Best buy a lottery ticket

[Heaumey]

With about 6 hours left before we were due to leave on the ferry for a two week break in the UK , I thought I’d just top up the washer fluid and check the levels. All good as suspected, but then I noticed a mark on the timing cover. A sort of high spot that looked almost melted, after a little interrogation with a torch and mirror there was no option but to pull the cover and check inside.
Well!!! What I found was the nut and washer from the tentioner pulley sat in the bottom and the only thing holding the pulley on was the cover itself, another 2mm of plastic to wear through and the pulley was coming out the front. The 8mm hole in the centre of the pulley now about 16mm.
After 2 phone calls to the only 2 places over here that might stock a belt kit and things weren’t looking good.
Now faced with taking the wife’s Mazda 5 that has never been over 35 in 10 years, not serviced for 3 and needing 4 tyres depression was starting to set in. AHa... what about that old Yanmar thrown in the corner of the workshop, bingo. Now the big decision, fit a second hand tentioner or sit in a Mazda 5 for the next 2 weeks.
So I went with plan A, which was to fit the tentioner. Order a full belt kit from Snows Toyota in Portsmouth which is a 15 minute drive from the boat and take the tools required for the job.
So today I spent an hour in the hotel car park changing the timing belt, relaxing start to the holiday, Not!!!
Can laugh about it now that it’s sorted, but. Can not believe that I found it so close to devastation, and also can not believe I fitted a used tentioner.
Right, now where’s that bar.

 

[Chris]

Flippin' Nora!!!!

Close one.

 

[Towpack]

Wow, that’s far too close for comfort. Reminds me of a similar episode with my old Disco when the belt would ride forwards off the pulleys gradually wearing away on the timing cover. Caught it just in time.
So, has the nut just come undone? That doesn’t look like a lock nut in the picture.

 

[moggy1968]

Good work

 

[StarCruiser]

Phew, that was close!!

Drop in for a cuppa if you venture near Bognor or want somewhere with tools etc to change your belt.

 

[Heaumey]

TP, it’s a plain nut with a spring washer. Strangely enough the new Toyota one is the same, when I brought the car a little over a year ago I was informed that it had just had a belt. A sticker on the bulkhead seemed to verify this, once stripped it was a genuine belt but the pulley is different to the genuine. It has a thicker outer race and secured with a longer bolt, no branding on it at all.
The nut has either come undone or the centre of the pulley has failed, worst bit about the whole thing is I’m lying underneath it in the hotel car park with a Freelander one side and a Range Rover the other... how ironic.

 

[Heaumey]

StarCruiser. I’m in Bognor, where at Butlins until Monday then heading to Cornwall.

 

[StarCruiser]

Their day wil come…

 

[StarCruiser]

StarCruiser. I’m in Bognor, where at Butlins until Monday then heading to Cornwall.

Fancy meeting up? You’re about 1/2 a mile from me.

 

[Heaumey]

We’ve got a pretty choker week ahead with the kids but we’re back this way next Tuesday. Possible then if you’re free?

 

[StarCruiser]

If you mean the 21st I could be. I’ll send you a PM.

 

[froggy Steve]

crumbs, that was a close call!

 

[flint]

Well caught !

 

[clivehorridge]

Very lucky you spotted that, just in time...