1G Timing belt split down the middle.

[J_Hock]

Has anyone ever saw a timing belt split down the middle like this? Any thoughts on what would cause it? The belt actually stayed in one piece before I cut it off. Just looking for pointers as I obviously don't want to deal with this again. It's definitely a cheap belt, not kevlar like I plan on installing next. According to service records it only lasted around 30k miles. The belt bound up and chewed all of the teeth off at the crank pulley. Am I better off just pulling the head to check valves or should I put a new belt on and do a compression test?

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Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Look to see if there's something in the way of the belt that could essentially cut it while it's running. Even if there's nothing immediately touching, see if there's something that could make contact while the car is moving. I had to do this since I don't have timing covers on my engines, looks like yours is the same there. A friend of mine recently sent me this picture showing me another persons same issue.

I'd pull the head myself before a compression test. But maybe doing the compression test first would be a better first option.

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[J_Hock]

I had all of the factory covers on so I'm not sure if this happened all at once or if it was more gradual. I looked all over and I can't find anything that looks like it was rubbing. There was a ton of dust and debris below that crank but I'm assuming that happened after it bound up. Was your belt kevlar? I'm leaning towards some combination of a cheap belt and maybe over tensioning?

 

[gsxeclipse102]

Any recent work on the car? Oil pan bolts are right under the timing belt. Sometimes people put the wrong length in

 

[spyderdrifter]

The picture I provided isn't mine, nor have I had this happen to the timing belt. I've had others break though. A few years ago, my a/c belt was rubbing on the timing cover and gradually shredding itself apart. Since you have a lot of debris inside the cover, I could only imagine your belt did the same sort of thing. Perhaps it wasn't centered on the cam gears when it was last timed.

Any recent work on the car? Oil pan bolts are right under the timing belt. Sometimes people put the wrong length in

That's a very good point, I had forgotten about those bolts. Too bad we can't tell from the picture provided.

 

[J_Hock]

I read about the oil pan bolts on another thread and kinda blew past it since I know they haven't been out in the past 2 years. I'll double check though for sure, better safe than sorry...again.

 

[vertigo89]

+1 for oil pan bolts. Mine had a similar issue, but my timing belt never actually split, but there was a visible indentation right around the middle that went all the way around. It was like this for years (only about 10k miles though, didnt drive much), but i ended up replacing it eventually anyway. I dont think its something that becomes obvious right away but rather makes the timing belt lose a lot of integrity, greatly shortening its lifespan. Anywho, just my guess.

 

[J_Hock]

I'll 100% check the oil pan bolts. I probably won't get around to it until next week as I still want to do some research on what timing belt to buy and anything else I should do while I'm in there.

Any more thoughts or opinions on doing a compression test vs pulling the head off to check the valves??

 

[SOADweskey]

I've always ran OEM timing belts without issue. While you are in there you should change the water pump, timing tensioner, idler pulley, tension pulley, and balance shaft belt/pulley. Pretty much take this time to replace all the parts that you would need to take off the timing belt to do if they go bad in the next 10k-50K miles.

As far as compression test VS pulling the head, that is really up to you. It's time or money, if you don't pull the head and then your compression test indicates damage you loose time in taking off the timing belt and loosing the time you spent installing it. But if you pull the head and everything looks fine then you just bought a new head gasket and head studs(if you still have oem bolts as they are not re-usable) for no reason.

So pretty much it is up to you, I would probably just put on a new timing belt and related components and then do a compression test. Then buy parts for pulling the head if required.

 

[gsxeclipse102]

I agree with SOADweskey. I'd throw an oem timing belt on and perform compression/leakdown test. If its good then change water pump,bs belt and tensioner. If its bad.... Rebuild time

 

[Dstarperformance01]

I've always ran OEM timing belts without issue. While you are in there you should change the water pump, timing tensioner, idler pulley, tension pulley, and balance shaft belt/pulley. Pretty much take this time to replace all the parts that you would need to take off the timing belt to do if they go bad in the next 10k-50K miles.

As far as compression test VS pulling the head, that is really up to you. It's time or money, if you don't pull the head and then your compression test indicates damage you loose time in taking off the timing belt and loosing the time you spent installing it. But if you pull the head and everything looks fine then you just bought a new head gasket and head studs(if you still have oem bolts as they are not re-usable) for no reason.

So pretty much it is up to you, I would probably just put on a new timing belt and related components and then do a compression test. Then buy parts for pulling the head if required.

^100% on the $. I would also slap a belt and components on it and give it a go.

 

[Vegas Smith]

I accidentally put the wrong size bolts under the timing belt into the oil pan and this is what happened

 

[J_Hock]

Thanks for all of the advice gentlemen, much appreciated!!