Earlier Transit engines such as the 2.2 TDCI and 2.4 TDCI relied on a timing chain to keep the camshafts and crankshaft synchronized but the newer PUMA EcoBlue engine has changed over to a Wet Belt.

What is a Wet Belt?

A Wet Belt is a cambelt/timing belt that runs inside the engine rather than outside like other models and is called ‘wet’ because it is in the oil gallery, wet belts have been around for some time now and more and more manufacturers are starting to use them.

As far as we are aware the only people who benefit in having a Wet Belt is the manufacturer as it helps lower the carbon output by a few grams thus helping meet new regulations and increasing sales.

When to replace my Wet Belt?

All Manufacturers have different replacement intervals for their Wet Belts, the new Ford Transit EcoBlue interval is 150,000 miles or 10 years but we are advising customers no more than 80,000 miles or 8 years or ideally around 60,000 miles or 6 years.

All of the above depends on how you drive your vehicle and how you maintain your vehicle.

For example, if you only do short journeys with lots of stop starting it would need to be replaced sooner as there is a lot of stress on the engine, but if you do long journeys on the motorway and the van is just cruising this would cause less stress on the engine and the increase the life of the Wet Belt.

Servicing!

Regular servicing is paramount and using the correct oil too, the oil has additives in it which help prolong the life of the Wet Belt but only lasts so long this is why we advise servicing annually or every 10,000 miles.

Whats the worst that can happen?

If your Wet Belt fails completely it will destroy your engine and require replacing with a new or reconditioned unit at a cost of several thousand pounds, if you are lucky enough for it to just strip a couple of teeth and stop you may get away with a rebuild but again not a cheap job.

If you search the internet for ‘transit van wet belt failures‘ you will see that this is quite a common issue from work vans to motor homes. Here is one we did recently.

Parts of the damaged wet belt can also get stuck inside the oil pick up tube and cause oil pressure problems, this must be checked when replacing the wet belt.

Is it an expensive job?

Its not a cheap job, because of the design of the Wet Belts we have to strip a lot more down than with a typical timing belt and also on the Ford Transit EcoBlue engine we have to remove the sump to be able to replace the oil pump belt.

we replace –

• Wet Belt
• Wet Belt tensioner
• Metal belt cover including sealant
• Oil pump belt
• Sump including sealant
• Oil and Filter
• Anti Freeze

The reason we replace the Wet Belt cover and the sump is due to the fact they can get distorted on removal and cause oil leaks when refitted.

The only other issue we have found when replacing the Wet Belts is the outer crank pulley can become seized onto the crank shaft and even with our specialist crank pulley puller it can damage the pulley. In this case we replace the old pulley with a genuine ford unit.

The job is normally completed within the day but we always allow a couple of days in case of any problems occurring.

For a quote on your vehicle please give us a call on 01332 205070 or email us on info@aaronsautos.co.uk