From the workshop
The oil light was flashing, the pickup strainer was completely blocked and the belt was one of the worst Elliot has seen.
1 minute 10 seconds, with captions. Full transcript below.
Okay, so this Ford Transit Courier we had in this week, customer from Dudley reported that the oil pressure warning light was flashing on.
Pretty common problem on these.
Um, after a strip down, found out that the wet belt was seriously deteriorated.
It’s probably one of the, the worst ones that I’ve seen, to be honest.
Um, this, this van had done 98,000 miles, which is pretty, pretty good to get away with not having it changed, to be honest.
Um, so we stripped the sump off first. Oil strainer was completely blocked on this, and as you’ll see in the, in the videos, the, the timing belt was in a pretty bad state.
Um, so we replaced the timing belt. Made sure we cleaned every little bit of debris out of the, the sump, the strainer, rebuilt it, fresh parts, oil and filter, give it a service, road tested it.
It’s back on the road now. Customer’s collecting shortly, so should be happy with this one.
The warning was not an electrical nuisance. Belt debris had completely blocked the pickup strainer, restricting the oil supply the engine depends on. Continuing to drive with that light flashing risks turning a wet belt replacement into an engine replacement.
This van had reached 98,000 miles without a replacement, but the exposed belt shows how little useful life it had left. Elliot describes it as one of the worst he has seen. Mileage cannot tell you the condition of a belt that is degrading in oil.
A new belt does not clear the rubber already inside the engine. The sump came off first, the blocked strainer was cleaned and every loose piece of debris was removed before fresh oil and a filter went in. That cleaning is part of the repair, not an optional extra.
The wet belt page covers which engines use one, the warning signs, what replacement costs and why our quote always includes removing the sump and dealing with the oil pickup strainer.
Wet belt replacement, explained properlyEvery one filmed in the Dudley workshop, with the mechanic who did the work explaining it.
See all workshop videosSwitch the engine off and send us the registration. We will confirm whether it uses a wet belt and explain the safest next step before the engine suffers oil-starvation damage.