Cambelt gone, engine write off?

[RB Will]

the daily snotter has (we think) thrown its cambelt. Its under a plastic cover that requires taking the front of the bloody car off to see.
Anyway. Is it a guaranteed thing that if the belt has snapped or come off then the engine is toast?
I had always been told that pistons and valves will meet and its game over but a friend insists that its not always the case and he has seen BMWs just throw a new belt and tensioners on and be fine.

The car in question is a 2004 Audi Allroad with the 2.5TDI (BAU) engine.
If the engine has gone then its going to be a breaker job but if it can be fixed with a belt service then I will keep it going.
I know to get a proper answer it needs the head stripping down and inspecting but since I'm going to be taking the front off to break it anyway is it worth chucking a £15 belt on there and seeing if it runs?

[RB Will]

Thanks for the info chaps, to answer a few questions...

kambites said:

What did it feel/sound like when it went?

davamer23 said:

What speed was the car doing when it went?

I had just turned onto a residential road and went over a large pillow speedbump and as I came off the bump the car wouldn't accelerate. No noise or drama and I would have been doing 20-25mph. Its an auto but I thought it had dropped out of gear for a sec then realised there were no revs so banged it in neutral and coasted 50 yards to a side street and parked it up. I was less than 1 mile into my journey.
If you turn it over on the starter motor now it sounds a bit clattery but cant decide if its the engine making the noise or if its a slipped belt walloping the plastic casing.

The other thing is the AA then flat towed me about 8 miles to a garage. The garage owner said that could have been a bad move too as a lot of auto gearboxes dont fully decouple when in neutral and with the engine off will not be getting supplied with oil? so he thinks the gearbox may be shagged too?

So as far as I can see I'm left with 5 options

1) ebay and hope to get lucky.
2) I have already had 2 offers from Audi breakers for £5-600, should I bite their hand off and get shot of it.
3) do the breaking job myself. Bodyshell is worth about £100 as scrap so only need to make £4-500 to be as well off as selling to breaker. I have room to store bits, am not desperate for the money and quite enjoy tinkering and could use it as a learning experience.
4) if replacement parts could be had for <£1k then use it as a good excuse to (with help of mechanic friend) teach me how to rebuild an engine.
5)put a used engine in there. Price of these varies from about £900 for the engine alone to £2500 fitted.

options 4 and 5 may prove fruitless if the gearbox is shagged.

[RB Will]

Thanks for more food for thought people

Jimboka said:

1k to fix? About the same as missing 2 belt changes @ 4 years. So if the changes were skipped you're no worse off financially !

If only! I have only had the thing a few months, it has service history and was 20K away from needing a belt change

22Rgt said:

Being a V6 its two heads to remove and its going to be 4-8 valves bent. Not the end of the world, once the heads are off its not too expensive to just have the valves replaced and lapped in at an engine reconditioners or if youre confident enough do it youself around £8 a valve. D.i.y the whole job and its easily done for less than £300.
The only problem you may have is damage to the gearbox but probably unlikely given the shortish distance towed.
An Allroad will still fetch decent money even on an 04 plate and has got to be worth doing even if it means a second hand engine..

When you say you think all in for £300 does this include buying new valves, head gaskets, fluids etc?

So those in the know what would the plan of action be if I were to DIY?

Take front of car off to see what exactly has happened with the belt, maybe find an issue like a failed tensioner or seized water pump or a snapped belt.

Next, remove both heads and see how many bent valves I have and then inspect the pistons to see if they are damaged. (would they be OK with a little scoring or is any visible damage a write off?)

If pistons are buggered consider it a lost cause?

If pistons OK then get new valves and take valves and heads to local engineering place. get heads skimmed? and/or valves lapped in.

rebuild with new gaskets and full service, cam belt, tensioners, water pump.

Reckon if this could weigh in at less than £1k and I would very much consider doing it.
I dont really want to be spending double that on having another engine put in as the car is only really worth £3kor less by the time I sold it.
As said I have time and space to do it and we have other cars I can use in the mean time (I just didnt want the muddy dog in them lol).