It is becoming very apparent to us that most of the low mileage wetbelt failures on the Ford Ecoboost and Peugeot engines are caused by poor service intervals and incorrect oil.
Garages are using the correct grade of oil but not with the correct additives (specification) which instead of prolonging the life of the wetbelt is actually causing it to fail prematurely.
We urge anyone who has a car with a wetbelt to check with their manufacturer to see exactly what grade and specification oil is required and make sure their garage is using it, it may cost more in the short term but I can guarantee it will save you money long term.
When your engine oil warning light comes on most people just think the “the engine just needs a bit of oil!” but in some cases it can be a little more serious.
Imagine somebody restricting the the blood flow around your body and how that will affect your performance?
The same goes for your cars engine, if you restrict its oil flow you are causing un-necessary wear and stress on its moving parts!
In the case of any Wetbelt failure what happens is the rubber debris from the Wetbelt collects in the oil and gets sucked up by the oil pump and trapped in the oil pump strainer – watch the video to see what we mean.
Over time the oil pump strainer starts to become blocked causing less oil to be pumped around the engine and the oil pressure to drop.
Most cases the oil warning light does exactly what its supposed to do and warn you before its to late.
That was the case for this Citroen DS3, we got to it just in time before the belt failed completely.
The owner of this car has kept up with its service schedule as required (with another Garage) so all we can suspect is that the wrong oil has been used as it only has 53,000 miles on it.
This Fiesta was recovered into us with its oil warning lamp on and a horrendous noise coming from its engine.
Once we had stripped the engine we could see the cause of the noise, the inlet cam pulley had been starved of oil which was allowing excessive free play (variable timing pulley) which as you can imagine is not great when the engine is running!
The cause of the oil starvation was quiet apparent when looking at the oil pump pick up, it was completely blocked with rubber debris from the failing wet belt.
The customer was very honest with us and admitted she had not had the car serviced regularly which would of allowed some of the rubber to be cleaned out with an oil change instead of blocking the oil pump.
This Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost was brought into us with its oil pressure warning light on and its engine sounding a bit noisier than it should.
After stripping the engine our previous guesses turned out to be correct, the wetbelt had been degrading (as they do over time) leaving deposits of rubber in the oil which were being sucked into the oil pump pick up and causing it to block subsequently causing low oil pressure.
OIL PICK UP FULL OF RUBBER
If this problem is left to long it can cause serious engine damage as it is starving the engine of its lubrication.
On this EcoBoost engine we replaced its wetbelt kit and oil pump belt and also decided it would be a good idea to replace the oil pump itself rather than clean out the pick up (as it was so bad).
Once the job was completed it was time to see if the repair had worked and turn the engine over on the key!!
Success, the engine started, oil warning light went out and it purred like a kitten.
WETBELT DEGRADED AND SPLITTING
We think the biggest issue with this particular engine was caused by a lack of servicing, we know the wetbelts degrade over time leaving rubber deposits in the oil but with regular oil changes most of those deposits would be removed from the engine and not be allowed to block the oil pick up.
This Ford Transit EcoBlue was recovered into us with a very hard brake pedal and no brakes which sounded like a brake servo fault.
To test the brake servo we removed the vacuum feed to it to see if it was holding pressure but instantly found out that there was no vacuum to it.
Tracing the vacuum pipe back checking for leaks or breakages to the vacuum pump we found no vacuum at all.
After removing and stripping the vacuum pump we could see the plastic internals of the pump had broken up into several pieces.
Vacuum pump
We replaced the vacuum pump and carried out a road test, everything seemed OK so we handed the van back to its customer.
Unfortunately the customer only managed about 60 miles before the exact same fault occurred again.
Once the van was back with us we removed the new (genuine Ford) vacuum pump to find it had broken up exactly the same as before.
We carried out an oil pressure test on the van and check for oil pressure up to the vacuum pump which all seemed OK.
After speaking to Ford technical services we were told this is know a known problem by Ford and is caused by ‘wet belt degradation‘, bassicaly the wetbelt is breaking up and the small parts off rubber are blocking oil ways and pick ups and intermitantly starving parts of the engine of oil, the main one being the vacuum pump.
The Fix
Even though this van has only covered 90,000 miles and is a 2017 and Ford recommend the wetbelt to be replaced at 144,000 or 10 years they are now saying they will not cover the warranty of the vacuum pump unless the wetbelt is replaced at the same time.
Rubber deposits
The first thing we did was to remove the sump to access the oil pump and check for the rubber deposits, we were amazed at what we found, we have been replacing the wetbelts on the Transit EcoBlue and EcoBoost engines for quite some time now but have not seen deposits like this before.
After removing all parts required to carry out the wetbelt and oil pump belt replacement we had to vigorously wash out all accessible galleries, pipes and engine internals.
Wetbelt
We replaced the wetbelt kit, oil pump belt, front cover and sump then ran the engine up to see if we still had good oil pressure, which we did.
it is not recommended to use oil flushes with engines that run wetbelts as this can also damage the belt so we ran the engine for 60 miles and drained the oil again to get as much debris out as we could.
Warning!!
If you have a Ford Transit EcoBlue or a Ford car using the EcoBoost engine make sure to keep on top of the servicing and use the correct oil, if you have brought one recently and have no service history get the wetbelt replaced as the consequences are very expensive compared to replacing the belts.
Ignore Fords recommended change interval and aim for 8 years or 80,000 miles, and even if you are not doing massive miles every year still at least have your oil and filter replaced as a preventative measure.
