Timing belt failure log MTBF

[j-dawg]

That pump was probably made in China (and, more importantly, made using inferior materials and processes) because a penny-pincher somewhere in Europe or the USA decided to send production over there to save a few bucks.

A Chinese factory will make as good a part as its European customer demands of it. Unfortunately, whoever put his sticker on that pump and sold it as acceptable was not very demanding.

[precopster]

I sell and service a brand of printer that was previously made in Japan, however production shifted to China about 12 years ago. Now quality is as good if not better than when Japan produced the parts.

The non genuine aftermarket parts from China are mostly all garbage because they're made to a strict budget. Even in the printer industry non genuine toners, inks and parts are not worth buying unless you want to earn a poor reputation or ruin the equipment.

The parallels to the car parts industry are similar. The parent company wants and demands quality and sets in place quality control procedures with regular checks.

Genuine parts made in China; why not?

[tryingbe]

Let's all NOT change the timing belt/waterpump and see how far the engine can run for...

This thread is silly.

[98v70dad]

Knowing the MTBF would be helpful if you had a fleet and were willing to accept a certain failure rate and could still do your scheduled maintenance before the MTBF and operate your fleet at a profit with that failure rate. A 5% failure rate for a battery for example may be acceptable because a battery failure is usually only inconvenient. Anything but a 0% failure rate for a timing belt is unacceptable for a fleet of one car because a failure turns your engine and car to scrap. You would be risking your car to stretch the change interval maybe 25000 miles to save maybe $100. It's not a good gamble.

MTFB is at best only a good reference and in my opinion a very bad idea for a timing belt. It's only my opinion, but that's my 2 cents.

[jppetersonatl]

1998 V70 Base, 264,478

Pulley seized

No service history, played the odds and lost. I put 22,000 on the car in the 18 mos. I had it. Had been done at least once in the past. Whiteout on the cam pulley ticks. Car was making slight whine. I thought it was the power steering pump.

I was so proud of myself on the PCV job the weekend before. Timing kit was next on my list.

Loved that car. Searching for another one.

[jppetersonatl]

I've since poked about the wreckage. The hydraulic tensioner was the fail point. It's leaking and the pin did not extend after the belt broke.

[precopster]

Was the white plastic spacer still in place on the tensioner? It was built into the design to prevent total slackening of the belt in the case of hydraulic failure.

[abscate]

I did a complete head job on the t5 with new timing belt , tensioner, idler , and water pump

3000 miles later the brand new INA idler grenaded and took out the belt and newly reworked cylinder head. 10 exhaust valves, stem seals later…. Back on the road.

[jreed]

Ouch. That makes me wince. I generally had heard good things about the INA idlers.