Belts or chains (which are you into????)

["Tim Hancock" <timhancock@domain.elided>]

I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read this from Michael Smith...

<Some people think the
rubber belt cam drive replacement as a routine maintenance item is an
unacceptable idea, touting steel roller chains for their durability. I
disagree.  Steel is tough, but you aren't supposed to need to change them.
When the engine gets old or high mileage you end up debating with yourself
about whether that steel chain is too worn or not. There are disadvantages
and advantages to both. Given that the valve clearances should be checked
routinely there really isn't a cost or durability penalty to rubber belt
cam drives.>

Mike...Its proof of pudding, Res Ipsa Loquitur and all that stuff. I have
NEVER heard of an Alfa TS timing chain failing. The tensioners tend to be worn
out around the 200,000 mile mark and you get plenty of warning for the last
30k miles or so as it gets thrashier. By contrast I have heard timing belt
equipped engines trash themselves with no warning whilst sitting next to me in
a traffic queue with noises like Bluto spittin out his teeth into a tin bucket
after Popeye has finished with him. Not Nice. This is a regular occurrence and
is not confined to neglected motors or Alfas.

Now, on some cars changing the timing belt is no more troublesome than
changing your underwear regularly, but an Alfa V6, particularly the 24 Valve,
involves surgery that costs a lot and is sometimes not done quite right. The
consequences of belt failure are catastrophic and lead to the scrapping of
many 164s here as the cost of rebuilding often far outweighs the value of the
car. It is a major turn-off to owning a V6 here. Then you get the characters
who change the belts, but not the rollers. This has caused serious problems
for Vauxhall/Opel owners with Ecotec engines where revised rollers were put
on, but only if it was serviced at a main dealer! The information was not
freely available to non franchised repair shops for quite a time. Result...An
engine trashed with no warranty cover as the rollers were not replaced along
with the belt. I hear too many stories about these things for comfort.

By comparison the old timing chain TS has a rock solid reputation throughout
Europe as being the best of the 164 bunch (or any Alfa for that matter) for
reliability. Eventually they do wear out and blow blue smoke, but these are
cars with 150k plus miles on them. More than one TS owner I know asks (with
more than a hint of irony) why Alfa decided to 'undesign' what was the most
dependable motor they have ever built, and substitute it with a bunch of 'belt
throwers' instead. With buckets and  shims on the TS you do not need to adjust
valve clearances unless the head comes off. Adjusting the timing chain on the
TS involves the following: Park car on level ground with handbrake on. Back
off tensioner adjusting nut a couple of turns. Push car forward about six feet
and chock the wheels so it does not run backwards. Retighten tensioner
adjusting nut. It takes six minutes including a cup of coffee and a biscuit.

The only car I know with a suspect chain mechanism is the Nissan Micra which
has a weedy single row chain which does fail if oil changes are neglected.
Ladas (god rest their rusty little souls) had a chain that stretched like
crazy, but these are the exceptions.

The only advantage I will concede to a timing belt is that it can contribute
to a smoother engine at high revs. Other than that I think they are a curse to
anyone except those with warranty cover or very large wallets. I hate em ( In
case anyone had missed this)

Cheers

Tim Hancock  164TS Lusso  Boston UK

p.s. If it blows up today I'm just not gonna tell anyone.

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