wet belt broke

[Richard n Ann]

I'm sure the Honda Vision service schedule was every 600 miles I did it every couple of years and it was fine.

 

[mikash]

I moved from a 2007 Transit 2.2 with cam chain to a 71 plate 2 litre with wet belt this autumn. I did so with my eyes open and knowing that servicing especially oil changes need to be done regularly and aiming for a wet belt change when approaching 60k/6 years. (Currently on 28.5k miles and 2+ years to go.) I did so because the Transit is such a pleasure to drive. So a few extra £100s on servicing every so often is part of the cost of ownership.
Amplification/expansion of the text in bold above would be appreciated as I have no ambition to be foolhardy or reckless in my approach:
1. I give my Transit an outing at least once a month. If temps are low what do you suggest I do to avoid running cold? I get that it is not sensible to run it for only a minute or two. It needs to be driven and to achieve normal operating temps on a decent length run.
2. "dpf burn" So a high speed run every so often. In summer months it will get a 270+ mile non-stop high speed motorway run at least half a half dozen times each year. And a good "Italian tune up" somewhere mid winter would do no harm.
3. Please expand on "mask cover". I am unlikely to take the PVC for a run in sub-zero temps as I will not want to run the van on salty roads. But there is some risk of a winter stay somewhere and being caught out by a temperature drop when I am due to set out home. Can I fashion a piece of cardboard or similar for occasional use? (I suspect this comment applies mainly to daily drivers which need to be in use daily throughout the winter whatever the temperature. It might be overkill for me? Given that I have a 300Ah lithium and a 2000W inverter would a sensible alternative be to stick a fan heater under the bonnet for a couple of minute before firing up on the odd occasions when I meet such conditions.)
4. My annual mileage is going to be circa 8k with an intended pattern of MOT and service every Feb/March. Fresh 0W-30 and oil filter at each service is my plan. And I am hoping to get the garage to inspect the old oil before chucking it!

P. S. My local Ford Professional outfit is Motorsave in Swinton. I am sure they would do a good job but they will charge me top dollar. I am going to try Rye Motors in Wigan booking in for MOT etc late Feb 2026. If anybody knows anything about them please give me the benefit of your knowledge. That would be much appreciated:

Performance Vehicle Services | Custom Exhausts | Engine Remapping | Wigan

Rye Motors specialise in performance vehicles, including bespoke stainless steel exhausts, engine remapping & bodywork.

www.ryemotors.co.uk

The climate here is a bit colder so we use auxiliary heaters a lot. In fact I don't think it's even possible to buy a new Transit in Finland without a Eberspächer/Webasto. Helps to start with a warm engine and the aux heater can also be set up to run until engine gets to temp on startup so even if it's a cold start, it'll be warm quicker.
The most problematic driving patterns as far as oil dilution goes would be something like short distance urban deliveries where the engine might not never really get into temp between short hops and cools during every stop. Or someone driving short daily commutes where the engine never warms up properly.
Mask covers you can buy here (example: https://kauppa.jyvascaravan.fi/tuot...OLx1kNEO0Ly_XQyrcwq1FlBlshzc_TlxoCEpcQAvD_BwE) but really any old DIY piece of cardboard will do for occasional use. Usually it's recommended you use one when it's below zero and it's most noticeable in how quick the engine (And cabin) warms up. If it's really cold, -20c or below, these new small 2 liter turbo diesels especially have trouble getting up to proper temp at all without a mask cover, they just don't produce enough waste heat. That is obviously not very good for the engine in long term.
I don't think a typical motorhome user who does his annual oil changes etc has to worry about these too much, especially in UK climate. But of course it doesn't hurt to keep these in mind and for example if you're doing alot of short cold driving for some reason then maybe consider doing a longer highway drive every now and then as well.
The only motorhome specific thing I think is idling. Some idle their vans to recharge batteries. This I wouldn't do with a modern van at all, unless it's an ex-ambulance or something with the applicable mods (higher idle rpm, manual dpf burns etc) enabled. Or if I really had to, I'd follow it with a nice long highway stretch to recover. MB used to recommend 30-45mins of steady cruising after an hour of idling for Sprinters, that's probably good advice for any modern van.

