Overheated engine disintegrates the timing belt?

[keywacat]

I own a 1990 T3 with a retrofitted 1.9TDi. I was driving and started getting hot air from the forward air vents, as if I turned the heater on, the car started acting as if the timing suddenly retarded, the exhaust appeared to be burning oil and, when I stopped to inspect, 1/4th of the timing belt on the outer edge, furthest from the engine, had disintegrated. Although the dashboard coolant temperature gauge showed a bit above normal, it did not get close to anything worrying.

My thinking is that the water pump, the only part of the cooling system not changed in the past 3 years, failed and without the coolant circulating properly the temperature sender did not get the full picture of an overheating engine.

The thing I do not understand is why the timing belt would disintegrate from the edge furthest from the hot engine, anyone know why that may be?

 

[ZippyNH]

Water pump is timing belt driven? Not sure on that engine....

If so it sized....tore up your belt.... fortunately you might have stopped before you destroyed the engine....gotta dig deeper to find out

 

[oilhammer]

It would help if we knew what engine you installed.

 

[d24tdi]

There are a lot of different parts to the situation you are describing that do not all fit together, so you may want to take a step back and consider the symptoms one at a time. A few points to keep in mind:

- Output of heat from the dash vents is limited by the heater controls, so no matter how hot the engine is getting, nothing that happens in the rear of the van with the engine should be able to override the dash controls and cause heat to suddenly start blowing. That is probably unrelated to any mechanical problem.
- Also, if the water pump in fact did fail in a way that stopped coolant circulation, there would be no way for hot coolant to get pumped into the heater core in the dash way up at the front of the van, so in fact you would notice the opposite effect -- loss of heat output even as the engine overheated. So those two concerns are contrary to each other.
- In most situations, the coolant temp gauge sender will still give an accurate (overheat) reading even if water pump stops due to failure or loss of the drive belt. Although the WP is no longer moving coolant in that situation, you normally still get enough thermal siphon effect on a very hot engine to allow the head-mounted sender to sense the hot coolant temps. The gauge would tell you there was a problem.

Did the van show other signs of serious overheating, such as boil-over and coolant loss? If the water pump had stopped spinning and the engine continued running long enough to get so hot that it would start showing driveability symptoms, you would have a lot of other evidence that that had happened. If the cooling system is still full and you never saw steam, etc, then I would doubt overheating was related to your issue.

Water pump failure is easy enough to verify if you want to be sure. If you have an older style (1Z/AHU) TDI engine in your van, which I am guessing because those are the most common and easy to install in the T3 platform with factory parts, then you can pull the entire external drive water pump housing off the motor easily enough and inspect on the bench, especially since T3 installs usually do not have much in the way of belt driven accessories piled on top of the WP housing (unlike the cars with A/C, etc). If you have a newer style TDI (ALH/PD/similar) with internal timing belt driven WP, you can remove the thermostat and reach forward from there to access the water pump impeller and see if it has come free of the shaft.

That said though, I am going to guess that your issue is not cooling system related (which is a good thing!) and instead you are dealing with a timing belt problem that led to it jumping a tooth on the injection pump. That would result in the very immediate change in driveability (you mentioned exhaust smoke and the feeling of retarded timing, with a sudden onset of those symptoms), and it fits with your evidence of the timing belt being physically damaged.

As others said, it will help to know more about what exact configuration your van has, or better yet share some photos of the engine bay. If it's an older style 1Z/AHU TDI, those do have a known issue that can occur if the injection pump mounting bracket gets removed from the engine and then reinstalled in a misaligned position, which can cause the timing belt to ride off-center and eventually be damaged. Also we need to know if your engine has factory electronic controls (if so, that'll be an easy way to check timing with VCDS) or has been converted to mechanical injection pump for use in the van. If it's a mechanical pump, that would increase the odds of the pump jumping a tooth because many of those pumps are oversized 12mm pumps from much larger diesel engines and they create higher stress on the timing system than it was designed for.

Give us that added info and more help will be possible.

 

[keywacat]

Water pump is timing belt driven? Not sure on that engine....

If so it sized....tore up your belt.... fortunately you might have stopped before you destroyed the engine....gotta dig deeper to find out

No, the timing belt doesn't drive the water pump, I think the water pump failed and the engine then overheated. Still not sure why the timing belt started coming apart.

 

[keywacat]

It would help if we knew what engine you installed.

