Cambelt Change

[geoff]

Why cant they produce a better quality belt for all engines so they last longer.
My 2001 Berlingo van 1.9 D its every 40,000 according to the Haynes manual

 " They " probably can these days as transmission technology has moved on a lot in the last few years.

Not only are synchronous belts getting ever more efficient in terms of energy transmission but as importantly for car manufacturers they can do so with less noise pollution (  one of the main reasons for Bosch developing the water cooled alternator for example ).

 However to backwards engineer these advances to older cars / engines wouldn't be viable as older engine designs will require a different set of design criteria ( mechanical and thermal environment, cam ramp acceleration and shock loadings etc ). Furthermore the engine manufacturer would also need to undertake extensive testing in order to safely specify a newer belt for older designs which would be a risk they wouldn't take.

  Yes it would be nice though if you could be told that you could extend your service interval from 40 to 140 k miles.

[petesta]

Why cant they produce a better quality belt for all engines so they last longer.
My 2001 Berlingo van 1.9 D its every 40,000 according to the Haynes manual

 " They " probably can these days as transmission technology has moved on a lot in the last few years.

Not only are synchronous belts getting ever more efficient in terms of energy transmission but as importantly for car manufacturers they can do so with less noise pollution (  one of the main reasons for Bosch developing the water cooled alternator for example ).

 However to backwards engineer these advances to older cars / engines wouldn't be viable as older engine designs will require a different set of design criteria ( mechanical and thermal environment, cam ramp acceleration and shock loadings etc ). Furthermore the engine manufacturer would also need to undertake extensive testing in order to safely specify a newer belt for older designs which would be a risk they wouldn't take.

  Yes it would be nice though if you could be told that you could extend your service interval from 40 to 140 k miles.

well my current van is on 163000 and the last cambelt was at 119000 as far as i can tell.
the haynes says every 40,000 and a mechanic said its probably good for 80,000 but i guess its hit or miss with how long things last.

[geoff]

Correct tensioning is absolute key to success too much or too little is equally bad.