[200q20v] dubious distinction?

[Wolff]

Indeed the teeth do come off and cause a failure. This happened to my wife's
1.8L 4k on a perfectly good looking belt as judged from the exterior. There
were no visible cracks on the outside. However, if you do see cracks on the
outside there is no reason not to suspect that the inside where the teeth
pop off is just as bad. See cracks anywhere? Time to change it. Older than 6
years? Time to change it. Mileage? Literature says 60K. Obviously many folk
get away with ignoring the 60k interval, but some don't....   On the little
4k it was no big deal. 8 valve head survived the T-belt failure which
happened while it was idling. It _was_ the high compression knock sensor
motor, so maybe it was interference? Anyway, I think most of us don't want
to play that risk with the 20v head mit sodium valves etc....
Wolff
"Nobody can forget the sound." - Michele Mouton
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernie Benz" <b.m.benz at prodigy.net>
To: "Phil Rose" <pjrose at frontiernet.net>
Cc: "200q20V mailing list" <200q20v at audifans.com>
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [200q20v] dubious distinction?


> Phil,
>
> I will agree only that belt changing apparently makes you feel good, so
> therefore it must be good for you.
>
> But you are looking at the wrong side of the belt in your inspection!
That
> superficial cracking on the back side of the belt is only in the
protective
> covering over the cord system.  It does not affect the central tension
> cords, and these cords are seldom the failure point.  Look at the tooth
side
> of the belt for cracks at the roots of the teeth, if you can easily tear a
> tooth off with a pair of pliers, its time for a belt change.  I do this
> inspection every few years, whether it needs it or not.  A new belt will
> fail just as quickly as an old one when subjected to a catastrophic
> condition such as a piece of distributor gear jamming a cam.  Better,
maybe
> change your distributor gear.
>
> I had an '87 5KTQ that went 250K before my son recently did a head gasket
> job and changed the belt for no good reason.
>
> Don't fix it if it ain't about to break!
>
> Bernie, feeling contrarian today.
>