Your Cam Belt Is Broke

[normski]

Hi, I broke down one day and waited for breakdown assistance. On their arrival the mechanic looked to see if i was getting fuel to the engine. He did at first but kept turning the engine over and it wouldnt start. He then took me to the recovery garage for another fitter to look at it as he didnt fancy driving me back home which was 150 miles, as the recovery truck was limited to 56mph. Anyway at the garage the fitter tried in vain to get fuel through the filter and hoses but no joy. He then thought the relays could be faulty. Still no joy, so he took off the fuel pipes to the injectors and turned the engine. No joy there.Then after what seemed like 2-3 hours later he decided to look under the cam belt cover. Then he said your cam belt has snapped. I was gutted. But i was more angry as they didnt spot the fault straight away.When i was driving, the engine just cut out and all i heard was a kind of "swishing" noise which i now know was the belt hitting the inside of the cam cover.Broke down at 3.00pm and arrived home at 10.30 pm. I have been told it would cost an arm and a leg to get repaired, between Edited September 19, 2009 by normski

[big_kev]

Can anybody tell me if it would be worth fixing

 

Probably not as it is likely to have caused valve, cylinder head and possible piston damage.

If you are capable of repairing it yourself then it may be worthwhile.

 

I believe yours is a 98 and you may be better of breaking it and putting the money towards a newer one.

[jkspoff]

There are some very cheap mk2 Galaxies on ebay at the moment, if you are prepared spend a few grand, they are decent spec too, just make sure all the usual things work first before bidding and buy a warranty for a few hundred quid !

[gregers]

gutted for you m8.as others have said but maybe you have a few friends who can help you and maybe you could source another engine and do the work yourself???

[Scorpiorefugee]

I don't want to give you false hope but I do have exprience of cam drive failures on just 2 cars and on both occasions by some fluke the cam shaft stopped in a safe position. To be fair both of these were some years ago but since you don't seem to have had the big bang and engine siezure it might be worth just checking. I've no experience of DIY cam belt replacement on these so I can't offer any more advice.

 

Like I said, you might have been lucky, so it is perhaps worth checking.

Edited September 19, 2009 by Scorpiorefugee

[karaokecab]

hi there, i'm a new member but know a little bit about galaxy tdi's. with the cam belt snapping it will have caused damage on a rotation of the camshaft there is always a couple of valves open different ones at different points and with the camshaft not turning and the crankshaft (with pistons attached) turning the pistons have hit the open valves and will have bent them or snapped them off which with the latter will have damaged that particular piston at the very least it'll need the cylinder head removing before anything else to assess damage hope this helps

[normski]

Hi, just to update you all on my ford galaxy cam belt. Since the last time l posted about the cost, etc, l rang a local garage mechanic, explained the cambelt had snapped. He said he couldnt estimate the cost of repair until the cylinder head has been removed. He also said its more likely to be major damage. When he asked what make of engine it was, i told him its a vw1.9tdi, and his reply was thankgod its not the ford type, that makes a big difference to the job and cost. He said it would cost me between

[Jayton]

Hope you get it repaired soon fella.

 

 

RE Polo's, is it the 6n2 1.4TDI? A friend has one and it's only got 3 cylinders! :( That's like having a 3 legged horse!

[zorgman]

valves approx

[Jayton]

So letting the cam belt go is cheaper than getting it renewed :lol:

 

A garage that advertises on the radio claim to be cheap...

[mark.aa]

you may be lucky,

had a vw t4 that stripped a timing belt and it was the same 1.9 engine as a galaxy.

all it did was burst the hydrolic camshaft follower.

it acted as a damper as the valve hit the piston .

just changed 2 lifters.

the valves go straight down to the pistons so do not bent like other enginges (but still not fully safe)

 

also did the same when i changed the timing belt on my 98 tdi galaxy ghia x at 206k it now on 218k

i cranked the engine over while the crank drive pulley was off to centre the timing belt prior to final belt tensioning and the engine started and threw the belt.(it stopped dead)

that did 1 lifter at idle ,

when i put the belt back on and run it,

it ran on 3 cylinders and you could feel and hear the compresion blowing back into the air filter box ,

1 inlet follower smashed open,

i took the cam carrier bearings off and just lifted the cam up as it was cylinder 4 and fitted a new lifter from a breakers yard from seat inca diesel van .

 

ask your garage to take off the cam cover and take out the camshaft and check the cam followers before they take the head off.

Edited April 4, 2010 by mark.aa

[zorgman]

So letting the cam belt go is cheaper than getting it renewed :lol:

 

A garage that advertises on the radio claim to be cheap...