timing belt jumped

[IndianaVX]

well,
misery loves company, and what better company to have than you guys!!!
yeah, it jumped, im bummed, and extended warranty is wanting to pay about 30% of the bill......did i mention that i was bumming???
i have searched, are there issues with the tensioner?? wondering if i should go with genuine parts, or good aftermarket? this one went out with 64000 on odometer, which seems kinda soon.

warranty company said, NO, you dont need to check the valves, and wont pay for checking. said NO, you dont need to replace the water pump, and NO, the tensioner is fine, put the belt on, and send me down the road. im thinking river without a paddle........
i havent called them yet, but i know im gonna be asking for a supervisor and telling him "thats not good enough"

i dont think the valves will be an issue. im fairly sure we are NON INTERFERANCE,
and i wasnt going that fast when it jumped. but i feel at very least i need a tensioner.

all that said, any points, or ammo you guys can suggest when dealing with this hoser at the warranty company wouldbe appreciated. i have to call them monday.

Wish me luck.......im gonna need it

[Tobert]

Fortunately, the timing belt is really pretty easy to do on a VX. I'm doing mine in the next 2-3 weeks and anticipate it will take between 4-6 hours with no help.

I'll probably throw a water pump in too, but it's not really a big deal to change that by itself. If you order one and give it to the mechanics doing the belt, they might throw it on for a very small increase in price. Definitely order that straight from Merlin -- rebuilt water pumps are nothing but trouble IMHO.

On a side note, if anybody wants to witness a timing belt replacement (and lend a helping hand), PM or email me so I can plan for you to be here when I do it. I'm in Grand Rapids, MI 49505.

[Mark B]

Does the timing belt have to be or recommended to be replaced on the VX after so many miles?
I have had other vehicles where the timing belt was replaced every 60,000 miles.

[uncle_asa]

According to workshop manual timing belt should be replaced every 100,000 miles under normal load or 75,000 under heavy load. Normally, you need to replace tensioner and pulleys with it. Good mechanics also recommend to change water pump at the same time. I replaced mine at 60.000 because I was not sure about the full history of my VX.

[Y33TREKker]

Going by the miles listed in the manual, the timing belt shouldn't have been an issue yet, so it must have jumped for a reason, and should be covered despite what the warranty rep says. The fact that it jumped at all would make me suspect a faulty component somewhere, so I'd most likely opt for replacing all associated parts; tensioner, pulleys, and belt. I'm sure there are differing opinions about going with factory or aftermarket parts. Even though it was a factory part that broke prematurely this time, I'd probably still try to err on the safe side and go with factory stuff.

Since it's going to be torn down that far anyway, replacing the water pump at this time would be the more cost effective way to go in the long run, otherwise you'd just have another similar bill for labor when you did decide to have it replaced. I agree that if you went ahead and bought a new one, the mechanics would probably change it for you (while they're in there) for a small additional fee. And given all that, going with a factory pump as opposed to a no-name "equivalent" should also result in more piece of mind that it was done right.

[Triathlete]

Fortunately, the timing belt is really pretty easy to do on a VX. I'm doing mine in the next 2-3 weeks and anticipate it will take between 4-6 hours with no help.

I'll probably throw a water pump in too, but it's not really a big deal to change that by itself. If you order one and give it to the mechanics doing the belt, they might throw it on for a very small increase in price. Definitely order that straight from Merlin -- rebuilt water pumps are nothing but trouble IMHO.

On a side note, if anybody wants to witness a timing belt replacement (and lend a helping hand), PM or email me so I can plan for you to be here when I do it. I'm in Grand Rapids, MI 49505.

For those of us who can't make the trip, how 'bout lots of pics and a how to!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Raque Thomas]

Had mine changed at my last oil change, took 15 minutes, cost $65, parts and labor.

[Tobert]

Had mine changed at my last oil change, took 15 minutes, cost $65, parts and labor.

That was probably the serpentine belt.

[Tobert]

For those of us who can't make the trip, how 'bout lots of pics and a how to!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

See my for sale thread The job is awesome enough to give up the VX, though. http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?p=96834

I probably won't be doing the timing belt after all unless the buyer wants to pay for it.

