Tag Archives: engine rattle

2018 Ford Transit Wet Belt Failure

This Ford Transit was recovered into us after breaking down on the M5, the customer said he suddenly lost all power and pulled into a laybuy.

After a quick investigation it was very apparent that the van had no compression and we suspected the wet belt had failed causing the crank shaft to keep turning without the cam shafts which has caused internal damage.

We removed the front end of the van including head lamps, radiator and bumper to allow easy access to the wet belt cover.

Once we removed the cover we could see that the wet belt had indeed failed, several teeth were missing from the belt which had allowed the crank and cam shafts to turn separately and caused piston and valve contact.

Check your timing belt history! We recommend 80,000 miles or 8 years.

Teeth missing from wet belt

With a quick inspection of the damaged parts we decided it would be cheaper for the customer to fit a reconditioned engine than for us to repair his damaged engine.

Ford are aware of the premature failure of their Wet Belts which on this model were due at 150,000 miles or 10 years but as far as we are aware they are offering no help if the vehicle is out of warranty.

When the new engine arrived we started swapping all auxiliary parts from the old engine to the new engine carefully inspecting for damage or wear in the process, all gaskets and seals were replaced at the same time.

Reconditioned engine from Ford

With the engine and gearbox built up it was time to refit them into the van and get to a stage where we can run the engine and test for any leaks or blows before refitting the front end.

Starting an engine after such a big job is always an intense feeling no matter how confident you are, but after checking and double checking we were happy with our work and we turned the key…….. and voila, life.

We left the engine running for some time to allow the oil and coolant to get up to temperature and so we could check for any problems.

All good so time to refit the front end and road test, after the road test we recheck all levels and hand back to the customer.

Aarons Autos car service garage.

Your friendly car garage in Derby

Give us a call at Aarons Autos for more info.

Hyundai I20 Timing Chain Noise found and fixed

A customer brought their Hyundai I20 into us to check for an engine noise which they were concerned about.

As soon as the car drove into the workshop we had a good idea what the problem was, it sounded like the timing chain was trying to escape from the engine!

After having a good listen to the engine the next step was to strip off the timing chain cover to allow us to visually check the chain for condition.

With the timing chain cover removed we checked the timing chain, guides, gears and tensioner for wear, the chain tensioner was at full extension and the chain was still loose!

Whilst trying to turn the engine over manually to align the timing marks the chain actually started jumping teeth (it had only been the chain cover stopping this happening whilst driving).

Timing chain cover where the chain had been rubbing!

On inspection of the parts we could see everything was worn to excess and the customer had been very very lucky the chain didn’t slip whilst driving as that would have caused serious engine damage.

The fix

Once the timing chain kit had been replaced and the engine rebuilt the car purred as it should.

We later found out the Hyundai I20 had not been serviced for several years and thousands of miles leading to this problem.

Regular servicing using the correct lubricants will prevent premature wear on all engine parts especially chains, guides and gears.

Aarons Autos car service garage.

Your friendly car garage in Derby

Give us a call at Aarons Autos for more info.

Vauxhall Corsa D 1.2 (A12XER) Timing Chain Rattle.

We had this little Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 booked in with us for a ‘really bad engine noise’.

Once the car was in the workshop it became apparent very quickly what the noise was, the Timing Chain was rattling so bad we were surprised it hadn’t jumped a tooth and caused engine damage!

When we were stripping the engine down to put the Timing Tools in place we could see just how badly stretched the chain had become, the crank locking pin went straight in but both cam shafts were out by quite a lot.

There are several variants of the Vauxhall timing chain engines most of which requiring different timing tools which we have, 1.0 – A10XEP, 1.0 – A10XER, 1.2 – A12XER, 1.2 – A12XEL, 1.4 – A14XEL, 1.4 – A14XER, 1.4 – A14NET to name just a few.

Timing Tool A is for the Camshaft Position Rings, Tool F is for the Camshafts.

After removing the timing chain cover we could start to see what had caused the problem, the oil was very black and there was a lot of burnt carbon oil inside all the covers.

All engines require regular servicing to keep them in tip top condition but especially modern engines that run a timing chains rather than a timing belt, we are seeing more and more engines requiring timing chain kits prematurely due to a lack of servicing, poor quality oil or the wrong spec oil.

Once we had replaced the timing chain kit and re-aligned all timing marks it was time to clean all off the engine casings and refit, replace the oil and filter and refill the coolant.

When we removed the oil filter this gave us another indication of what had caused the problem, the middle of the oil filter had been sucked in, caused by the paper element of the filter being completely full of oil carbon and struggling to allow fresh oil through it, which in turn starves crucial parts of the engine of oil (timing chain) allowing them to wear, over heat and stretch.

On this particular car we advised the customer that over the next 20,000 miles they should have several oil and filter changes to help remove carbon deposits that we couldn’t see or get to whilst doing the job and this will help increase the life of their engine.

Aarons Autos car service garage.

Your friendly car garage in Derby

Give us a call at Aarons Autos for more info.