Zeus timing gear and oil

[josh aka sean]

Does any one know if you need to check oil for the zeus timing gear on a 300 tdi. I know the wadding plug is left in just not sure how its all lubricated.
Thanks
Josh

[nice1guv]

Sorry, no idea about the oil! :p

....but this site makes for interesting reading regarding the Zues timing gears:

YiCaN supply Zeus Timing Gears-eliminates timing belt problems in Land Rover Discovery and Defender. Website:www.yican.com.au (http://www.yican.com.au/)

even has a review after 50,000km. :)

[Disco44]

Sorry, no idea about the oil! :p

....but this site makes for interesting reading regarding the Zues timing gears:

YiCaN supply Zeus Timing Gears-eliminates timing belt problems in Land Rover Discovery and Defender. Website:www.yican.com.au (http://www.yican.com.au/)

even has a review after 50,000km. :)

I,ve heard that they are noisy.Can anyone verify that?

John.

[Tombie]

Theres also multitudes of people who had them fail...

Google will give you a balanced perspective I think.

There was a Defender ages ago in 4wd Monthly with all the alloy work, a trailer and boat etc... Running a 2.8L conversion.
Partly because his Zeus gears failed and lunched his motor.

[josh aka sean]

Yes they are slightly noiser
Mine were installed before i purchased the vehicle. I've now done 40000km on them and had no issues but just figured i should check on maintance for them

[loanrangie]

I,ve heard that they are noisy.Can anyone verify that?

John.

Deano, (953) has a set in his disco, gives the 300TDI an isuzu type rattle, very noticeable especially after a late night on the whiskey and having it start close to your tent only hours after going to bed :eek:.

[scott oz]

(Zuice gears) I had them fitted to my 200 TDI the rattle was more noticable. They certaily were more tractable to drive.

I had mine fitted by a LR expert and he found some of the tensioner springs were assembled wrongly. I sold the car afterd doing 100,000 K's with them and no problens.

I know of two vehicles who had them fail. The damage when they failed was worse than when a belt failed.

There were some comments on the gear/material quality. Don't know by believe the quatlity was fixed.

[d2dave]

Does any one know if you need to check oil for the zeus timing gear on a 300 tdi. I know the wadding plug is left in just not sure how its all lubricated.
Thanks
Josh

Josh,
Don't hold me to this but I am pretty sure they are lubed by a nozzle, pressure fed from the oil pump. Same princible that a lot of cars use to lube gears or chains.

Dave.

[thrower78]

I'm not sure "google" give you a balanced picture at all. The trouble with most forums and internet postings is you usually only hear about the ones that fail and people commenting on a mate of a mate's experince. If we belived google every 3L patrol would blow up the minute you turned the key, yet I have multiple mates who have put hunderends of thousands of km's on them with no problems. I tend to take most of it with a grain of salt always remembering that there will be plenty of people out there who it all works very well for, they just don't post about it.
I post this becuase I have been considering this conversion for my defender and that is my opinion of what I have read so far, if you look hard enough there are a lot of good stories to it seems.

[Sitec]

Agreed with the 3lt Nissan motor, have a neighbour who bought a 3 litre GU from new, tows a huge trailer, has always driven it like he stole it, and has clocked up over 150000km and still loves it. Re Zeus, the timing bely on a Tdi does a huge amount to soften the noise. A friend had a set fitted in his 110 and it made the engine sound so 'metallic' and noisy that he refitted the belt! Belts rarely break if changed regularly and fitted properly.... :)

[Blknight.aus]

the zues gears work well enough, are a bit noisey (noticably so in the disco not so much the deefer) and are lubed by the main lube oil via an oil jet.

I havent personally seen a failed set and quitely suspect that its much like everything else on the interporn, if its working people dont praise it nearly as much as the people who've had them fail or have personal experience of a failed set (friend/relative neighbor).

It falls into my catagory of

"I wouldnt go out of my way to install a set but then I wouldn't remove them if I got a vehicle with a set fitted"

[rick130]

I'm not sure "google" give you a balanced picture at all. The trouble with most forums and internet postings is you usually only hear about the ones that fail and people commenting on a mate of a mate's experince. If we belived google every 3L patrol would blow up the minute you turned the key, yet I have multiple mates who have put hunderends of thousands of km's on them with no problems. I tend to take most of it with a grain of salt always remembering that there will be plenty of people out there who it all works very well for, they just don't post about it.
I post this becuase I have been considering this conversion for my defender and that is my opinion of what I have read so far, if you look hard enough there are a lot of good stories to it seems.


Why go with the weight and cost of a timing gear set when the timing belt is perfectly serviceable ?

The bad old says of belts lunching themselves is mostly gone, and of those that do we could use your existing criteria ;) (usually incorrect tension)

If you were going to put the sort of money a Zeus kit costs, I'd rather go with a VNT, pump adjustment and bigger I/C.

Or drop in a TD5 or 4BD1T.

[uninformed]

bringing an old thread from the dead :D, re a mate of a mate of a mate, well I was very interested in these years ago for my Tdi. I spoke to a "mate" who had installed some and new of a failure (not sure if it was a set he installed or not) This guy new his stuff and a very good mechanic. He commented on how good the castings were, how well made the gears were (he is very familar with gear design, designing and building many himself) But he stated the problem, and a big one, in his mind was the helic angle. A hell of a lot which put a lot of thrust loading on a one end supported gear....

I personally would not fit them. I also believe that Turners go into a big stoush with Zeus re problems???? Turners have a pretty good reputation over many a years.