My mechanic isn't even 100% sure. It's a 1.9 from an early 2000's Golf.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

My mechanic isn't even 100% sure. It's a 1.9 from an early 2000's Golf.

If this is correct the water pump is driven by the timing belt.

 

[keywacat]

There are a lot of different parts to the situation you are describing that do not all fit together, so you may want to take a step back and consider the symptoms one at a time. A few points to keep in mind:

- Output of heat from the dash vents is limited by the heater controls, so no matter how hot the engine is getting, nothing that happens in the rear of the van with the engine should be able to override the dash controls and cause heat to suddenly start blowing. That is probably unrelated to any mechanical problem.
- Also, if the water pump in fact did fail in a way that stopped coolant circulation, there would be no way for hot coolant to get pumped into the heater core in the dash way up at the front of the van, so in fact you would notice the opposite effect -- loss of heat output even as the engine overheated. So those two concerns are contrary to each other.
- In most situations, the coolant temp gauge sender will still give an accurate (overheat) reading even if water pump stops due to failure or loss of the drive belt. Although the WP is no longer moving coolant in that situation, you normally still get enough thermal siphon effect on a very hot engine to allow the head-mounted sender to sense the hot coolant temps. The gauge would tell you there was a problem.

Did the van show other signs of serious overheating, such as boil-over and coolant loss? If the water pump had stopped spinning and the engine continued running long enough to get so hot that it would start showing driveability symptoms, you would have a lot of other evidence that that had happened. If the cooling system is still full and you never saw steam, etc, then I would doubt overheating was related to your issue.

Water pump failure is easy enough to verify if you want to be sure. If you have an older style (1Z/AHU) TDI engine in your van, which I am guessing because those are the most common and easy to install in the T3 platform with factory parts, then you can pull the entire external drive water pump housing off the motor easily enough and inspect on the bench, especially since T3 installs usually do not have much in the way of belt driven accessories piled on top of the WP housing (unlike the cars with A/C, etc). If you have a newer style TDI (ALH/PD/similar) with internal timing belt driven WP, you can remove the thermostat and reach forward from there to access the water pump impeller and see if it has come free of the shaft.

That said though, I am going to guess that your issue is not cooling system related (which is a good thing!) and instead you are dealing with a timing belt problem that led to it jumping a tooth on the injection pump. That would result in the very immediate change in driveability (you mentioned exhaust smoke and the feeling of retarded timing, with a sudden onset of those symptoms), and it fits with your evidence of the timing belt being physically damaged.

As others said, it will help to know more about what exact configuration your van has, or better yet share some photos of the engine bay. If it's an older style 1Z/AHU TDI, those do have a known issue that can occur if the injection pump mounting bracket gets removed from the engine and then reinstalled in a misaligned position, which can cause the timing belt to ride off-center and eventually be damaged. Also we need to know if your engine has factory electronic controls (if so, that'll be an easy way to check timing with VCDS) or has been converted to mechanical injection pump for use in the van. If it's a mechanical pump, that would increase the odds of the pump jumping a tooth because many of those pumps are oversized 12mm pumps from much larger diesel engines and they create higher stress on the timing system than it was designed for.

Give us that added info and more help will be possible.

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to post detailed questions and thoughts, let me answer them to see if you can help get to the bottom of this:

1) Did the van show other signs of serious overheating, such as boil-over and coolant loss?
No, nothing like that, just the alternator and engine block being too hot for a bare hand.
That and the engine started acting as if the timing was suddenly retarded.

2) 'jumping a tooth on the injection pump'
The injection pump was recently repaired, but the car made a 3,000km trip without problems a week before this occurred.

3) 'Also we need to know if your engine has factory electronic controls '
Its 100% mechanical, I'll post some photos.

4) ' has been converted to mechanical injection pump for use in the van.'
I know the engine used to have electronic controls, as evidenced by the dead-end wiring that used to lead to an ECU, I wonder if that's part of my problem.

Cheers for it, let me see what photos I can upload: The 1.9 TDi as rigged up for retrofitting into my van

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

That isn't an ALH engine from a MKIV. Looks like it might be a 1Z or AHU from a '96-7 Passat or 97-99 Jetta. In that engine the water pump is not driven by the timing belt, just as you said.

 

[oilhammer]

The OP is from Europe, so who knows what engine code it actually is, or what it originally came from. They had FAR more diesel options and car options than we ever did. But yeah, it is clearly an early style engine.

 

[d24tdi]

No, the timing belt doesn't drive the water pump, I think the water pump failed and the engine then overheated. Still not sure why the timing belt started coming apart.

