An unusual fault.Ford Galaxy 2.0 twin cam
Customer called me out (an old customer of many years) to look at a recovered breakdown. Initial investigation suggested a broken timing chain (i.e. crank turned on starter but exhaust camshaft, visible through oil filler cap, didn’t.
More detailed examination this morning revealed that the chain was OK but that the mushroom headed bolt that retained the cam sprocket had snapped and that the locating peg on the sprocket had sheared allowing it to spin freely on the end of the camshaft. In addition No 4 exhaust hydraulic tappet had suffered damage in that the top of the tappet had broken free from the body (so it looked like a shim IYSWIM) and had jammed diagonally across the tappet recess locking the camshaft lobe.
My analysis is that the tappet failure jammed the camshaft and caused the sprocket bolt etc to fail.
The only prior warning for this was a noisy tappet (I didn’t hear it so I don’t know how noisy) that became noticeable about two weeks before the breakdown occurred.
The customer was a littlie relieved when I told him that there was no way this could have been anticipated or prevented, it was just one of those things.
(I am currently half way through removing the head for repair, and a ******* of a job it is too, be warned!)
My question is has anybody else had a similar problem with these engines? Is this likely to be a one-off failure or is it some sort of failure mode that we going to see more of over the next few years and might we in a position where we should advise customers with noisy tappets on these engines that they should be changed ASAP. (Bearing in mind that noisy hydraulic tappets is not normally considered an urgent problem)
:-)
Paul