This little Peugeot 208 1.2 vti was booked in to have its wet belt replaced due to another garage noticing rubber in the oil when it was serviced.
”Make sure to use vehicle specific oil when Servicing”
Once we had stripped down the engine to access the wetbelt we had to fit the timing tools to the camshafts and flywheel.
Camshaft Timing Tool
When we removed the wetbelt you could clearly see its poor condition and by gently pinching the belt see the cracks.
Cracked Wetbelt
After replacing the wetbelt kit on any vehicle it is good practice to clean out the oil pump pick up due to the rubber debris blocking it and causing oil pressure issues.
Make sure to use the specific oil for the car due to their additives which help prevent premature belt wear.
Our customer brought his Ford Transit Custom to us with the clutch pedal a lot higher than it should be but the biting point was still ok?
A lot of cars and vans have a ‘stop’ for the clutch pedal in the form of a bracket or a rubber but in the case of the Transit Custom it is built into the Clutch Master Cylinder itself.
Once we had removed the Master Cylinder we could see that the operating arm inside had broken allowing the return spring to make the pedal sit high.
Clutch Master Cylinder
When we replaced the clutch master cylinder and bled the hydraulic system we could see the pedal was now sitting in its correct position and felt a lot more natural to drive.
This Mercedes A200d with the 2.1 diesel engine came into us for a Diagnostic Code Read because its EML (Engine Management Light) was on.
The Codes were –
P0401 Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system – insufficient flow detected
P0638 Throttle actuator control (TAC), bank 1 – range/performance problem
P200A Intake manifold air control actuator, bank 1 – performance problem
After checking some of the live data we decided to remove the EGR pipe to have a look inside the intake system, the system was full of carbon build up which was causing blockages.
After speaking to the customer we found that he only uses the car for short journeys and it very rarely gets a long run.
We are seeing this as a weekly occurrence at the moment, modern diesel engines are not designed for lots of short journeys they are more designed for long distance commuting.
When a modern diesel engine is driven on a long journey it carries out a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) regeneration which basically means it cleans out the exhaust system of carbon and soot build up, the same carbon and soot is found in the engine and long journeys help to clean that too.
Once we had cleaned out the intake and EGR system we cleared all stored engine codes and took the Mercedes for a long road test, upon return we carried out another Diagnostic code read and none of the codes had returned and all live data was reading correctly.
The car was given back to its owner and we also advised him to go on at least one long drive per week or the car would be back to us with the same fault.
This VW Scirocco came into us with an intermittent running fault, it would randomly put the engine management light on and go into limp mode.
Firstly we carried out a diagnostic code read to see if there were any stored codes and what they related to?
Several codes were stored relating to faults in different systems! Oxygen sensor, Boost pressure and EGR system.
We decided to carry out a smoke test on the intake system as all of these faults can be affected by an air or boost leak.
(A Smoke Tester fills a system with lightly pressurized smoke allowing the user to see any small leaks that may not be obvious to the naked eye.)
We found a leak from around the inter-cooler area but the car needed stripping further to be able to access this area, once the bumper had been removed we could see clearly that there was a split in the inter-cooler housing which was small enough to allow the car to still run reasonably well but bad enough to throw out several sensor readings.
Big Strip Down To Remove The Inter Cooler.Split Inter Cooler.
After we replaced the inter-cooler and cleared all related fault codes we carried out a road test and checked live data, all sensors were reading as they should and the car drove perfectly without putting the engine management light on and no more limp mode.
More than half of drivers do not know when next service is due
Highways England and Aarons Autos are this week encouraging road users to carry out regular vehicle maintenance and checks during the current national lockdown after a new survey revealed that more than half (54 per cent) did not know when their next service is due.
Nearly a third (32 per cent) of road users admit they only carry out basic vehicle maintenance, such as checking their tyre pressure or oil levels, at best every few months or never.
This is in spite of advice to perform regular vehicle maintenance – even when a vehicle is not in regular use during lockdown – on top of the recommended annual service and mandatory MOT.
In response to the survey, Highways England and partners – breakdown provider, Green Flag, and Aarons Autos – are now highlighting the importance of basic maintenance and checks in helping road users to avoid breakdowns or endangering themselves and other drivers.
Without proper care and attention during lockdown, owners risk tyre problems, flat batteries, weather damage and issues due to fluid levels running low when they begin using their vehicle again.
Jeremy Phillips, head of road user safety, said: “While the country is in still in lockdown, we want to remind drivers to act now and carry out those important basic checks.
“Doing regular maintenance, rather than waiting until the end of lockdown is in sight, will ensure their vehicles still work and preventable breakdowns are avoided when restrictions are lifted and the nation gets back on the road.”
Every year Highways England’s traffic officers deal with more than 85,000 breakdowns – 40 per cent caused by vehicles running out of fuel, poor tyre maintenance, power loss and engine trouble.
Basic checks and maintenance can prevent many breakdowns, says Highways England.
Mark Newberry, commercial director at Green Flag, said: “Cars are designed to be driven regularly and the components rely on regular use to stay in tip-top condition.
“A period of lockdown means many vehicles that may have been running every day could now be used less, which can lead to a number of complications.
“Car batteries are often the hardest hit. During the first lockdown, over 60 per cent of our callouts were for battery-related issues and the colder weather will also have an impact by reducing the battery’s ability to hold charge.
“Carry out a few basic checks to make sure your car is ready for when you need it.
“Don’t leave it until your next MOT or service if you know or feel there is something wrong with your car.”
For more information or to make a booking you can contact us at info@aaronsautos.co.uk or call us on 01332 205070 or just click the ‘Book Online’ button.