I don't agree with that. Not sure why you believe the water pump failed suddenly -- that is not a common issue on this engine. You mentioned that the temp gauge never showed overheating, and you mentioned that you had hot air blowing from the dash vents, which I am convinced is unrelated, but also basically confirms that you had a functional water pump. The front heater core is a LONG way from the engine in a T3 bus. The only way hot coolant can reach it is if you have a good working water pump spinning and pushing the coolant up there.

To clarify your concern about the water pump and possible overheating, simply answer this question: is the cooling system still full of coolant? Did you ever observe any coolant loss, steam, boil-over, etc?

If the water pump stopped and the engine then got overheated sufficiently to the point that it noticeably affected the way it ran, then it would have definitely boiled the coolant and forced it out past the pressure relief (or blown a hose). It also would have not led to an instant change in how the engine ran -- it could happen quickly if the van was working hard on a hot day and the water pump completely stopped, but it wouldn't be in the blink of an eye, you would have at least a little bit of warning. Also, your T3 has a low coolant sensor in the top of the expansion tank; if that was in place and working correctly, you would have seen a flashing red light in the temp gauge when the coolant vaporized or was expelled. You didn't mention seeing that.

Additionally, water pump failure would probably involve an external leak and maybe a loose pulley from a failed bearing. Check for those signs but I doubt you'll see them. Separation of the impeller from the WP driveshaft is something that is occasionally seen on the TB-driven pumps with plastic impellers used in the later cars, but I have never seen an older style 028 type water pump with a plastic impeller, unless someone can correct me.

If no coolant boiling and loss occurred, then you can probably conclude that the runability issue and the timing belt damage are related to each other, but the cooling system is not involved. Unless you can add more info that clarifies the reason for your concerns about the cooling system.

 

[d24tdi]

Good info in these answers, I'll give my two cents of response at least.

1) Did the van show other signs of serious overheating, such as boil-over and coolant loss?
No, nothing like that, just the alternator and engine block being too hot for a bare hand.
That and the engine started acting as if the timing was suddenly retarded.

The good news here is, the alternator and engine components being hot to the touch doesn't necessarily mean overheating, these parts run at around 90 degrees Celsius during normal operation which is easily hot enough to be uncomfortable for a bare hand, if you were touching them after the engine had been running down the road.

The engine very suddenly acting like the timing was retarded is a good description of what you are seeing, but it is probably not related to temperature. More likely something jumped in the timing system, especially considering you saw visible timing belt damage plus there was recent work done on the injection pump that you mentioned.

2) 'jumping a tooth on the injection pump'
The injection pump was recently repaired, but the car made a 3,000km trip without problems a week before this occurred.

So there was recent work done on the injection pump, and at the time of that work there was no visible damage to the timing belt? And then someone did a repair, and a few thousand KM later, there is visible damage to the belt and the engine suddenly started running poorly?

Can you give more info on exactly what that repair was? Leaks? Did it involve taking the timing belt off?

To me it sounds like this van needs to go back to the shop or person who most recently worked on it. The recent repair is not a sign that there can't be an issue with the injection pump -- actually it is the opposite, it means it is quite likely that the issue was caused by that work. The timing belt might have been tensioned incorrectly, injection pump bracket moved out of alignment, or other potential causes. A photo of the belt damage would help understand it better. But either way, the story of recent work done and then this new issue is suspicious, even if the van did have a successful trip since then.

3) 'Also we need to know if your engine has factory electronic controls '
Its 100% mechanical, I'll post some photos.

Depending on what pump was used, that may have something to do with this issue. Some people use 12mm mechanical pumps from Cummins or Perkins or Iveco engines that are too large for the VW engine and require excessive force to turn, leading to stress on the timing belt and related components beyond what they are designed to handle. That can make it more likely for the injection pump sprocket to jump a tooth on the timing belt, especially if the belt is not tensioned right or is physically compromised in some way, like yours has been.

4) ' has been converted to mechanical injection pump for use in the van.'
I know the engine used to have electronic controls, as evidenced by the dead-end wiring that used to lead to an ECU, I wonder if that's part of my problem.

That might be a factor in your problem, in the sense that I just mentioned above. But the lack of electronic controls isn't your issue per se. It would have been helpful to scan for trouble codes (start of injection) if you had electronic engine management still but since you don't, no need to worry about it.

