Red/Brown dust under timing belt cover 1HD-T (1 Viewer)

[Kennigers]

Please help, I'm not sure whats going on here. I removed my timing belt cover on my 1994 HDJ81 1HD-T yesterday and found a lot of red/brown dust coating the timing belt, cam pulley and basically everywhere under the cover. Also, the timing belt has slack between the cam pulley and injector pump. I'm not sure if either of these are problems or if it's normal. If it's normal that will be a big relief, if it's not, please suggest what the problems may be and where to start. The timing belt is only 40000km old (replaced by previous owner so I don't know if the tensioner was replaced at the same time)

 

[Rock40]

That looks odd. My guess is the cover isn't properly sealed and it's sucking in dirt/dust/grime from the engine compartment. There really should be very little slack, if any, in the belt.

 

[mudgudgeon]

The belt does not look like a 40k km belt to me. At 100k km, it should be hard to spot belt wear without putting old and new belts side by side

Personally, if in doubt, replace the belt, tensioner pulley, and tensioner spring.

Cheap insurance. Particularly the spring, it's a $15 part, and failure leads to $10k rebuild

I agree, the belt should have more tension than that.
Also think that amount of dust is not normal. Does the t belt cover have a rubber gasket on it?

 

[wedgetail]

The dust’s not unusual seen it on heaps - might want to get a new seal though and check the silicone profile on the joint areas

 

[Kennigers]

Thanks for the replies.. I’m going to replace the water pump so I may as well get a new timing belt just to make sure. I’ll get a new cam seal and tensioner too and hopefully that solves the dust issue

 

[The Eradicator]

I'd replace the cover gasket too. 11328-17010

 

[Indestructible 47]

You should see the places red dust gets into in the rigs in outback aus, yours is almost as new compared to those. Replace the timing belt water pump and tensioner and clean it out with brake clean and call it good.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Ive seen belts with 200000klms that are better than that. I doubt the PO was telling the truth about the 40k timing belt change.
The dust looks as though it might have spent time on a dusty road or did a deep water crossing through muddy water, its not something that would bother me. I would guess they washed the engine but the dust inside of the timing belt assembly remained
Failing belts usually leave a grey dust from the disintegration of the kevlar.