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Just did a routine check on my cambelt as I do every once in a while since I found a great big split running across the last one. Opened the cover up, found the cambelt sitting half off the pulley, running off the engine side of the pulley, with the lip around the waterpump pulley that's meant to keep it central broken off and wedged into the cambelt cover, and a great big gash burnt into the cover by the cambelt as it's worn it down for however long it's been like this. What I want to know is, is the broken guide on the waterpump pulley likely to be the cause or the result of this problem? Ie, could the cambelt's tendancy to run off centre have put too much pressure on the guide, or would it simply be running off centre because the guide had broken for some other reason? As far as I know the water pump is as old as the 120,000 mile old block it's bolted to, so I guess it was going to happen some time, but I'd like to know whether to just replace it or to look for some other factor behind why it would have broken like that.

mk3 time!

was the pump tensioned right?

new pump and new belt is the order of the day. Thats quite a shocking thing to find really!

Yeah, it's all tensioned right, only fitted the belt a couple of months ago when I found the last one had a great split in it.. just limped it very carefully to chelmsford GSF and back, spent £100 on water pump, cam belt, pair of shock absorbers and a bottle of antifreeze Still got to spent another £40 before I even consider sending it for it's MoT Anyway, that's a nice job for me tomorrow afternoon - thank god for a double free period in the afternoon.. who needs revision for A2 exams on thursday and friday when you could spend the afternoon stressing at your car

Really was quite shocked to find it like that though.. that water pump really must never have been replaced, it's the one that was bolted to the engine I bought off dubs last summer.. strange, because the rest of the engine seemed to have been well looked after, even had a fairly recent head gasket change from what I could see. Still, I'll get that pump and belt fitted tomorrow.. does anyone have any idea why the belt would be inclined to run off centre though? Even when the pump guide was in one piece it had a bit of a tendancy to run towards the engine rather than sitting perfectly central, can't think why..

Well, got it sorted. New water pump fitted, new timing belt, new alternator belt, new alternator, cooling system flush.. and it repays me with nasty noises from the clutch Guess what my next major investment of money I don't have is going to be...