Why Engine Belt and Oil Don’t Mix: What You Need to Know about PSA 1.2 PureTech and Ford 1.0 EcoBoost Engines

The pressure on emissions forces car companies constantly innovate, even in really small details. It is not so surprising that instead of chain distributions, a more economical solution came in the form of a timing belt. However, the designers went further and were not afraid to start expose the sensitive belt to oil. That you don’t get along? We are not surprised.

Ford 1.0 EcoBoost

At one time, the liter three-cylinder was passed over by the media as something that definitely could not withstand, for example, highway traffic. And not at all in the big world, scumbag! Reality has shown that the mechanics of the aggregate are quite durable, the problem is elsewhere – in the belt. The technology-inflated engine began to collapse after a while for the owners.

The problem was, as I already indicated, in the belt. To be more precise, he caused it belt in combination with oil and fuel. He Ford didn’t do it so badly and chose additive lubricant for the belt so that it shouldn’t cause it degradation and cracking (Ford specification WSS-M2C948-B). Unfortunately, users did not want to understand it very much and were not aware of the risks that the belt drive brings with it. The oil change outside the official service network usually ended with the universal lubricant 5W-30, which did not meet the required standard. However, this slowly began to corrode the belt, which was reflected in him by crumbling. Small impurities slowly were clogging the suction basket of the oil pump, the lubrication pressure was dropping and it didn’t take long for the driver to see a low lubrication pressure message on the display. This was followed either by a repair connected with a new filter, changing the oil and oil pump, connected with changing the belt and instructing the owner of the vehicle, or possibly a very expensive overhaul, or straight away replacement of the entire engine.

In order not to blame it only on ignorant car owners, one more factor has its influence – gasoline in oil. On short routes, almost all current engines experience more or less fuel penetration into the oil sump. This dilutes the lubricant, which to a large extent can handle itself, because it is additively treated to tolerate it, if there is no more than approx. 4% of the volume. But the already sensitive belt takes it much worse, and gasoline does it literally etches. In extreme cases, it can end up breaking it.

PSA 1.2 PureTech

Very similar to Ford with EcoBoost, they thought i designers from PSA (currently Stellantis). There, too, they decided to reduce friction and thus emissions by using an oil-lubricated belt. At first it worked reasonably well, two brands supplied the belts and the engines ran fine. But then one of the suppliers came up with an improved belt that was no longer as strong and suffered from gasoline getting into the oil. softened it began to flatten and crumble. He choked again oil pump strainerbut it was not very strong, so either the unit reached low lubrication pressure, or the strainer even cracked, which brought with it other defects, including damage to the vacuum pump. When it failed, the brake booster stopped working, which is really a very serious defect. The case was resolved by the Stellantis concern with a convocation.

Of course, it also has an influence engine oil quality. Anyone who deviates from the car manufacturer’s regulation will almost certainly start to see the belt crumble. Its condition can be evaluated visually through the inspection window, in the authorized services of the concern measures the width of the belt itself. As it is etched, it softens and flattens so it grows in width.

What with this?

The above two examples only show how important it is to comply with the oil standard given by the manufacturer and don’t try to experiment. In addition to these examples, we could also name some sensitive engines from the production of Italian car companies, or aggregates of the VW concern with pumpe-düse injection, which require lubricant specification 505.01 and no other, otherwise there is a risk of sticking of the cam controlling the injector. Together with the right oil, we would also shorten the oil change interval to 10,000 kilometers.