Timing belt/chain damage question

Tee Hee Johnson · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:05

Hello!

After that thread with the dodgy Civic, I was thinking about how timing belts/chains fail and why.

I know age and them starting to perish is the biggie BUT would high revs and driving hard cause it to break or slip?

Craig

-westy- · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:07

Nope. Over-revving might (for example changing from 2nd to 1st instead of 3rd), but during normal hard driving and high revs, it would be fine. If it does slip, then there's an underlying issue.

Firestar_3x · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:17

Chain stretch with age and gear teeth start to wear down, some engines are renowned for chains skipping teeth.

Guides and tensioners start to wear, causing slack in the belt / chain, causing noise and potential slip / skip issues.

Tee Hee Johnson · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:24

Cool, was just curious

bledd · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:50

Low oil pressure can cause them to skip.

If you change your oil regularly and don't let it run low. The chain should last a long time.

stoofa · 3 Feb 2015 at 16:56

A chain "should" last the life of the engine (although I guess if the chain fails it has always lasted the life of the engine - the two died at the same time).
Most manufacturers don't have the chain as a service part - not saying you cannot have it changed of course, however they expect it to never need replacing.

Tee Hee Johnson · 3 Feb 2015 at 17:10

That's interesting bledd, I'm always on top of the oil to be honest

Debating if I should get the belts done on my Dci Clio this November, or just keep it going till it dies!

bledd · 3 Feb 2015 at 19:15

I'd get it checked after 10 years or 100k. Of it needs doing at that interval then so be it

Simon · 3 Feb 2015 at 20:45

£1.5k for a new chain from Honda. No thanks.

It will be a combination of factors, timing chain stretch doesnt really exist, what is going on is wear in the timing chain pins and links causing it to lengthen.

Different oils can control this but it is becoming a known issue and OEMs are developing tests to investigate it. his has a negative impact on timing, but would never cause a chain to skip.

Low oil pressure could in theory cause the tension to be lost, however there is a rachet system to stop this from happening. I guess you need 'ideal' conditions and something like stalling the car to give a rapid speed change for a chain to skip

jono_astra · 3 Feb 2015 at 21:04

pepsilol · 3 Feb 2015 at 21:14

jono_astra said:
timing chains ......The Bmw diesel engines are kind of prone to this with a long oil change interval of 20k (iirc) and it normaly cause's the timing chain tensioner to fail

Back this up please.

jono_astra · 3 Feb 2015 at 23:04

.fails too.

pepsilol · 3 Feb 2015 at 23:31

jono_astra said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...ngine-failures-are-due-to-manufacturing-fault

Thats about it but more to the fact of he chain snapping, but i have heard about tensioner fails too.

I didn't bother reading it, I just did a word search for "oil" and found nothing.

So......your post was complete rubbish or have you got something else to back it up?

jono_astra · 3 Feb 2015 at 23:42

pepsilol · 4 Feb 2015 at 09:16

I am not saying BMW didn't have timing chain issues...I am telling you that your logic of the timing chain failing, due to the tensioner which is due to the oil change interval is wrong.

Amraam · 6 Feb 2015 at 17:03

bledd. said:
Low oil pressure can cause them to skip.

If you change your oil regularly and don't let it run low. The chain should last a long time.

This is the cause of all the 1.8 and 2 TSI engines that VAG cars use. Chain tensioner piston doesn't engage fully when starting up so the chain can jump teeth and wreak havoc. Happened to my Skoda before I bought it, but thankfully wasn't running when it happened.