Did you do the installation of the mechanical injection pump? If not, are you able to be in contact with the person who did, and find out what static timing setting they used? And/or, can you ask the folks who did the recent work that same question? If you can, then a good next step will be to obtain the standard mechanical injection pump timing tool set (dial indicator, holder, rod) and go through the timing check process. See if the current setting matches what it should, or if it's retarded. If it's retarded, then that's your issue.

Or, just take it back to the folks who were the last ones to turn wrenches on the engine.

 

[keywacat]

Good info in these answers, I'll give my two cents of response at least.



The good news here is, the alternator and engine components being hot to the touch doesn't necessarily mean overheating, these parts run at around 90 degrees Celsius during normal operation which is easily hot enough to be uncomfortable for a bare hand, if you were touching them after the engine had been running down the road.

The engine very suddenly acting like the timing was retarded is a good description of what you are seeing, but it is probably not related to temperature. More likely something jumped in the timing system, especially considering you saw visible timing belt damage plus there was recent work done on the injection pump that you mentioned.



So there was recent work done on the injection pump, and at the time of that work there was no visible damage to the timing belt? And then someone did a repair, and a few thousand KM later, there is visible damage to the belt and the engine suddenly started running poorly?

Can you give more info on exactly what that repair was? Leaks? Did it involve taking the timing belt off?

To me it sounds like this van needs to go back to the shop or person who most recently worked on it. The recent repair is not a sign that there can't be an issue with the injection pump -- actually it is the opposite, it means it is quite likely that the issue was caused by that work. The timing belt might have been tensioned incorrectly, injection pump bracket moved out of alignment, or other potential causes. A photo of the belt damage would help understand it better. But either way, the story of recent work done and then this new issue is suspicious, even if the van did have a successful trip since then.



Depending on what pump was used, that may have something to do with this issue. Some people use 12mm mechanical pumps from Cummins or Perkins or Iveco engines that are too large for the VW engine and require excessive force to turn, leading to stress on the timing belt and related components beyond what they are designed to handle. That can make it more likely for the injection pump sprocket to jump a tooth on the timing belt, especially if the belt is not tensioned right or is physically compromised in some way, like yours has been.



That might be a factor in your problem, in the sense that I just mentioned above. But the lack of electronic controls isn't your issue per se. It would have been helpful to scan for trouble codes (start of injection) if you had electronic engine management still but since you don't, no need to worry about it.

Did you do the installation of the mechanical injection pump? If not, are you able to be in contact with the person who did, and find out what static timing setting they used? And/or, can you ask the folks who did the recent work that same question? If you can, then a good next step will be to obtain the standard mechanical injection pump timing tool set (dial indicator, holder, rod) and go through the timing check process. See if the current setting matches what it should, or if it's retarded. If it's retarded, then that's your issue.

Or, just take it back to the folks who were the last ones to turn wrenches on the engine.

Hello again!

I've added some photos of the disintegrating timing belt to my Imgur repo:

http://imgur.com/a/JVVNBWI

, maybe it'll shed more light on my problem.

The injector pump work was taking off the pump and (I guess) replacing the internal seals / diaphragms that were letting it weep fuel.

Something I did not mention as I wanted to focus on [this] problem is that this is the second time it has occurred since my timing belt was replaced in 2021 at about 75,000km. (I get kind of paranoid about the belt as the original engine was destroyed 120km from Stuttgart, right after I purchased the car and trusted the seller's assurance the belt was good), so although the injector pump work might be a new problem the original still exists.

In both instances the car ran fine for about 5000km before the timing belt started shredding itself and the engine went out of time.

I think you lads are onto it when you call out the injector pump mount, with the way the engine sits in my car its probably a pain in the ass to align it without removing the engine and it sounds like the work involved in changing the belt can knock it out of alignment.

I do plan to take it back to my mechanic, as I have a good relationship with him, but he cannot start work until Tuesday and, as I do not need the car immediately, I cannot update you lads on that until then.

Do let me know if you want any more information or have other thoughts on it, jo?

Cheers;
keywacat

 

[d24tdi]

OK, the timing belt damage is definitely due to misalignment of the injection pump bracket, a known possibility on this engine. You can see how the outer edge of the belt is shredded because it is riding off the outside of the sprockets, with lots of space unused on the inner sides.

I am going to guess that once the belt got damaged and had reduced contact with the sprockets, at some point the pump sprocket jumped a tooth. Can't tell visually what kind of injection pump you have on there -- if you can take and post a photo of the string of Bosch numbers stamped on the pump case, that will help identify it. If it's a 12mm pump then that would have exacerbated the tendency to jump time, which sounds like has happened repeatedly on your engine.

