TRANSIT CUSTOM 2017 CAM BELT FAILURE

[Hezza21]

Was driving along this morning and bam loss of power no steering, nothing.
Spoke to my mate who owns a mechanics and didn’t even need to tell him the details he went straight away it’s the belt.
Ford have pushed me back 4 weeks ago to get a new belt rang me up last Friday and booked me in on 4th august….unfortunately for everyone that was too late because it’s gone today. Currently en route to ford to drop it off as they said bring it straight in.
I’ll keep everyone updated

[My van hates me]

Hopefully you are within warranty and meet the servicing criteria to get the bill picked up by Ford. I was told I needed a new engine at my own cost. Replaced cam shafts, vac pump, all filters, sump and oil pick up, belts etc. and have done 24k trouble free miles before turbo failure. I’m half tempted to replace the belts again to be honest, I have zero faith in the van right now. Got everything crossed for all owners because every £2000+ bill is a real kick in the conkers

[metalworker0]

Hopefully you are within warranty and meet the servicing criteria to get the bill picked up by Ford. I was told I needed a new engine at my own cost. Replaced cam shafts, vac pump, all filters, sump and oil pick up, belts etc. and have done 24k trouble free miles before turbo failure. I’m half tempted to replace the belts again to be honest, I have zero faith in the van right now. Got everything crossed for all owners because every £2000+ bill is a real kick in the conkers

ODD thought - For all the tens of thousands sold ..there are not many owners coming here complaining that the belts have broken . even on the connects ? since this is the main forum on the net Odd again .

ON another forum ..when the rover K-series was blowing headgaskets ..there were masses of reports .

all the best.mark

[My van hates me]

Hopefully you are within warranty and meet the servicing criteria to get the bill picked up by Ford. I was told I needed a new engine at my own cost. Replaced cam shafts, vac pump, all filters, sump and oil pick up, belts etc. and have done 24k trouble free miles before turbo failure. I’m half tempted to replace the belts again to be honest, I have zero faith in the van right now. Got everything crossed for all owners because every £2000+ bill is a real kick in the conkers

ODD thought - For all the tens of thousands sold ..there are not many owners coming here complaining that the belts have broken . even on the connects ? since this is the main forum on the net Odd again .

ON another forum ..when the rover K-series was blowing headgaskets ..there were masses of reports .

all the best.mark

That’s a fair point. Although my experience tells me the problem is one of oil contamination rather than snapped belts. Those reports and not hard to come by… I’d also say that with all due respect to rover drivers, they are probably more likely to frequent internet chat rooms than your average brick layer or plumber

[Jamjarlid]

My 67 plate custom broke down on the motorway a few weeks ago. The fammous yellow recovery firm, came to my rescue and said it was most likely my wet belt. I replied your joking as it had a recall for this issue in 2021 which I now know was only a visual check and has since been serviced twice with it all being ok with no advisey of when to change it. Sadly the belt went at 90000 miles. I bought the van with 50000 miles on the cloak and luckily booked it in for a service after purchasing. I had to wait 3 weeks until ford could look at it and was told it would cost me £125 +Vat to inspect the wet belt. They came back and said unfortunately you will need a new engine. I responded, why wasn't this picked up in the recall and surely there must be a warranty. The manage had to call head office and said they will replace the engine with a new or remanufacture engine at no cost and will gave me hired van in the mean time.



Being self employed and the only one working for my family. The waiting for answers has been truly draining and since ford said they would pay for a new engine I have been able to sleep again.

When the van was towed to ford, the mechanic said I bet its the timing/wet belt. So they are very much aware of this problem.

If you find yourself in this unfortunate situation and are having difficulty. There is the consumer rights act 2015 which is government legislation to your rights. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/20 ... ts/enacted

I was able to hire a van for less than £150 a week with a 10% discount through my breakdown recovery membership, which I will ask ford to be reimburse for.

[Jaythesprayer]

A question for all you guys who have had the cambelt failure.

Did the engine light come on and did you have any error codes come up when scanned

I have a 2018 custom with only 37k miles, full ford service history.

It will not start, just crank. I have been working on it for a few weeks now and everything points to the belt skipping. Will not start with easy start either.
There are NO CODES coming up which is baffling me
I dont want to take the cover off to check, as i will be taking it to Fords to diagnose. Don't want to give them any excuses not to cover the costs (fingers crossed)

[Zeus20]

So I think you can check the cam belt condition by removing the oil filler cap and associated extension tube. Then, using your phone camera or a small mirror you can look down the oil filler and see the cam belt. If you jack up a front wheel and put it into 6th gear you can use the wheel to rotate the engine.

The belt may be snapped, which will be obvious, or it may have stripped teeth on the belt around the crank pully. In this instance, the belt will not move as you rotate the engine.

