MHD Belt question

[foz.foz]

Re: MHD Belt question

@Cougar7609... is this what your after? http://www.evilution.co.uk/674

[cougar7609]

Re: MHD Belt question

Cheers Foz.foz Yes thats exactly what I was looking for

[foz.foz]

Re: MHD Belt question

Cheers Foz.foz Yes thats exactly what I was looking for

Don't thank me... thank the guys who run Evilution

[Evilution]

Re: MHD Belt question

It should also stop this problem of the belt breaking as well.

I think you misunderstand how it all works.
With MHD turned on or off, the belt is always moving with the car running and always very tight so the wear will always occur.
The wear doesn't only happen when the car is started.

[Thrumbleux]

Re: MHD Belt question

Kane: Have you contemplated a retro fit kit which would reinstate a standard (operating on flywheel) type starter motor and the belt be used for charging and water pump duties only? Obviously the electronics would have to be attended to, but the reduced load on the belt would permit normal tension levels and remove all the problems.
At a guess, there's a market for such a kit, as once out of warranty having to constantly shell out for smart upgrades that don't work is going to annihilate the value of MHDs older than two years old.
Could such a kit be done at a price that people will accept as good value?
(Not my place to tell you how to run your business, but I'm slightly curious as to whether it's possible and would rather if it is possible the business could go to someone who understands smarts and has supported them over the years).

[Macondo]

Re: MHD Belt question

Smart are now drilling out the mounting hole in the engine and fitting a bearing or high tensile steel insert. They realised that the tension in the belt was elongating the hole in the aluminium casting on the engine, this was slightly angling the alternator which caused the wear. Smart techs around the world will be going mad as they have to remove the engine to fit the drilling jig. It's going to take up a lot of their time.

It is a reliable fix?
I have a booking next week with Smart/MB dealer and they are doing exactly that as a precautionary measure. It will be a complementary upgrade as I have an 'approved used' warrantee and will be part of their 'good customer service' policy. They said is a 7 hours job and it would have cost about £500, which they waived They even will give me a replacement car for the day (possibly 2 days)! Kudos to them. But it's going to work? I hope,at least, that it will greatly reduce the possibility of the dreaded 'belt snap'....

[madDan]

Re: MHD Belt question

Really this is now a design flaw so should be a recall

Recalls are for safety issues the car grinding to a halt mincing your engine probably isn't seen by smart as a safety issue - maybe a financial one ;-)

There will be a service order - but knowing smart that will only be applied when owners who know about it ask for it while it is still under warranty.

(smart never acknowledged Roadies grinding to a halt in the middle of traffic as a safety issue due to design/build errors with regards soggy SAMs)

If your MHD is still in warranty I would register your car with your dealer now and ask them when your car will be sorted!

Those out of warranty may need to get further assurances from your dealer.

[Evilution]

Re: MHD Belt question

Kane: Have you contemplated a retro fit kit which would reinstate a standard (operating on flywheel) type starter motor and the belt be used for charging and water pump duties only? Obviously the electronics would have to be attended to, but the reduced load on the belt would permit normal tension levels and remove all the problems.
At a guess, there's a market for such a kit, as once out of warranty having to constantly shell out for smart upgrades that don't work is going to annihilate the value of MHDs older than two years old.
Could such a kit be done at a price that people will accept as good value?

I'm sure something is possible but it's going to be a lot of work and TBH I hate the MHD 451, soulless, gutless and has no useful position in the smart line up. If you want quick, get a turbo, if you want MPG, get a diesel. Why would anyone buy something that did neither and was far less reliable than the other 2?

I don't really want to have to bother my arse with it, they bought the stupid thing, it's their fault. However, if this new fix (3rd from smart) doesn't work then I'll look into it properly.

[Evilution]

Re: MHD Belt question

It is a reliable fix?

You tell us! It's far too early to tell, they only rolled it out 2 week ago. It took months for them to realise the previous 2 fixes were a waste of time.

[Thrumbleux]

Re: MHD Belt question

I'm sure something is possible but it's going to be a lot of work and TBH I hate the MHD 451, soulless, gutless and has no useful position in the smart line up. If you want quick, get a turbo, if you want MPG, get a diesel. Why would anyone buy something that did neither and was far less reliable than the other 2?

The best thing to be said for the MHD is that it focuses the mind as to what's required in a smart.

I don't really want to have to bother my arse with it, they bought the stupid thing, it's their fault. However, if this new fix (3rd from smart) doesn't work then I'll look into it properly.

Watch this space then. (The space where the belt and coolant once was!)

[J500ANT]

Re: MHD Belt question

All that's needed is a sensor for the coolant light that triggers at a slightly lower temp, and it then (combined with an Eco fault light) triggers the engine to shut down immediately - that shouldn't be as hard to sort and would save on engines if not actually sorting the main issue.

And I had a soft spot for my mhd, I got good mpg from it (low 50s) and only got rid due to this belt problem and the warranty ending. I don't think the smart extended warranty or used car warranty would pay out if the belt went either, as it's a wear and tear item.

[smartsparky]

Re: MHD Belt question

This is why the omission of the water temperature gauge was such a bad idea.

Fortunately, my MHD was absolutely fine for the 25,000 miles I put on it. After putting in the old style 451 dash LCD with temperature display it was interesting to see what the water temperature did. After motorway driving and coming to a stop the water temperature display shot up to over 100 degrees really quickly. After starting the engine, it steadily came back down to 85 degrees. Therefore, a temperature detection system would have to be tuned to the upper end of the scale to avoid false alarms.

[Evilution]

Re: MHD Belt question

A proximity sensor facing the belt would make more sense.

[tals]

Re: MHD Belt question

All that's needed is a sensor for the coolant light that triggers at a slightly lower temp, and it then (combined with an Eco fault light) triggers the engine to shut down immediately - that shouldn't be as hard to sort and would save on engines if not actually sorting the main issue.

And I had a soft spot for my mhd, I got good mpg from it (low 50s) and only got rid due to this belt problem and the warranty ending. I don't think the smart extended warranty or used car warranty would pay out if the belt went either, as it's a wear and tear item.

I just bought one of these for my daughter - up until reading the threads on the mhd issue we had been very happy with it

It was a private sale so it's not an option to p/ex up to a different model and the daughter loves this car. I just have to hope I am one of the lucky ones - which I assume are in the majority. I don't think the car has had the belt replaced (its a 2010/37000 miles) and looking at it I did see a very small bit of thread (1mm) hanging off it. Not sure if that is to be expected but either way i'm not driving the car any more till i've got it into a garage to replace the belt - unless anyone advises I am being over cautious.

Looking to the driving of it, i'm thinking the only way she has any chance of catching a potential issue is to get the Ultraguage ODB display with alarms and set the alarm to 110C and hope that gives enough time to pull the car over in the case of a failure. I think also the engine warning comes on as well? Again the ODB should be able to pick this up - I also assume sensors being knocked off show as 0 which it can alarm on. Not great but other than replacing it which I can't see an easy way of doing this is the only way I think I can give any reassurance, I assume the various 'fixes' haven't made any progress.

[Thrumbleux]

The worst is when the belt fails and goes unnoticed. Diligent (as you suggest) monitoring of coolant temp should avoid this.
If Stop/Start can be disabled every trip - do it. The less stress the belt sees, the better.

[BBE]

The official change rate is every 60000 km, so I think that you
are just in time for a replacement.
Bjorn