[psychos2]

I would get a leak down test done. If there is a problem with a valve it will show up. If there is no problem with the leak down test I would install the belt and do a compression test. If the tests do not show any problems then you are ok. Or you could check the valve clearance and if there is a big difference on any of them you will know you have a problem. shawn

[IndianaVX]

well, heres the latest.
i didnt get ahold of Guardian Warranty Corp today, but i got ahold of Merlin at st charles
Timing Belt 55.73 w/o discount 148.61
water pump 148.61 w/o discount 174
belt tensionor rod 73.69 w/o discount 86.69

warranty company isnt wanting to replace water pump, im thinking it will go out with the new belt, and more tension, so that will be a failure and another deductible. i think 148 bucks is pretty good price, although water pump is covered in warranty. it just hasnt failed so they dont want to replace it.
the factory timing belt worries me, since it failed early, but yeah, i agree trekker, i will probably go with factory part.

NOW, anyone know about this tesionor rod??? is this the part that would fail, or wear out??? the tensionor is not covered in the warranty. Merlin seemed to think i would be in pretty good shape if i just replaced this rod. Does that make sense to you guys? i really dont know.

Tone, so you are saying its interferance!?! I thought i read in other post that it was NON interferance. THAT would change everything.
warranty corp DOES NOT cover diagnostices but valves, guides, "all internally lubricated parts" ARE covered.
hmmm, i gotta think about this some more on this "interferance" issue.......

thanks
david

[IndianaVX]

DUH.........
so in summary of last post
What are the feelings on just replacing the "tensionor rod"????
If i didnt use oem belt, is there another suggestion??? (gatorback, etc 0
do you all think the odds are pretty good that the pump will fail with the new belt??
More info on the interferance/non interferance issue, PLEASE, thank you !!!! (mechanic did say the other day, that they had read in a bullitin, or something saying " the engine may, or may not be an interferance engine."

[Y33TREKker]

While it's hard to tell looking at the cd manual, the tensioner rod appears to be the same type of hydraulic tensioner that's used on my other vehicle. In my opinion, this would be the most likely of the related timing belt components that could fail and cause the results you've experienced. Regardless of whether it failed or not though, if you're having the timing belt service done at this time, $75 for a new tensioner would be relatively cheap piece of mind for such an important component.

Do all of the other pulleys the timing belt rides on seem intact? These would include the pulleys on the crankshaft, the camshafts, the water pump, the idler pulley, and the tensioner pulley. I doubt there would be a problem with the camshaft pulleys, but they should have no lateral or radial play. Same for the camshaft pulley. Regardless of how the water pump/pulley feels, I'd still say replace it anyway.

As far as the idler and tensioner pulleys go, if they turn easy, and no lateral or radial play can be felt, you could probably leave them as is, and is probably what Merlin meant when he said he thought you would be in good shape just replacing the rod/tensioner. (For what it's worth, when I did the timing belt job on my other vehicle, I replaced the water pump, the idler pulley, and the tensioner pulley as a just-in-case precaution, especially since I had it all apart anyway. That's just me though).

If the $55 is for a factory belt, I doubt you'll find a better price. And for an item like that, I'd personally stick with a well-known brand like Goodyear or Gates too.

IndianaVX --- More info on the interferance/non interferance issue, PLEASE, thank you !!!! (mechanic did say the other day, that they had read in a bullitin, or something saying " the engine may, or may not be an interferance engine."

Don't know about that at the moment, but...damn, you'd think that a factory(?) bulletin would be a bit more specific regarding such an important issue.

[VehiGAZ]

Indiana - I have a suggestion for you based on what happened with my wife's old Passat...

See if you can get your mechanic to make the case to the warranty company that something other than the t-belt failed, and they may cover the work. The Passat's tensioner pulley assembly came apart and messed up the works. If the belt had broken, it was our responsibility, but since something else caused the belt to fail, it was all covered by her extended warranty - I only paid for them to put a new serpentine belt on when they put it back together... a $38 t-belt replacement!

Good luck!

[Tone]

I was wrong when I posted yesterday the 6VE1 was an Interference engine. I've checked with about a dozen engine publications online and they all agree concur it is a NON INTERFERENCE engine (most older Isuzu's were interference), except this site: http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...ming_belt3.htm

There have been several owners here who have had the belt fail and NOT had catastrophic engine failure. I was in no hurry to change mine for that very reason that if it failed, at least the valves and pistons wouldn't meet - BUT, a broken belt could sure do some damage.