Snapped Cam Belt after 35K

[Tobin]

BTW
Tobin, Did you hear any rattling from the front of the engine?

Not checked it yet but i will do, and no i didnt hear any rattling. Its not my car though (its my parents) so i only drive it occasionally. It is usually driven by my father who is plenty clued up enough to detect strange noises/vibrations.

If it was rattling it is possible you wouldn't hear it anyway, its a big noisy engine, and the LC is fairly standard so has plenty of soundproofing etc to disguise noises like that. Its a shame really as we might of noticed and found the problem before it was too late!

 

[nathanrobo]

Tobin

Thanks mate! Just another thing to lie awake at night worrying about

 

[Julian Voelcker]

We had exactly the same thing on a 100 a few months back.

Exactly the same failure. From memory the tensioner was actually fine.

Our conclusion was that someone had used coppereaze or something similar on the pivot shaft for the tensioner pulley as a lubricant, but it had dried out and contributed to the excessive wear.

The tensioner pulley has a brass bush on the inside that shouldn't really need to be lubricated at all, but if you want to consider using a dry silicone based lubricant.

As here, we ended up replacing the head and all the valves, not a cheap job.

 

[frank rabbets]

Hi Julian

I checked my 100/64,000 mile LC with original belt and tensioner. The pulley bracket was completely dry on its spindle and almost seized. When I cleaned it off all parts had no wear whatsoever. I think the bracket creeps round the spindle as the belt stretches rather than moves back and forth at all. If there were no oil in the hydraulic ram or faulty one way valve there the bracket would vibrate violently with the engine running.

Thanks for advice on headlamp and creeper and sorting out my smoke.

Frank