1.2L Puretech/wet belt issues

[Gammawolf]

So i've got a 4.8 year old car at 55k miles with a 1.2L puretech. It was only after I bought it I became aware of the infamous wetbelt system. I'm the second owner of the car having had it for about 1 year and a few months. Timing belt replacement is 6 years or 60k miles (although dealer actually put 64k miles on their ad). Car was ex motablity, so it should have been serviced for its first 3 years although there are no stamps to indicate that. I replaced the oil with manufacturer recommended, did all filters and general service 4 months ago.

Yesterday I was joining the motorway and got low oil pressure when getting to 4-5k rpm, the engine then refused to do much. Had to stop on the side of the slip, turn off and on again. After testing it seems this only comes up at high rpm. I can drive it normally with no errors as long as i keep rpms 3.5k ish and below. I have inspected the belt from the top and it is showing some cracking but couldn't see missing bits of belt. The underside was hard to see, i'm not sure if i'm imagining it but if i were to bet, i'd say it was shedding some bits as a week ago i put in some oil as it displayed low oil level and on the dip I saw some bits of black chunky bits. Low oil pressure at high rpm to me indicates either blockage with pickup tube (most likely given the infamity of wetbelts) or issue with the pump. I don't think its the sensor otherwise it would be displaying the issue all the time.

Here is my predicament, I do not know if the engine is getting enough oil even with the warning not trigger as i don't know what its threshold is. For personal reasons I cannot not use the car, which means i'll be putting miles on the engine while in this state and who knows how long its been partially blocked. Its still a guess since i can't confirm pickup tube is blocked, but how likely do you think the dealer/manufacturer will rectify it based on the infamous history of this engine/recalls/wetbelt garbage and the history of this particular car? As well as the fact that its seemingly "failed" (at least not a belt snap) before the recommended changing interval (which in itself has been a lowered revision from when the engine was initially released). I would have thought the change interval would be scoped to ensure these issues didn't happen? Clearly the wetbelt system is a design flaw, as they've now redesigned the engine with a chain.. It is easy for me to take off the oil tray and check/clean the pick tube but i don't want to destroy evidence as its booked in at a dealer for 2 weeks for "diagnoses". If theres no chance they'll do anything under a manufacturers warranty then i'd rather just drop the pan now, clear it out to hopefully get me by the next few weeks, save the diagnosis fee and book it in for a timing belt replacement. I'm just loathed to drive it for hundreds more miles when knowing its likely continuing to damage the engine (even if no faults show and i keep it low rpm)

 

[Gammawolf]

My wife's old car had that engine, the belt was checked (as it was subject to a recall) and then less than six months later it went into limp mode while she was driving, loss of power and trashed the engine. Luckily she was on local roads at the time so was able to coast it into a parking spot. Could have been a genuine disaster if she was on the motorway. Basically my understanding was due to the nature of the belt being submerged they can't properly examine all of it without pulling everything apart, hence the 'check' was flawed, but I have no mechanical knowledge. I was able to argue that because it was caused by failure of a part subject to recall had been recently examined by a main Peugeot dealership and the next service wasn't due that Peugeot should pay for the new engine. I think the cost was about £5k in total. At the time it had done 68k miles in 5 years.

edit: in a way it's a shame because the 130 engine is not bad performance wise, but I suppose this the same can be said for the old Ford Ecoboost, sometimes these punchy little engines give good performance but end up being a timebomb.

Did the belt actaully snap and trash the engine or they did some analysis on the wearing parts/oil delivery channels/decided and it was easier just to replace the engine?

Had a look with my endoscope and the belt itself isn't missing teeth as far as i can see but it sure does look to me like its been shedding stuff due to the uneven surface above the teeth

 

[Gammawolf]

Sadly, I don't know what was done for the first 3 years of this cars life. I've only ever used the recommend 0w30 PSA approved one for my engine model..

In anycase I have a deadline of Monday because my inlaws are actaully staying over from Japan and we need the car to go to the airport/Rome so i don't have the luxury to do the full works like oil pump - i did however manage to get a OEM timing belt kit in time with the dayco belt. After taking the pan off, it's the typical wetbelt issues as expected. New belt is in and its ready to button up - i just forgot to buy a new torque wrench today as my one doesn't go low enough for the tensioner/idler.. before any eagle eye'd person asks, yes i am replacing the oil filter

Spoiler: Large pictures

 

[Gammawolf]

On this engine i'd class it as advanced DIY - as always access is the main killer! If i had a pit or lift life would be bliss. You don't need the full head cover off that would exposes the cams (unless you want to inspect them). Theres a partial plastic cover that comes off with a few pipes to remove and the spark coils. I didn't buy the newest locking kit so had to take off the vaccum pump to lock that cam.

This video pretty much covers the newest variants on the engine but with the magic of editing and a free standing engine they make it look a little easier than it is!

TUTORIAL: How to replace the timing belt on the 1.2L Puretech engine

Find out how to replace the timing belt on the Puretech 1.2 Turbo engine versions 6.2 and 6.3 Step by step, follow our SNR experts' recommendations step by s...

youtu.be

 

[Gammawolf]

Just an update, got back from Italy this morning with the inlaws after driving it to Manchester and back (5 adults, 2 kids with 3 checked in luggage’s on a roof rack! Sufficed to say that 1.2L was doing work shifting that over the Pennines). This was the main reason I was in a rush to get it into a better state as I didn’t really have any alternatives for airport transport or anyone else fixing it with a few days’ notice. I can't feel it functioning any diffrent besides no more loss of oil pressure at high RPM but going to be doing more checks/replacing just to be sure when i have the luxury of more time/planning. Keeping an eye on oil consumption as well as it was using a fair bit before (but within PSAs stated tolerances). The engine is notorious for using oil though so i don't know if it'll actually improve or not.

Not sure if related to the belt wear but the belt tensioner on the factory fit was over tensioned, by about 30 degrees past the mark.

impressive - how long did it take 10 hours ? inside in garage with car on ramps ?

Thats about right for time I spent on it - correct with garage and car being on ramps, also I have all hand tools. Now that I know what I'm doing I could probably get that down to nearly half that on a reattempt and a few hours if you had garage level lifts/access/tools. Its much easier if you can take off the front wheel for access to the side through the arch, but thats a bit hard when you're using ramps . The scariest part for me was doing the crankshaft gear bolt. That one wants 50NM and then 180 degrees..