timing Belt replacement and such

jmoomaw · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:27 am

Thank goodness it happened in town...two hours later I would have been 100 miles from home. Timing belt broke....$4200 later she know rides well and back to the excellent mileage I had before. What a mess...don't wait anyone....

I was told I have lots of sludge in the engine. The valves and upper engine were completely cleaned. The only remaining sludge is below the cylinder heads. I have changed the oil after only 2000 miles and will do so again in anther 2,000 miles to flush it out.

How important is the synthetic oil for the CRDs versus standard oil. The cost is almost 50% less. I run about 35,000 miles a year, haul a trailer for about a third of that. If I change the oil every 3 weeks during my busy season, is it really necessary to use the synthetic?

Looking for opinions and peoples experience....

Thanks,
Jim

RJM · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:00 am

$4200.00 for the timing belt? I think you got burned!

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:12 am

Wow!
At how many miles did it break?
Did you have to replace all the rocker arms too?

I would absolutly ONLY use synthetic oil with this engine.
Have you been using conventional oils all this time? Its that what is causing the sludge?

jmoomaw · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:24 am

Should have been more clear.....with a zero tolerance engine, the whole head had to be rebuilt. We opted for new parts instead of a used engine head....that is where the big expense can in.

Yep, I was using conventional oil. I now use synthetic and am on my second 7 quarts of oil since the rebuild. Every 2000 miles or less to help clean out the remaining sludge...

By the looks of it, the rocker arms are the softest metal. Everyone was bent and damaged. The valve stems and cylinder heads were fine also. The whole parts list included replacing all the other components usual to a timing belt change...water pump and other components listed in the timing belt thread.

Still...$4200 seemed like an awful lot of cash to spend on something I really should have caught earlier....looking forward to spending a lot less on the scheduled belt change...

Jim

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:33 am

Again, I ask:
At how many thousand miles did this happen? :shock:

jmoomaw · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:36 am

120,000 miles....never even occurred to me to check if the timing belt was done when I purchased it with 80,000 miles on her....never assume.....!

MOSFET · **Joined:** Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:40 pm **Posts:** 295

Was the work done by the dealer or an independent shop? If so, which one?

I would only use synthetic oil, but the conventional oil may or may not have contributed to the timing belt failure. Seems like you can go a little past 100K, but not too much!

Your engine should be good for another 100K.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:44 am

Jim, I am very sorry to hear about your unfortunate and costly experience.
Thanks for posting this.

I hope that all other CRD owners read this thread and learn something from it.

Thanks

WolverineFW · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:30 pm

jmoomaw wrote:

By the looks of it, the rocker arms are the softest metal. Everyone was bent and damaged. T

They are designed to do that in the event of a timing belt failure.

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:37 pm

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. That really sucks.

This is why I always remind people who put off doing the timing belt that they are gambling.

DynoPax · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 4:01 pm

You bet I will not skip this :shock:

Ideally, at the end of next year's summer... Should be around 145-150k km (~90k miles) at that moment.

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:49 am

Im sorry for your troubles. With respect, you were supposed to be using synthetic oil from the beginning! Try using some Amsoil, Lube Gard or other engine flush every oil change. Put it in and let the engine idle (dont drive it) for 15 minutes then change the oil.

audiboy86 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:59 am

It destraying all the rocker arms when the timing belt goes it an engineering design to keep the engine from destroying the head pistons and rocker arms. And synthetic is the only way to go i alway go with either royal purple or mobil. And put a can of seafoam in your oil about 100 miles before your oil change and you will be surprised what comes out.

jmoomaw · **Posted:** Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:16 am

MOSFET wrote:

Was the work done by the dealer or an independent shop? If so, which one?

I would only use synthetic oil, but the conventional oil may or may not have contributed to the timing belt failure. Seems like you can go a little past 100K, but not too much!

Your engine should be good for another 100K.

I wasted enough money on mechanics how needed to learn about the CRDs without any support from local dealers. Sadly, I even had to call a dealer in Nebraska to get information my mechanic needed. After the car sat in his shop for two days without a return call from a local dealer, I figured I better get things going.

Ron is a private mechanic who has been working on diesels for at least 30 years. He didn't even hesitate to go into her. One of his helpers secured the EGR hose incorrectly and it sounded like the turbo was pulling air out of my vent system. He went in and repaired it, no questions asked and no charge. Good man. He will get all my work from now on.

Hope you can find someone as good in the Troy area.

Synthetic Oil is is....my mileage even went up...I just changed the synthetic oil from the repair at 2,000 miles(with Snythetic) and will be changing it again in another 2,000. I think I will try the seafoam.

thanks,

Tinman · **Joined:** Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:45 am **Posts:** 308

The oil had nothing to do with the failure. You went past the maintenance interval for the belt.

The engine does call for syn oil, but you ask a good question as to whether it is needed. Dino oil shouldn't sludge any more that syn. I've never heard of a diesel "sludging". Indeed my 06 Cummins recommends dino oil and can be run up to 15K oil change intervals with "light" duty service. I would love to run dino 15-40 in the libby in order to keep only one oil in the garage. (Plus the 15-40 I have is the good old CI-4+). But I use rotella syn.

I would be more interested in oil change interval and if the egr has been operating the whole time. Excessive sooting of the oil from extended intervals and egr is more likely to have caused any sooting. Plus older oils (as in pre CI-4) can't handle soot like the modern oils are required to do (due to heavy egr on late model engines). How 'bout a little more info on the oil, OCI and truck. Thanks for posting, sorry for your troubles.

jmoomaw · **Posted:** Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:54 pm

I know the belt failed because it was too old. Was comenting on my need to change my oil more frequently and use snythetic oil. I am changing it every 2000 miles to remove what sludge from standard oil from the engine. The valves were pretty gummed up and were cleaned with the engine overhaul.

Just to clear somethings up...thanks.

timing Belt replacement and such

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