1996 Renault Clio 1.8 diesel engine - cambelt safe engine?

[mikdys]

Does anyone know if the valves hit on this engine if the cambelt lets go? I have an MOT due and I can't afford a new cambelt at the moment - I'm obviously going to ask the tester to skip the smoke test if he will but what if he doesn't and the belt lets go? Will it just mean a new belt or new valves & cylinder head as well?

If the engine's "safe" I'll take a chance on it. If not then "smoke test = abort MOT!"

[focusboy]

Its not a safe engine, if belt lets go then the pistons will be saying hello to your valves.

HTH Garry

[Pumaracing]

What a curious question. It's a diesel. How do you envisage it might even be physically possible to design an engine with a compression ratio as high as 20:1 or so where the valves didn't hit the pistons if the cambelt let go? To get a combustion chamber that small they're near as dammit touching the pistons even when the cambelt isn't broken.

[Pupp]

Don't in way take this as advice or any sort of guarantee but I've just done the first cambelt change on my hack 2003 2.2 'gooner... only 35k miles and 2 years late

Was quite perturbed to find no discernible wear in the tensioner bearings, no obvious dilapidation of the tensioner running surfaces, and the belt was completely intact and free from visible damage too. I had convinced myself it must have been hanging by a thread by now.


Of course, yours may well be

[mikdys]

Thanks for the replies