A few weeks ago I posted about the broken cambelt on my 1997 AstraVan (GM engine X17DTL). It was the second time the belt had snapped but this time I was lucky to get away with just a few broken rockers and no valve damage.

On both occasions the cambelt had worn down to half its original width before snapping. I initially thought that the belt was catching on the plastic cam cover which was broken & flapping about so removed the cam cover completely and fitted a new belt, tensioner & plastic idle pulley but again something is causing the cambelt to drift to the edge of the sprockets and wear away.

I've left the cam cover removed and can see that the new belt is also slowly been eaten away on the edge but don’t know what is causing it to drift to one side.

When the first belt snapped I replaced the water pump, the second belt I replaced the tensioner & idle pulley but still it is wearing the edge away. Any ideas welcome.