Oh sh*t

[Graham]

While on the drive home from work today after a realy bad day, just driving along at about 70, a wagon indicated to be in my lane so i flashed and let of the accelerator to let him in. The pressed the accelerator and nothing , the car just ground to a hault and would not turn over, well the bottom end tunned over but the head did nowt . Luckily a mate from work pulled over and towed me home. Got home and it looks like either my bottom pulley has sheared off, or the timing belt has lost its teeth . My dad towed my car to the garage where the belt was done 9k miles ago and i am going tomorrow night to start with the strip down to find out what exactly has gone. The bolt was new, as was the belt, tensioner and water pump, and torqued down properly . So i will let you know what is wrong.
Graham

[Greg_S]

******, not what anyone would want to happen. Hopefully the damage isnt too great.

Greg

[APNess]

Fingers crossed for you. No consolation I know, but I drove 200+ miles with the timing miles out and the woodruff key sheared off the pulley, so the engines are tough, that's for sure.

Like I say, fingers crossed...

[Martynf]

I wonder if its the cam pulley Graham? I've heard of MANY of them breaking loose lately....

Either way, I have my fingers crossed for you!
Martyn

[Ski]

ohh buggar... that is really bad news.. hope u manage to sort it without greate cost.

let us know what it was so we can try and avoid this sort of problem.

[dan_b]

Sounds like the cam pulley to me too - there was another thread about this in here a few weeks back.

Fingers crossed for you mate, hope there's no damage

[Graham]

Right, i havnt got a clue how its happened, but tonight i stripped the front end off, and the crank pulley bolt has come loose , i torqued it to about 320 lb/ft when the belt was last done 10,000 odd miles ago. The key has sheared off and the end of the crank has a little feathering of the edge of the keyway but doesnt look too bad. I will take the camera tomorrow and take some pics. Right so for my initial SOS, i will see Martyn for a cam belt and crank bolt. I need another pulley (with key). I need to know tonight if possible if our engines are an interferance engine, and if there is a high probability of bent valves, if so, how much are valves, guides, seals, head bolts, head gasket kit, and while the head is off i will have a go at replacing the manifold studs for any future "enhancements". I Cannot afford any upgrades as of yet, (cant even afford this yet ). Is there anything else i have missed.
Graham

[Doug_RS2]

This sounds really bad - It is an interference engine - my mate in a NA 20V had the belt come off - I'm sure it was only his exhaust valves that were bent.

You need to get the head off before you decide on what you are doing.

You might as well at least put the metal head gasket on but there is a lot of other parts you need.

Speak to SteveH about getting ARP headstuds - then you won't need to replace the bolts if it has to come off again - £110 though proabbly worth it.

THe head has to have a very smooth skim so the metal head gasket seals properly - it also has to be free from oil - so don't fit the cams till after the head is on.

You have a PM

[dan_b]

Really sorry to hear about this mate, best of luck, hope internals are still ok.
This seems to have afflicted more than a few people - is there anything clever we can do to prevent this happening to others?

We feel your pain

[Beetie]

Sorry to hear of your troubles mate.... The engines are interference as when i brought my 'new' engine, i found the belt had skipped (possibly during the accident which wrote of the car) and bent some valves. Not sure if they were exhaust or inlet, but i am going to the garage today so will have a look and post later.

[Graham]

Right here is the pictures of the car in bits, the crank has got a bit of feathering on the left hand side of the keyway, this should dress up and has widened the keyway by 0.09mm, the pulley has no key left. Personally i am gobsmacked at such a poor design, no taper to grip on, no splines, a cast key, not a forged key. All bad engineering practices. But my ranting isnt going to help, does anyone have a Crank pulley spare

[Graham]

And here she is in a poor state

[Graham]

Right i no longer need a pulley, i have ordered a new one from Vagparts, and belt and bolt. Going to rebuild the timing and try her out by hand, see if i have any luck.
Graham

[dan_b]

Good luck mate...
Although, of course, while you've got the engine all in bits, have you thought of upgrades...

[Doug_RS2]

Right i no longer need a pulley, i have ordered a new one from Vagparts, and belt and bolt. Going to rebuild the timing and try her out by hand, see if i have any luck.
Graham

I have a used bolt(did you loose your one?), if you can get a crank pulley from the breakers you could try this sooner than having to wait for parts??

Did you use loctite on the bolt when it was torqued up? This is scarey because I reckon I could have got my crank bolt off with a short ratchet when I took mine off the first time!