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► Some engines have timing belts that run around the engine in a bath of engine oil. Yes, you heard that correctly.
I don’t know exactly why carmakers decided on this approach, but I believe it is all in the aim of keeping the engine as quiet as possible.
However, Belt-in-Oil engines (B-I-O) have been around for a number of years now – though of late I’ve read about failure of engines with this form of timing belt more than I’ve ever read before. Mostly the toothed belt after time looses its teeth, which then sends debris around the whole engine, blocking all the oil paths and the sump oil strainer.
Of course, servicing of the engine as per schedule is critical but even that doesn’t guarantee a perfect engine. As we saw in our Service Bay in the December 2023 issue on the Citroën C3 1.2, Mark Shipman of AES York Ltd showed us how to use a belt measuring tool to check for belt swelling. The recommended belt change interval on this engine is 112,500 miles or 10 years.
I recently joined a Facebook Group ‘Ford EcoBoost Nightmare’. It makes interesting reading. Motorists who find themselves with a problematic Ford engine are finding their way to this site after a ‘Goggle’ search. Most are complaining about the lack of Ford assistance (many owners’ cars are out of warranty), asking what they can do next, which unfortunately isn’t much apart from scrapping the car or spending thousands on a replacement engine.
We did read in the last Your Letters section (CM, Nov 23) from Brenda Gorst whose PSA 1.2 PureTech engine had died at 73,000 miles due to B-I-O failure. She is one of many who are trying to take legal action.
Another reason for this story is I’ve
