Having a newish car is all well and good BUT...

[Welly]

All cars need money spending on maintenance, especially if you want to rely on it to get you to work, but you need to prioritise the jobs in order of importance.

Tyres can be run down to the wear limiters and still be legal - this can get you another month or so (you wanna see my fronts at the moment ).

I would not bother keeping the Ford SH up to date, if you keep a documented history yourself with receipts and keep the car in good condition then a buyer who knows what's what won't be bothered. I'm ditching Volvo servicing this year, it's just an over-paid oil change now.

Fit the brakes yourself and buy the stuff from a motorfactors all that sh*t about using genuine parts is a load of bollox. I've got the cheapest brakes on mine ('international' discs and pads) from a factors and they're fine.

Whatever you do at the end of the day the cars worth is only heading one way; and it aint upwards

[Bailes1992]

Just had some more news about my lovely new car...

The fuelpump is driven from the crank via a belt that is in oil. A sort of cassette.

The camshaft is driven off the fuel pump

This could get expensive!

[Welly]

~~~~~"and the Knee Bone's connected to the Thigh Bone and the Thigh Bone's connected to the Hip Bone and the Hip Bone's".....

Sorry, I don't know what made me think of that

Surely you just change the primary Cambelt? these oil/cassettes things shouldn't need any maintenance? (famous last words)

[lozz]

Most probs fords way of Extracting More Monies out of there customers,

Whats the listed interval for the belt to be changed?


Why didnt they run them off a chain ffs,
iwas thinking of getting a late Mondy in year or so,
iThinks iwill pass on that idea now,

[steve_earwig]

Crikey, this is all starting to sound a bit, erm....

[lozz]

[steve_earwig]

I found some Dayco newsletter thing:

The “Belt in oil” concept, designed and developed by Dayco for original equipment, in co-design with the Ford engineering department, is an oil bath belt. Produced in the Chieti plant and assembled as art of a kit in Ivrea, the Belt in Oil is an efficient alternative to the traditional chain control. The purpose of the Belt in Oil kit is to supersede the gear and chain system with a pulley and timing belt system to provide functional benefits, reduced costs, whilst maintaining the performance level unchanged. The solution offers various advantages among which reduced friction between the components and lower transmission weights. The new system consists of the belt, two pulleys, a hydraulic tensioner that acts upon the upper arm of a slide which in turn tensions and guides the belt, and a second nylon slide, in the lower part, that guides and supports the belt. The shape of the slide has been designed to prevent and reduce vibrations of the free section of the belt, allow its correct tensioning, optimise the meshing with the pulley, reduce friction and dissipate the generated heat. The “Belt in oil”; which received important awards (Ford European Technical Achievement 2008 and Galerìa de Innovaciònes 2009 Motortec – Madrid) is the result of the ongoing technological evolution and search for maximum quality, which have always characterised Dayco products and will keep on characterising their future developments. This highly innovative product is in continuous development thanks to Dayco’s research. The R&D department is carrying out in-depth technical analyses, not only on new materials but also on the evolution of new oils, in close liaison with the major companies in the industry. Their objective is to further investigate the possible effects on materials and allow future improvements of the product performance.

And below that:

Produced in the Ivrea plant, “Prince” is a single-arm tensioner developed by Dayco for the new motorisation PRINCE BMW-PSA Its constructive characteristic, patented by Dayco, is the use of a special torsion bar as an elastic element, instead of the traditional spiral spring. In particular, a “motorised friction wheel” is assembled in the PRINCE BMW-PSA engine, and the pulley radial movement is operated by an electric motor with related reduction gear. The components are mainly assembled by hand due to the complexity and miniaturisation of the items. A multi-function automatic control station is provided and, like for all other Dayco products, endurance tests are carried out to simulate real-life operating conditions. The result is remarkable: the water pump pulley is connected and disconnected by means of an electrically operated roller that receives the movement from the driving shaft, causing a quick increase of the engine operating temperature whilst reducing emissions and consumption, since there is no drive when the water pump is not needed.

[Welly]

Bejesus, they talk about the system being cost effective and efficient then go on to describe how unbelievably complex it is

And a water pump which can engage/disengage - good luck with that one

[jasper5]

Just had some more news about my lovely new car...

The fuelpump is driven from the crank via a belt that is in oil. A sort of cassette.

The camshaft is driven off the fuel pump

This could get expensive!

Just replace the timing belt (Cam belt), there is no mention of replacing the oil bath belt in my timing belt book.

The cam belt replacement is a very easy job with or without the cam locking tool (a flat metal bar)

I withdraw my previous offer as you failed to acknowledge it.

[Bailes1992]

The belt in oil should be replaced every 125k with the timing belt and there is one guy on talkford who has had it fail at 58,000 so I think it's a good idea that I replace it. Just waiting for ford to get back to me with prices.

[lozz]

The belt in oil should be replaced every 125k with the timing belt and there is one guy on talkford who has had it fail at 58,000 so I think it's a good idea that I replace it. Just waiting for ford to get back to me with prices.

Make sure your sitting down when you get the Quote

[puggy]

As Loz says make sure you are sitting down (think you may wish you had accepted jaspers offer )

[Welly]

Sooo, like, anyone thinking of getting one of these TCDTTDTi's with 130K+ should factor in the cost of this oily-belt box of tricks

This is what I keep saying about new cars, they're sh*t, they're NOT made for long term ownership. The other 'problem' is that they still look pretty fancy at 6 years old and command some fairly high prices

[Bailes1992]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8-TDCI-Timi ... 3a7a3e2d31

I know it says chain but that is quite clearly a belt!

But not too bad!

Still waiting for FordPartsUK to get back to me though.

It's all well and good just replacing the cam belt but if the fuel pump belt goes too (The "Belt in oil") then the valves are still going to smash into the valves and I have one dead engine.

This picture shows trhe cam being driven from the fuel pump...

This picture shoes the original timing chain (upper picture) and the newer belt in oil (lower picture). Wonder if it would be easy to convert back to the old system?

[midsmike]

I think its time to get rid