have forwarded to the warranty company and the local dealership which has the information of the oil and the company that gave them the information re which oil should be used. As this has dragged on so long, I have contacted the financial ombudsman and the citizens advice. I also heard yesterday that Sellentis have extended their warranty to 10 years or 112000 miles for cars that have the wet belt issue.