Either of those has the potential to spell disaster but you can just get lucky!

[Jaythesprayer]

So I think you can check the cam belt condition by removing the oil filler cap and associated extension tube. Then, using your phone camera or a small mirror you can look down the oil filler and see the cam belt. If you jack up a front wheel and put it into 6th gear you can use the wheel to rotate the engine.

The belt may be snapped, which will be obvious, or it may have stripped teeth on the belt around the crank pully. In this instance, the belt will not move as you rotate the engine.

Either of those has the potential to spell disaster but you can just get lucky!

Yeah thanks for that, yes it will let me at least rule out the condition of the belt, but really need to check the timing too, going to have another go with my Forscan tomorrow

[My van hates me]

A question for all you guys who have had the cambelt failure.

Did the engine light come on and did you have any error codes come up when scanned

I have a 2018 custom with only 37k miles, full ford service history.

It will not start, just crank. I have been working on it for a few weeks now and everything points to the belt skipping. Will not start with easy start either.
There are NO CODES coming up which is baffling me
I dont want to take the cover off to check, as i will be taking it to Fords to diagnose. Don't want to give them any excuses not to cover the costs (fingers crossed)

Mine came up with cam shaft position sensor I think. Wasn’t the sensor because it ran fine after new cams, belt, vac pump etc.
All looked ok in the filler cap on inspection but the oil pick up had a solid puck of rubber in it.
I’ve lost thousands and time with my kids because of this engine so I no longer own the van and will never buy another Ford until they are chain driven

[metalworker0]

not sure how different custom is from the mk8

someones done a transit 2.0L belt change Vid at last. uploaded 1 day ago

I'm half way through it ..he seems to know what he's on about, this one will put you in the picture for sure, or panic you into getting it changed ..or stop you sleeping at night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28kFY7HPVUI&t=24s

Some pointers not mentioned.......he uses a gun to take the crankshaft pulley off ...therefore only shows taking the starter motor off later in the video to lock the crank --- no gun ..you need to do this first.

Sealant - I'm sure this will be a special anaerobic sealant ...goes off when there is no air ...and dissolves away where there is air ...this is important , otherwise if you used silicone or what have you, you'd have bits of it floating around in the oil and ending up in the strainer.

Do not use his method for final 90 degrees on the bolt ...use 3/4 breaker bar...or you'll damage the torque wrench


all the best.mark

[Macpaul]

Thanks for posting the YouTube link, it makes it much easier to know what to look for and ask for when mine gets done next week.

[FilW]

Hi all,
Bought a 2018 Custom Sport in April with 80K on the clock now on 106k.
Seems like the cambelt went today while cruising down the M4.
How do I find out if I was subject to the recall and inspection, and if I have any recourse against Ford?
If not, what are my options? Rebuild? Recon? New? Cut my losses and go back to a Vivaro and their chocolate gearboxes? Find a dark room and cry?
Cheers...

[FilW]

According to the AA, my cambelt has gone.
2018 Custom Sport bought in May with 85k, now 106k.
What are my options?
Ford doing the decent thing?
Recon engine?
Cut my losses?
Cry in a dark room?
Go back to Vivaros with their chocolate gearboxes?

Cheers all...




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[metalworker0]

BUMP .
i don't know, but others do know if your van is in the recall, sure its here somewhere amongst the threads

Jut start skimming through ..scrolling down the last 6 pages of threads here in the custom forum, anything that has over 10 answers is frequently the wet belt issue.

Then go and have a look in the mk8 forum

thread half way down the page called
"timing belt recall"

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=204983

There may be an answer in that one .. with dates etc.
Sorry for late reply --very easily missed, you sort of don't notice it ..because you added to the thread at the top ..i missed it, others would have too. you see a new post in the custom section ..and you expect it to appear under the last light bulb one. if someone posts at the same time their ..then that it ..it gets missed.

all the best.mark

[Jeremy24]

Possible solutions to a cam belt failure?

We have a 2017 Custom 340 built Nov 2017, purchased 2nd hand, not Ford dealer serviced, now about 120K on the clock. A few days ago, started up with difficulty in the driveway, then after a couple of yards at about 1mph totally failed. RAC report states 'engine cranking fast no compression' and 'suspect timing has failed'.

New here, and read some great advice in other threads on this topic, but can anyone advise how likley it is that we need an engine replacement, or whether a (cheaper) repair should be possible? We'll need to get it towed - one tow free on the RAC - but if the first garage inspects but cannot repair, we'll need another expensive tow. So any recommendations for a garage in East or West Sussex (we're in Brighton) very welcome.

If a full engine replacement is necessary we'll need to seriously consider scrap and buy a new vehicle, since the value of this one is only about £10k.