My recommendation of the next steps here for you and/or your mechanic:
1) Perform the static injection timing check process (with dial indicator) to confirm a diagnosis of slipped pump timing
2) If the pump timing has slipped, also remove the valve cover and check cam timing, ensure it did not also jump (i.e. you want to be sure the timing jumped on the IP sprocket affecting the IP timing only, not the crank sprocket affecting both IP and cam)
3) Assuming you have only lost timing on the IP: remove the IP from the engine and adjust the position of the IP bracket to square it up correctly with the block. This is easy to do (3 or 4 bolts) and absolutely does not require removal of the engine. I am going from memory here but I think you need to try to tweak the bracket clockwise (as you face it) to correct the belt tracking.
4) Reassemble with a new timing belt, set timing to whatever spec you need to use for this M-pump, and start the engine. Confirm the belt tracks in the middle of the timing sprockets when running, and does not ride on the edge or hang off the edge. If necessary, repeat step 3 adjusting the bracket until things track correctly. This could be labor-intensive trial and error

This entire issue only occurs in cases where the injection pump bracket's position on the block has been disturbed, not a common situation, it only arises if the engine has been completely disassembled for example to rebuild, or if the IP bracket has been removed for another reason. Commonly, the M-pumps used for MTDI conversions require the IP bracket to be removed and machined for a larger 68mm pilot on the front of the IP (like an ALH pump uses), enlarged from the 50mm of the AHU 1Z factory E-pump. My guess is that when your engine was assembled with this M-pump, that needed to be done, so the bracket was pulled off the motor and then when it was reinstalled, care was never taken to get it aligned correctly to make the belt track as it should. Hence your recurring problems.

 

[oilhammer]

There was a TSB for early 1Z engines for the exact issue described above.

 

[d24tdi]

^^ I thought I remembered seeing someone post that TSB sometime in the past, and if I recall right (maybe you can confirm), it also provided a graphic with instructions of which direction to twist the bracket to correct the issue, depending on whether the belt was off-tracking to the inside or outside.

Maybe someone has that TSB they can share here.

 

[oilhammer]

Group: 15

Number: 97-01

Date: June 4, 1997

Subject:
Toothed Belt Runs Towards Outside, Wears Out, Jumps Off, Cracks

Model(s):
Golf, Jetta, Passat
with 1.9L (Engine code AAZ, 1Z)1994 --> 1997

Supersedes T.B. Group 13 Number 97-01 dated Jan. 28, 1997

Condition

Toothed belt runs toward outside and wears out, jumps off, cracks or is noisy.

Service

If this condition exists:

- Replace toothed belt and automatic tensioning roller Part No: 028 109 243F, see the appropriate Repair Manual for Models listed above.

Note:
Prior to installing the new belt, clean idler pulley, crankshaft and Diesel Injection pump sprockets.

After installing new belt but prior to installing vibration damper pulley:

- Using a second Technician, start and run engine (AT IDLE) for a few seconds while observing toothed belt.

- Switch ignition OFF, then check toothed belt.

^ Belt must NOT protrude beyond face of crankshaft sprocket.

If belt protrudes beyond face of crankshaft sprocket, adjust Diesel Injection pump mounting bracket as follows:

- Remove injection pump.


Open In New Tab Zoom/Print

- Slightly loosen three fasteners securing bracket to engine -arrows-.

- Press bracket down at point -A- and lift at point -B- while a second Technician torques fasteners -arrows- to 25 Nm. (18 ft. lb.).

- Reinstall injection pump.

After installing belt but prior to installing vibration damper pulley:

- Using a second Technician, start and run engine (AT IDLE) for a few seconds while observing toothed belt.

- Switch ignition OFF, then check toothed belt.

^ Belt must NOT protrude beyond face of crankshaft sprocket.

If belt is correctly positioned:

- Reinstall remaining parts as outlined in applicable Repair Manual.

If belt protrudes beyond face of crankshaft sprocket:

- Contact the VW Technicians Helpline at:

US 1-800-678-2389
CAN 1-800-697-8655

When procedure applies to vehicles within warranty use the following:

Part Identifier:1527 Labor Operation:1527510 200 TU

 

[oilhammer]

 

[d24tdi]

Bingo!

 

[keywacat]

Thank you all for your answers, I had no update until today its an incomplete one at that.