 

[Silver-Fox]

The climate here is a bit colder so we use auxiliary heaters a lot. In fact I don't think it's even possible to buy a new Transit in Finland without a Eberspächer/Webasto. Helps to start with a warm engine and the aux heater can also be set up to run until engine gets to temp on startup so even if it's a cold start, it'll be warm quicker.

There’s one fitted to my Sprinter base A class

 

[jerryz]

I thought the 1.2 Puretech engine changed to chain from 2023.

Yes some have changed to Chain cam due to the disasters , and eventually all new production will be chain cam by end of 2026 ..

 

[SpeedyDux]

Even though an engine has a chain drive to the camshaft, this doesn’t mean those are maintenance free. Chain tensioners break or wear (usually have plastic guides), the chains are usually simplex rather than duplex and wear resulting in elongation. BMW, JLR and Peugeot all have issues with chains.

Because they put cheap bits of plastic in their engines. Plastic parts that get brittle in about 7 years or less and break up. Any materials scientist would be aware of that.

Is planned obsolescence a mere conspiracy theory?

 

[SpeedyDux]

I would have thought the alternative to a wet belt would be a dry belt which has the same weight and noise advantages, not back to a chain. I agree that letting the accountants rule businesses is the problem but I can see the need for reducing pollution and emissions.

The Vauxhall ECOTEC V6 petrol engines in my previous cars needed a (dry) cambelt change every 4 years. Too often and quite expensive. A shame because it is an excellent engine in every other respect and never went wrong, unlike a lot of other Vauxhall bits and bobs. If it had been designed with a timing chain system to keep service costs lower, it would have been even better.

Never mind. I saw on Youtube that an annual service for a Bugatti Veyron used to cost the owner £40k.

 

[gus-lopez]

Never mind. I saw on Youtube that an annual service for a Bugatti Veyron used to cost the owner £40k.

Only around 21k $ in the states, & most is just to change the oil as it has 16 separate drain plugs for the dry sump system

 

[jongood]

Going off on a bit of a tangent as ever.
Folk complain about all the gadgets fitted to vehicles, abs, lane assist, speed restrictions the standard of driving etc
Below are the number of recorded accidents year on year from Gov web site.
The number of cars on the roads have increased over that time.

Somethings pushing the numbers down?

I was looking for the number of overall breakdowns but gave up looking. I suspect they are down as well?

2001 229,014
2002 221,751
2003 214,030
2004 207,410
2005 198,735
2006 189,161
2007 182,115
2008 170,591
2009 163,554
2010 154,414
2011 151,474
2012 145,571
2013 138,660
2014 146,322
2015 140,056
2016 136,621
2017 129,982
2018 122,635
2019 117,536
2020 91,199
2021 101,087
2022 106,004
2023 104,258
2024 100,927

According to mechanic friends, what happens now is that people scrap cars earlier in the cycle because the repair costs are just so expensive. @£2K for a set of injectors.

For a 2015 VW Golf diesel injector replacement in the UK, expect costs from around £200-£300 for a reconditioned unit, £250-£400 for a new Bosch part, plus £100-£200+ for professional labour, including coding/fitting, potentially totalling £400-£800+ per injector, or more if all four are replaced (often recommended for balanced performance

 

[Ianbenny]

Wasnt sure what a 'Mask Cover' was.
Thanks mikash
Dad in the early 1970's has a Ford Corsair V4. It was not a reliable car but I remember he had a rolled up blind sort of thing on the top front of radiator that he moved up when it was mild and down when frosty to heat the car up quicker depending on the weather. Was a bit colder then

 

[jongood]

According to mechanic friends, what happens now is that people scrap cars earlier in the cycle because the repair costs are just so expensive. @£2K for a set of injectors.

For a 2015 VW Golf diesel injector replacement in the UK, expect costs from around £200-£300 for a reconditioned unit, £250-£400 for a new Bosch part, plus £100-£200+ for professional labour, including coding/fitting, potentially totalling £400-£800+ per injector, or more if all four are replaced (often recommended for balanced performance

My point here is that perefctly good cars are getting scrapped because of finicky electronics or manuafcturers being greedy with coding. This is really bad for the environment because of the emissions involved in creating new cars but this bit isnt measured.