On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 09:46:59 +0100, "James Lucy" >
wrote:

>I've just changed my cambelt as part of replacing a dead variator. ('98
>2.0TS). I haven't owned the car all its life (about 3 years and 40k), but
>I'm pretty sure it was not changed before I got the car, and it made it to
>80,000 miles with me. What's more, the removed belt was in good condition.
>Guess I was just lucky. However, here's the point: The cam belt was quite
>slack, and the tensioner had got to the end of its movement. My theory
>(completetly unsubstantiated tho!) is that cam belt failures are caused by a
>lack of tension, rather than the primary failure of the belt.

Thats normally the case, either a tensioner or idler pully will let
go. The belts rarely break without outside influence.

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