Bongo Fury

chrisc wrote:My bongo broke down in Portugal and could not be mended there. The garage that had fitted a new cambelt for me just before our trip eventually found that the cambelt had slipped one tooth on one bank only due to a piece of hard plastic about 1 inch long which had "been thrown up from the road". They showed me the offending piece of plastic complete with tooth marks.

My question is, is it actually possible on the V6 for a piece of road debris to enter the cambelt housing ?

haydn callow wrote:Just looked round a V6 engine which happens to be in a local garage.....don't see where anything could get in....I would suggest that it was already in there, as teenmal suggests I would ask them to show you where it could have got in.....

Simon Jones wrote:Sorry to hear your news. I've not looked closely on my V6, but I'd be surprised if there is a gap for a 1" long piece of plastic to be able to get in. Which side did it slip on? The nearside has an aluminium cover (at the top at least) which is a pretty snug fit. The main engine under tray also affords a good deal of protection to the lower front of the engine so my initial thought would be that it is something that was perhaps already present on or inside the cambelt cover. Do you have a photo of the piece, or if not, what colour is it?

Hopefully no other harm done & it's all ready to go back on the road.

teenmal wrote:

chrisc wrote:My bongo broke down in Portugal and could not be mended there. The garage that had fitted a new cambelt for me just before our trip eventually found that the cambelt had slipped one tooth on one bank only due to a piece of hard plastic about 1 inch long which had "been thrown up from the road". They showed me the offending piece of plastic complete with tooth marks.

My question is, is it actually possible on the V6 for a piece of road debris to enter the cambelt housing ?

You could ask them to show you the gap where the material entered the casing.

PS did the replace the Hydraulic Tensioner when the belt was renewed.

Simon Jones wrote:I was working on the van today so took a few pics of what's underneath. Personally, I can't see any way that anything would get into the cam belt casing from outside. If the offending item looks like a nozzle off a sealant tube, then my guess is that its from a tube of black instant gasket compound of the type often used when working on engines.

Here's the undertray which has a extra 'skirt' above it to keep water and debris out of the scavenger fan:


With the undertray removed, this is the view of the nearside cover which is primarily made of aluminium and appears to have no entry points:


The is the drivers side with the plastic cover. It's a good fit and again there were no obvious holes visible:

chrisc wrote:

Simon Jones wrote:I was working on the van today so took a few pics of what's underneath. Personally, I can't see any way that anything would get into the cam belt casing from outside. If the offending item looks like a nozzle off a sealant tube, then my guess is that its from a tube of black instant gasket compound of the type often used when working on engines.

Here's the undertray which has a extra 'skirt' above it to keep water and debris out of the scavenger fan:


With the undertray removed, this is the view of the nearside cover which is primarily made of aluminium and appears to have no entry points:


The is the drivers side with the plastic cover. It's a good fit and again there were no obvious holes visible:

Thanks for the pics. I was kinda hoping someone might say that there was a possibility but it doesn't look that way. Chrisc.