I shared the TSB with my mechanic, Google-translated into Czech, as La Grand Damme was delivered to him on a tow truck today.

When I have more info I'll post it so you know what's going on (I know I get irritated when I help someone and they disappear ), for now he's going to put on a new injector pump bracket, redo the timing belt and replace the water pump while he's at it, the water pump being the only part of the cooling system not changed in the past 4 years and in fact the same one installed 90,000km/ 13 years ago.

From what you lads have written the water pump is due anyway.

Given that he's Prague's chief specialist for T3s, and was on holiday, he's got a few other cars to do also, so I imagine I won't have mine back until the end of next week, 12 SEP 2025, at the earliest.

 

[keywacat]

3) Assuming you have only lost timing on the IP: remove the IP from the engine and adjust the position of the IP bracket to square it up correctly with the block. This is easy to do (3 or 4 bolts) and absolutely does not require removal of the engine. I am going from memory here but I think you need to try to tweak the bracket clockwise (as you face it) to correct the belt tracking.

Will that be the case with the way my car has a retrofitted engine? It's pretty tight between the bulkhead and where the timing belt runs. (I cannot tell, the last car I seriously wrenched on was a '73 Super Beetle, and now I don't have a place to work so I take my T3 to a specialist.)

 

[d24tdi]

You definitely do NOT need to remove the engine from the van to work on the position of the injection pump bracket. I have done this job myself in a T3. Easy work. In fact it's easier in the T3 than it is in a car due to the angle of the engine.

There's no reason to install a new injection pump bracket -- just adjust the position of the bracket you already have, using the instructions from the TSB oilhammer posted above.

New water pump never hurts anything as proactive maintenance "while you're in there" but I doubt it has any connection to the issue you have been seeing with the timing belt. At 90k km I wouldn't bother with it myself, especially considering the effort to drain and refill coolant in that vehicle. But your choice, and it's always good to do whatever it takes to make yourself confident using it.

Hope this step works out for you, especially after dealing with this multiple times already. Make sure that belt runs right in the middle of the sprockets. Otherwise you'll be back in this position again, sooner than you want.

 

[keywacat]

Hello everyone;

Took awhile for my mechanic to get to my van as he had a heavy backlog coming back from holiday, but get to her he did.

I picked her up yesterday with a new injection pump bracket, waterpump, timing belt & pulleys, thermostat and few other minor pieces.

So far she's running fine but the shakedown was only 5 kilometres, I'll take her out for a longer drive Saturday.

 

[d24tdi]

Glad to hear the good news that it is running better after that work was done.

However, here is the major question: what position is the timing belt riding in on the cam and IP sprockets now? Did the mechanic make the required adjustments to the injection pump bracket position to ensure that there wouldn't be yet another timing belt failure soon, after having had this happen repeatedly already after his previous work?

My concern in reading your recent post is that you and your mechanic appear to be focused on solving this problem by replacing "old" parts. The key point that you (and the person working on it) need to keep in mind is that this problem was NOT CAUSED BY A PART FAILING OR BEING TOO OLD. It was caused by perfectly good parts being INSTALLED INCORRECTLY when your M-TDI injection pump was mounted on the engine.

No parts needed to be replaced to fix this issue, other than the timing belt that had been damaged. And by the same token, no amount of shiny new parts will help it unless the right steps are taken during installation.

Rather, what needed to be done was an adjustment of the position of the injection pump bracket on the engine block. All the fresh parts that were installed are nice of course but they alone will not do anything to prevent the problem from recurring, and potentially costing you your whole engine one of these times if the belt fails entirely.

In particular, there was no need to replace the IP bracket, as that's not a part that wears out, but it's OK if he did that, aside from wasting money and throwing away a perfectly fine component. The point you need to confirm is that when the new bracket was installed, the mechanic used the method @oilhammer posted info and photos of earlier, and verified afterwards that the timing belt was tracking correctly.

Was that done?

You are welcome to post a photo showing the timing belt's position on the sprockets after the most recent repairs and we can help verify.

 

[keywacat]

You are welcome to post a photo showing the timing belt's position on the sprockets after the most recent repairs and we can help verify.

Hello;

I added three photos of the new belt in the engine to my Imgur repo , as best I could without digging deeper into it. I'm not sure if it'll show anything you need to see to help me further, if its not I'll see about taking off the cover and shooting a photo through the license plate port.

Let me know, jo? And thanks again for all the advise and support you lads are giving.