Support Team Shaun_E Posted May 9, 2011 Support Team Share Posted May 9, 2011 We had a somewhat catastrophic failure of our dry sump belt on Saturday which led to the demise of the engine. My best guess is that the tensioner failed - the bearing is very wobbly on it now - and destroyed the belt, pieces of which got under the cambelt cover causing the cam belt to skip a few teeth. I have been told that there are 2 types of dry sump belt tensioner - if so, which is the best one to have? Mine was an automatic (sprung) tensioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry21p Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 The manual one is "simpler" and one would have thought that as a result there are less things to go wrong. The tensioner nut in the middle is a pain in the arse as it's very easy to shear when you're doing it up, but that's the one that I use. Simply a wheel that slides up and down a shaft that has a slot down the middle of it. Adjustment is via a threaded bolt - adjust to the required tension and nip up the nut in the centre of the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Escargot Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Shaun The auto tensioner should be fine - but have you got the special alloy (black) groved pully on it? Also was it the pulley bearing that failed or the fit of the pulley on the bearing? Mail me to discuss if you wish Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSL Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Very bad luck there Shaun ☹️ Belt failure always used to worry me on the K especially after spending big on the 1.9k steel jobbie a while back. If I had kept her I was planning on putting a big red warning light in the centre of the top of the scuttle connected to a microswitched wheel held back by the belt as long as it was there......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeandlizzy Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 I lost my pulley entirely. Also, I have gone through two alloy ones and now just use the standard and it has been fine for the past 10k miles at least. Here is a pic of my warning light (with more pics here ) http://www.drhornsby.com/pics/Sump%20Pulley%20Warning%20System/picture%209%20-%20assembled%20side%20view.JPG Edited by - jakeandlizzy on 9 May 2011 13:36:17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Shaun I would go with the automatic tensioner so you can rig up the warning light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david nelson Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 I had the black ali one but the bearing was gone when I swopped engines 2 seasons ago. I went for the standard plastic auto tensioner and through the other away. So far its still ok. David ps Adrian has a warning light as do I. sure you could copy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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