How can water get into the timing belt casing?

Just wondering if anyone know any possible aways for water to get in the timing belt casing..

no, not through the wading plug hole, somewhere else?

My timing belt was changed a few weeks ago, completly trust my mechanic and the work he does, and even him said he´s going to investigate it while i´m on hollidays as he´s not happy that water got in..

everything was put new, seals and gaskets, he even used some liquid stuff to help sealing it as he knows I go through deep water/mud..

well, a week after I got the work done I went for my usual play area, Salisbury plains, and got stuck on this....



was only there for about 5min, maybe not even that long...
when I got home I took the wading plug out and some water/silt came out, not much though, probably not even enough to fill 1cm of a pint glass....

Now... how the f*ck did the water got in?!?!

Hot engine, cold water. Maybe it cooled down and caused a partial vacuum in the timing case. Possibly enough to suck water in past the crank pulley seal. You have also got that little plate in front of the injection pump sprocket. Only has a paper gasket on it. Its quite a big air space in the timing case and with the wading plug in, the pressure build up has to go somewhere. Could have blown a seal or gasket.

Wading plug is not really enough for the kind of thing shown in the photo.....you need to make a breather to fit the wading plug hole.

Don't forget, any shaft/bearing oil seals are made to stop oil getting out. they do a reasonable job of stopping stuff getting in, but it can happen easily enough, for all the reasons above!

mmhh... good points there!

never thought about that, with the wading plug in and pressure created by the hot engine and cold water it would suck in...

might invest on the breather for the timing belt casing then.. I´ve already put extended axle breathers, so it won´t be difficult to put that one in.

I never thought about installing it because I always thought with the breather i wouldnt be able to drain if water got inside, but thinking about it, if i use the same push-fit connectors like i have on the axles it won´t be too dificult to disconnect once I get home...