How common is stamped intermediate gear failure?

[AlphaE]

Its in the title.. How common, what are the chances, of the stamped intermediate, (oil drive) sprocket failure??? I never heard of it till last night on any forums. Is it that common? one thing i heard is that its kinda related to RPM... magor concern of mine since my supereta will now spin at i speeds.

Help please!!

Thanks.

[efficient]

Replace the gear if your worried

[AlphaE]

puttin head back on as i type.. Dont wanna have to strip back down to Tbelt in a week just to replace this dumb thing.. how many have had failures?

[acolella76]

I never heard of it until it happened to a friend after he changed his timing belt. He didn't know there was even a difference he says, and neither did i, until his car was stranded on the side of the highway because it sheared. Then people started coming out of the woodwork saying it happened to them too; mostly locals. I would change it whenever convenient.

[downforce22]

I have look at both and also did not know there was a difference. After inspection the one on my car look ok and worked but I am in a climate that does not rust as much.

I would rather change it than risk it. Here is a picture I took, the cast one looks like it will fold in half on itself because the bracing is a big washer sitting inside the thin metal of the gear.

The updated sintered gear actually has some structure. It's your engine and not too hard to change but changing it gave me piece of mind.

[jlevie]

I don't think it is a common failure item, but I won't leave a stamped intermediate or cam sprocket on an engine. Before the timing belt goes on, either (or both as the case may be) will be replaced with the updated part.

[dougie30]

I have look at both and also did not know there was a difference. After inspection the one on my car look ok and worked but I am in a climate that does not rust as much.

I would rather change it than risk it. Here is a picture I took, the cast one looks like it will fold in half on itself because the bracing is a big washer sitting inside the thin metal of the gear.

The updated sintered gear actually has some structure. It's your engine and not too hard to change but changing it gave me piece of mind.

i messed mine up, its the one on the right, so i was wondering if there is a difference between the two shown, they look like different sizes.

[jeffnhiscars]

There was a service recall on the stamped gears due to some early failures and I dont think you can even buy them anymore. I bought the newer gear from the dealer for $20.

[downforce22]

they are the exact same size, same number of gears, I lined them up. The only difference is you don't need that silly washer in the picture.

[estoguy]

Question: is there any way to determine if your engine has the stamped gears without looking at the engine itself? Were they only used on certain model years/build dates? Mine is a 9/85 build.

And is there an easy way to do a visual inspection of this?

[jlevie]

An 85 probably had the stamped sprockets, but they could have been replaced during the recall. You have to remove the timing covers to find out.