Good morning

My water pump (three years / 60,000 miles old) has seized up, causing the cam belt to skip. It did this at low speed, pulling up to a junction. It was turned over a few times to see if it would start after it stopped and during the recovery process.

I am having a new pump and cambelt fitted today, but we are unsure if there is top-end damage. Has anyone else had any experience with this? I wonder what to do once the inevitable has been confirmed, and the gamble of fitting a belt and seeing if it starts does not pay off!

It is a tidy and straight 120,000-mile 2014 HSE auto.

Good luck with that. It is never a good idea to turn over an engine if you KNOW that the cam timing is out, even by one tooth. My understanding is that there are sacrificial followers that reduce damage to valves and pistons but you will have to take off the cam cover to check and change what’s broken. I wouldn’t try to start the engine once the new cam belt has been fitted but I might try turning it over using a bar and socket on the crankshaft just to see if there was anything interfering.

I agree. Had anyone known that it had gone out of time, a restart would not have been attempted. Unfortunately, the recovery wanted to hear the noise to diagnose it before fixing it or towing it!

Would sacrificial followers sometimes be referred to as fingers?

https://images.app.goo.gl/sQR4e9Viu5pydg4j8

Yes these known as cam followers or rockers. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

mjom89 wrote:

Good morning

My water pump (three years / 60,000 miles old) has seized up, causing the cam belt to skip. It did this at low speed, pulling up to a junction. It was turned over a few times to see if it would start after it stopped and during the recovery process.

I am having a new pump and cambelt fitted today, but we are unsure if there is top-end damage. Has anyone else had any experience with this? I wonder what to do once the inevitable has been confirmed, and the gamble of fitting a belt and seeing if it starts does not pay off!

It is a tidy and straight 120,000-mile 2014 HSE auto.

Before having a new pump and belt fitted it would make more sense to remove the cam cover and see if there is damage to the valve gear?
If so the head will need to come off to check the condition of the valves and pistons so timing up and fitting belts first is a waste of expensive garage labour, unless you're doing g it yourself? Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

mjom89 wrote:

I agree. Had anyone known that it had gone out of time, a restart would not have been attempted. Unfortunately, the recovery wanted to hear the noise to diagnose it before fixing it or towing it!

Would sacrificial followers sometimes be referred to as fingers?

Out of interest was it genuine water pump??