frwilk@the944.com

The day after "The Rubber Band" broke!    1999

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Arrow shows grooves cut into back cover from the timing belt digging into it. Then the belt failed?       Go figure!

The correct answer is the two tensioning rollers were reversed. The "Balance Shaft Tensioning Roller" is on the timing belt and vice versa. This is what it looked like when I bought the car almost 2 years ago. Late last year, the timing belt broke [teeth stripped from belt]. I lost over $1,000 and the use of the car for 6 months. It was 4 months before I got a chance to work on it .

The belt had moved over and started to dig into the back cover and the water pump. Eventually, the belt was stripped of its teeth and the valves damaged. The lip on the tensioning roller, which keeps the belt in place, was on the wrong side! Nothing to keep it from moving into the engine.

I repaired the head and put on a new belt. The belt moved over into the back cover again almost immediately. I have been afraid to drive it until I got this figured out. I thought I might have to invent something to keep the belt in place. A month later, the water pump started leaking.

So I bought a new water pump, a set of oil seals, a new radiator, and  a new set of 4 rollers. I was looking at the new rollers sitting on the floor and I was thinking that it is too bad the lip on the one tensioning roller is not on the other side just like on the other tensioner. That would keep the belt from moving over…………….. So, I looked at my workshop manual and then at the car. Yep, the rollers were reversed and that is how I bought it.

So, the good news is the engine shredding itself was not of my doing. The bad news, I still had to pay for the damages.