Hi
as there has been a discussion about a timing belt change and problems in the Renault forums currently I though I would give some of my timing belt observations from previous years.
I spent a couple of years 20 years ago on a largish Pacific island, in Micronesia, at a trade school. The normal island vehicles were mostly Japanese imports, not so old, that were probably the cheap end from the Jap auctions, or American cars privately imported. No French cars and no other Europeans either It is fair to say the Jap imports never had an oil change in Japan before being auctioned and usually none after coming to the island. I tried to change that culture ? The distance they drove on the island was not great but some minibuses and utes used commercially did run up highish Kms. The climate is tropical and wet, close to the sea, and the roads were mostly dirt and poor. But speeds were low with a 40MPH limit. Try that you speed hogs !
The result of not changing the oils at all and the harsh conditions resulted in the oil becoming thick, blocking the oil passages and not very lubricating, so the cams started to wear into the head alloy and resulting in extreme wear I had never seen before. The tappets would be rattling. That also meant the oils seals started to leak and oil contaminating the belts. The obvious result of these factors meant that at some time the owner stops at a 'trade store' and when restarting the weakened belt teeth strip at the crankshaft sprocket and the sh*t hits the fan so as to say. "But is was going OK just before I stopped" was said to me more than once. In those days most engines had dissys so I found the easiest first check was to pull the dissy cap and check if the rotor was turning. HMMM Bad news usually. I must admit I had little experience of this type of problem before this.
There were no car dealers on the island and only one American linked parts shop so replacement parts were hard to get, particularly for Jap cars, and the usual fix was to get the owner to find a suitable dead vehicle somewhere and come back with parts. ?? There were plenty of dead vehicles parked around. When I came home for a holiday I bought up a selection of common parts here, like brushes, brake rubbers, pads, bushes, etc for our vehicles and for student work. Most dealers here refused point blank to supply parts for VINs that were not Australian supplied. Hmm. I had to go around to car yards and find similar models and 'steal' the VIN.
Anyway the point of my story is to say that oil changes are important, the thick oil blocks the galleries, and the engine wear may be extreme in a different way to what you would expect. And the end result was usually a timing belt failure mostly because a belt weakened by oil leaks has trouble turning the dry cam in the head bearing saddles I never thought of that !!
Jaahn
as there has been a discussion about a timing belt change and problems in the Renault forums currently I though I would give some of my timing belt observations from previous years.I spent a couple of years 20 years ago on a largish Pacific island, in Micronesia, at a trade school. The normal island vehicles were mostly Japanese imports, not so old, that were probably the cheap end from the Jap auctions, or American cars privately imported. No French cars and no other Europeans either
It is fair to say the Jap imports never had an oil change in Japan before being auctioned and usually none after coming to the island. I tried to change that culture ? The distance they drove on the island was not great but some minibuses and utes used commercially did run up highish Kms. The climate is tropical and wet, close to the sea, and the roads were mostly dirt and poor. But speeds were low with a 40MPH limit. Try that you speed hogs !The result of not changing the oils at all and the harsh conditions resulted in the oil becoming thick, blocking the oil passages and not very lubricating, so the cams started to wear into the head alloy and resulting in extreme wear I had never seen before. The tappets would be rattling. That also meant the oils seals started to leak and oil contaminating the belts. The obvious result of these factors meant that at some time the owner stops at a 'trade store' and when restarting the weakened belt teeth strip at the crankshaft sprocket and the sh*t hits the fan so as to say. "But is was going OK just before I stopped" was said to me more than once.
In those days most engines had dissys so I found the easiest first check was to pull the dissy cap and check if the rotor was turning. HMMM Bad news usually. I must admit I had little experience of this type of problem before this.There were no car dealers on the island and only one American linked parts shop so replacement parts were hard to get, particularly for Jap cars, and the usual fix was to get the owner to find a suitable dead vehicle somewhere and come back with parts. ?? There were plenty of dead vehicles parked around. When I came home for a holiday I bought up a selection of common parts here, like brushes, brake rubbers, pads, bushes, etc for our vehicles and for student work. Most dealers here refused point blank to supply parts for VINs that were not Australian supplied. Hmm. I had to go around to car yards and find similar models and 'steal' the VIN.
Anyway the point of my story is to say that oil changes are important, the thick oil blocks the galleries, and the engine wear may be extreme in a different way to what you would expect. And the end result was usually a timing belt failure mostly because a belt weakened by oil leaks has trouble turning the dry cam in the head bearing saddles
I never thought of that !!Jaahn
