Cambelt gone, engine write off?
Discussion
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?
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 said:
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
That is the difference between interference and non-interference engines; a very quick Google suggests it is an interference engine, if so it's highly likely to be game over. 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
Depends if it's an interference or non-interference engine. A quick search on the net pulled up this http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2-5-v6-tdi-ca... which suggests it is an interference engine, and will probably therefore be heavily damaged.
the problem with just throwing on a belt to see if it runs is, it might run but then it could snapp a valve stem at any time. then it'll totally ruin the engine.
if it was me I would have the head off , check the valves, replace the ones that are bent , the problem with this is, it is time consuming there fore lots of money in labour if you dont have the skills to do it yourself.
but you could just throw a belt on it , then sell it. (not morally right)
bullit
if it was me I would have the head off , check the valves, replace the ones that are bent , the problem with this is, it is time consuming there fore lots of money in labour if you dont have the skills to do it yourself.
but you could just throw a belt on it , then sell it. (not morally right)
bullit
Thanks for the info chaps, to answer a few questions...
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.
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.
CrutyRammers said:
For 25-30 quid, you can get a compression tester. That'll tell you if the engine's toast in a half-hour without taking much apart. Not done a diesel but with a petrol you just screw it into a spark plug hole so I guess it will be similar.
How does one compression test an engine with a snapped cambelt ?Its buggered OP, if you have no particular attachment to it move onto something new.
RB Will said:
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?
8 miles at low speeds should be ok. I'm surprised they did it without making you sign a disclaimer though.Jimmyarm said:
CrutyRammers said:
For 25-30 quid, you can get a compression tester. That'll tell you if the engine's toast in a half-hour without taking much apart. Not done a diesel but with a petrol you just screw it into a spark plug hole so I guess it will be similar.
How does one compression test an engine with a snapped cambelt ?Its buggered OP, if you have no particular attachment to it move onto something new.
OP - I'd be having a word with the AA about the tow - fairly sure standard practice isn't to do that for an auto but no idea what the correct process is for something auto and AWD. Also let us know what the garage says re the cambelt.
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