cam belt worn/rubbed half its thickness away?

I`m puting this in its own thread, coz It`s "strange"

changing my cam belt, such an easy job eh..
thing with mine, it`s took me 2 days to get the cam cover off the top bolt due to severe corrosion, I had to drill, then chisel a slot over the bolt, tried heat - nope, lots of wd40 - nope, so I put big screwdriver into slot, and broke away the top bit of ally case that surrounds the stuck bolt, even then was a bugger to get of.....
*
next I saw the cam case full of black fluffy debrie, it was caused by the belt rubbing away half its original width....
Does anyone know why out there in landyzone ??
the belt tensioner has its raised sides for belt guides ??
but what was left of the belt had polished the crank oil seal part of the inner casing shiney ??
Never seen this before ??
*
on further inspection of the belt, it was "delaminating" from the side.
:doh:
All guidance will be grateful...
*
after some hot toast and cups of tea, I got to thinking again
(bad move at my age_)
what if the belt was directional > but fitted wrong way round,
or,
****e quality belt ?
as it just rubbed away...
hmmm
more tea & toast I recon............

may have been on too long ,but more likely tensioner bearings worn

thanks james.
but in reallity, the belt has not done that many miles in the last 5 years since fitting.
my landie was on a sorn for 18 months, and the local guy i got it from never done lots of miles in it as he had a series 3 also.
the belt tensioner is fine as is the belt idler wheel.
after hoovering all the black fluffy stuff out the whole casing, it all looks quite good..
I`m puzzled mate.
I`ve even run my finger / screwdriver round inside where the belt runs incase anything like a bolt or summit was trapped or come through from the engine side...nowt!
*
just been looking through extensive history file and got some mileges.
a new belt was fitted by ????? @ 165000 in nov 2005
now in 2011, its done 188700....
in age the belt was old, but milage ?...only 23700

could be poor belt ive seen a few like that and couldnt find an alignment issue so just fitted a new decent one and never been a problem after,i have seen injection pumps put back with half a gasket misalinging pulley but it showed up fairly quickly after , i usualllr run engine for a minuet with cover off and no coolant and front pulley put on just to check

thanks james again.will try that mate.

James, found this on google:-
Posted 14 January 2008 - 09:56 PM

if you have a walking timing belt and the old type of timing cover and want to sort this out without buying the STC4095L £230 kit .

this is what i have found to work very well and minimal belt walking .

first i did the pump bracket mods etc and also aligned the injector pump and pulleys with a DTI dial indicator so the pump pulley is running true .

initial finds with first belt change and no mods = lost 6mm of belt width in 10,000 miles

after mods to pump bracket and align pump and pulley = lost 3mm of belt width in 10,000 miles .

decided to look further and modify/try other parts .

fitted these parts and no belt walking in 5000 miles since last belt change , belt is full width and no step formed on edge as was found in early stages .

these are parts i used , all fit in and underneath standard 1st style of 300tdi front timing cover .

yes i know it has the lipped idler and lipped crank socket which is different to the normal routes taken but these parts are fitted in my 1995 300tdi and all work fine , all fit ok and zero belt walking .

i drive vehicle every day and have fitted 2 belts to it in this configuration in 5000miles , due to my rebuilding cylinder head and fitting new head gasket over xmas , at which time i also renewed timing belt as matter of course whilst radiator was removed , this also gave me chance to check the installed timing belt and pulleys/gears and to check that all parts fitted were working ok , which they were .


ERR1092 TIMING BELT £10.52

ERR1972 BELT TENSIONER [early stlye with lipped edge ] £20.68

ETC8560 IDLER PULLEY £23.73

LHH100660 LIPPED CRANK SPROCKET [ solid one piece style] £15.57

ERR7293 FRONT COVER GASKET £3.80

ERR4576 FRONT COVER SEAL £1.59
2008 prices.
Bought the kit from brookwells- landy parts place in newton abbot, devon.

eventually ( long story ) I bought my cam belt kit from RST landrovers of Mersea Island.
good value @ sub £40 delivered.
eventually fitted it all, done a "dry" test run, sounded just fine, so filled rad/engine with antifreeze.
went out for a short ride at night, back home, checked under bonnet, all looked just fine,
great.
today i took disco out again but, when engine was hot, I noticed a "whine" with engine revs,
so tried to pinpoint it with mechanics stethascope, but never worked.
OK, what if I tightend cam belt too tight?

Landyzone I need some help here please.

did you check belt tension? try running with auxillary belt off

I did the same thing years ago on a renault diesel when i over tightened the cambelt and it whined like a good un, right annoying as it was a pain to do in the first place.
Now older and wiser.



Lynall

Thanks both.
and yes, points taken.
I had given it thought tonight,
went out again for a ride, and was still the same, so, already thought I try tomorrow (today now) taking both V belts of to isolate water pump, and or power steering pump, then alternator.
will also try a piece of hose pipe on one ear to listen with to try and pinpoint noise.
I did have another thought, the turbo, but that is not directly connected to engine speed is it?
I did think it may be the power steering pump, as its had a "drop" of brake fluid over the last few weeks, and dont look too good in the resoviour?
but,
I guess it to be the cambelt being to enthusiasticaly tightend ...:doh:
oh well, as its not got the fan or shroud anymore, I just might get the cam cover off ,
again ?
Thanks again oh wise men of landyzone..