I have a 3 (and a bit) year old Daewoo Matiz with only 16,250 miles on the clock, according to the "Car-by-Car Breakdown" it will need a...
'Timing belt and GF50 tensioner pulley replacement at 40k miles or 4 years whichever comes first'.
What is a GF50 Tensioner Pulley?
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John
It's the pulley that controls the belt tension. It's usually recommended to change both belt and pulleys together, as failure of either causes major engine damage.
Vauxhall engines use (used?) a so-called GF50 pulley, which has a bit of a history of failure. There was a recall a couple of years ago. I hope they've now fixed it, but I'm assuming that your car has this GM item fitted. Note the recommendation to change at 4years whatever the mileage.
regards
john
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Thanks John, it was the GF50 bit that threw me...
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Whilst on the subject,,,,,,,,Remember a thread about 6 mths ago where Vauxhall recommended an 80,000 cam belt change on their 2.0litreECOTEC, well it seems now that they have changed their minds and now recommend the same motors to have the change at 40,000.....
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Gwyn
The shift from 40 to 80k took place in 1997, so it's taken 5 years to make them revert.
I wonder how many failures have ocurred?
Does anyone know if the GF50 puley has been redesigned? I ask 'cos we're getting an Astra 1.8 to replace our Corsa. And before you all shout, I've been more than pleased on reliability with the three Vauxhalls we've had - light years removed from the Fords we've had......
regards
John
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And remember we talked about this a while ago when I was doing a £1000 Astra repair after failure it was the belt that snapped at about 50K, not the tensioner.
I have my doubts about these systems, like the Ecotec, where the tensioner is constantly sprung rather than tightened into position by the motor engineer at the time of fitting.
The Fiat Brava/Bravo suffers the same early failure problems and what a coincidence, it has the same principle of tensioner!
David
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GM Ecotec cambelts are still failing well short of 40K, I'll let tell you!
Rgds
David
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Sadly I'm starting to hear of camshaft tensioner pulley failures on Fords. Same thing: steel bearing on plastic outer, but Ford's are much better than GM's and Ford has a pulley kit which is recommended to be used at the same time as a timing belt change if the customer can be persuaded.
HJ
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