New TranspFord

[Sunny43.5]

I read a report on Facebook out of the UK about the new VW van , seems there are a lot of unhappy people over there regarding the Ford engine in the van something to do with the wet belt system or whatever that is . Others report quality problems and even some saying the Ford version is actually better than the VW with design elements and styling . Anyone heard reports on the new version .

[Lucas_R]

A wet belt is a timing belt that is constantly wet with oil from the sump. Silly silly idea that should never have been put into production, but Ford have been doing it for years on a few of their engines (as well as some other Euro brands like Renault etc). The 1.0L Ecoboost engine is probably the most "well known" engine for wet belt issues, as it was fitted to a bunch of cheap cars like the Fiesta and Focus - so heaps of them are on the roads in Europe.

Basically the rubber on the timing belt starts breaking down over time and falls off in chunks and blocks the oil pickup in the sump. So if the timing belt doesn't snap from degradation, then your engine will lose oil pressure and kill itself that way instead.

So if you are unlucky enough to own an engine with a wet belt, do oil changes more often than recommended by the manufacturer, and do the timing belt service more often than recommended to avoid a very expensive failure.

[Sunny43.5]

Nearly as bad as VW not providing the "Robustness Kit' for the 2.0 diesels , I found about his from someone on this Forum . I then had the kit fitted to ours after my mates buggered up his engine when the serpentine belt ended up in the timing belt causing around $6k in damages .