Member Since: 31 May 2013
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 207
Oil Tensioner - assume dead?
Hi all
So Monday car cut out and wife managed to get it to side of road. Had it recovered home and today had time to strip it down. Inevitably found the oil pump casting had failed, tensioner off and belt released.
Engine apparently cut out straight away but I assume it’s now dead? I can turn it by hand but only see cam down the oil filler hole move slightly. Don’t think it’s seized.
What are my options? Anyone ever got lucky with pump and having a go or am I in a dream land?
Thanks
Mat
25th Jun 2022 12:31 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10684
Depends how much time you have and if you have a drive to work on it.
Usually needs 2 second hand heads, (gaskets and bolts aren’t cheap) fitting and the oil pump of course
About £700 in parts I would guess (could be less). And many painful hours
Once in a blue moon, people get away with just replacing the valve rockers. It’s sensible to do a compression test (or rather air tightness test, to see if both sides have damaged valves)
Or course getting the cam cover off isn’t quick.
P.s rotating the engine without a belt is just doing a bit more damage.
25th Jun 2022 12:39 pm
motorworks
Member Since: 14 Nov 2019
Location: Usk
Posts: 412
I recently picked up a D3 (130k miles) with same problem as yours, timing cover already removed to confirm.
Lifted body off, assuming engine replacement was best solution. Removed inlet manifolds to reveal all inlet rockers broken. Camshafts off and replaced rockers, fitted a new oil pump and timing belt. Compression test showed good compression on all cylinders.
Body back on, engine fired up and seems fine. Not yet taken it out for more thorough testing.
Too much like hard work to undertake with body on, especially access to remove components on rear of camshafts.Chris
25th Jun 2022 2:21 pm
loanrangie
Member Since: 18 Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 700
Mine failed like that in my driveway at idle, stripped it down and repaired it and found very little damage, you'll want to remove the valve covers and check the rockers ,cams and chains.
My LH exhaust cam was very slightly bent but no rockers or anything else was so replaced the cam and a few carrier bolts and seals along with new pump and full belt kit and 20k later still going.
27th Jun 2022 6:01 am
Matty 2332
Member Since: 02 Dec 2008
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 670
I got away with 1 broken rocker (found needle bearings in the sump) oil light wouldn't go out, presumably due to low pressure as a result of broken rocker and oil pushing out without restriction. Also a cracked cam shaft bearing journal. All on left, so body off and replacement re conditioned cylinder head, job sorted.
27th Jun 2022 7:25 am
wdavison98
Member Since: 21 Mar 2019
Location: Solihull
Posts: 13
I've just finished a similar repair on mine and driven it for the first time yesterday - it wasn't the pump that failed; not 100% sure what the cause was but looked like it may have been one of the tensioners for the chain between the intake and exhaust cams, or something on the belt/tensioner itself as it was only 4 days old... Either way, it was essentially the same result in that the engine lost time and failed at 60mph on the M40 with a 2.5-3T trailer on the back whilst going up a fair hill...
4 broken rockers for me (2 each on cylinders 1 and 5 if I remember correctly), plus a handful of sheared bolts on the cam sprockets - about £300 in parts and I replaced various other bits as proactive maintenance whilst I was in there, although yours will be more with the new pump. Mine had no valve or piston damage and I didn't even take the heads off in the end.
I took the cylinder head covers off on the drive at home and had a look round before doing anything (drivers side first as it's a bit easier) - this was an afternoon's work for a relative newbie with the Haynes manual and will start give you an idea of the damage based on the rockers. Then it's worth getting one of the small USB/WiFi borescopes of Amazon for £30-50 so you can have a look at the other half of the story around valves and pistons through the injector holes so you know what you're working with without removing the heads (the 8mm ones are too big but another at just under 4mm one was fine). Finally drain the oil and inspect the oil filter for any metal shards. Then you'll have a much better idea as to the extent of the damage and repair costs (and can save some good photos/videos if you find that kind of thing interesting or want a reference point to show a mechanic).
If the rockers have snapped and there's no obvious damage to the valves or pistons that can be seen with the borescope then I'd be tempted to replace the broken rockers and oil pump and see what happens - not a huge cost at about £10-12 each for a rocker and arm plus a couple of hundred for the new pump I imagine. If you need to replace any on the passenger side bank then I'd strongly recommend taking the body off if you have a way to do it or can get it done for a reasonable price - you need to take the HPFP belt and cam seal etc. off the back to get the cams out which is apparently possible with the body on but I wouldn't want to try it...
Whilst these TDV6s have their faults, I'm told that the rockers are a good bit of engineering and are designed with a weak spot over the top of the roller that in many cases will fail before you get valve damage (it will snap and allow the piston and valve spring to push the valve out of the way rather than bending it). No idea if that's true, but it's worked for me and seemingly a lot of others on the forum so don't lose hope yet!
Let us know how you get on - feel your pain and have my fingers crossed for you
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