Buying a car with a snapped timing belt - fool's errand?

[drum]

I've been offered an S80 D5 for much cheapness because the timing belt snapped. It's pretty much immaculate otherwise.

 

I believe it's an interference engine so what's the chances of putting a new belt on and it being ok?

 

...and if not, can I just whip the head off and put new valves in? This was doable with old motorbikes but I'm no professional spanner monkey so work on the assumption I haven't got a clue.

 

Seems a shame for it to get scrapped.

[brickwall]

Is there no way to fit and  test before purchase or is the geezer trying to get shot of it fast?

 

Is it cheap as weigh in price?

[saucedoctor]

I believe it's an interference engine so what's the chances of putting a new belt on and it being ok?

 

I believe the common consensus is 10/1 against you.

 

I know what you mean, though. I saw a mintola Espace at a scrappers for the same reason.

[drum]

Not weigh in money - £350. Not a scratch on it though and with leather etc on a 52 plate. Similar ones on autotrader seem to start at a grand.

[the judge]

Valves will be bent, and poss cam caps shattered. Still worth that. if you can fix motorbike valves, this would be much easier. Price up a used head with cam etc first

[Richard]

Diesel engines are very much interference. The PSA HDi engine has rockers that break and preserve the internals, I don't know if the Volvo engine has a similar arrangement. It's still about £200 for a set of new rockers though.

 

In theory you could just replace the valves or head but there is no guarantee the bottom end has survived unscathed. You might have holed pistons or bent conrods to deal with.

[drum]

To demonstrate its lack of brokenness and compression he wound the engine on the starter. I thought this was a bad idea what with no belt fitted but he thought otherwise. Certainly no bag of spanners were heard.

[Junkman]

That he turned the engine on the starter has certainly increased the damage. Consider it totally borked now.

How much is a good second hand engine?

[scruff]

Yea I would price up a whole new lump, put a belt and water pump on it and off you go

[Ratdat]

I doubt turning it over now would do any more damage as there is no cam rotation. Whatever valves were bent when it broke will still be bent. Remember at say, 3000rpm the crank is turning 50 times second. It's only make it worse in theory if there was a foreign object such as a valve head loose in a cylinder but if that was the case it'd be totally borked anyway.

[cort16]

I've seen a few cars with snapped belts fixed by replacing a few bent valves. You're not going to know until you pull the head off. Worst case is it's bent a conrod or hole a piston.

Buy it expecting the worst (you might have to weight it in) and go from there

[the judge]

What radat says, so hopefully no valve heads in the cylinder, otherwise it would lock up

[brickwall]

^ this. The problem is until you can take a peek you will never know. At 350 Doubloons I would forget it as the guy could pop a belt on and flog it for a grand as you say.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Can you find a D5 engined car that has been written off due to having its arse smashed in? May get a cheap complete engine to swap.

[Stixy]

If you really want it  Haggle harder and take a risk 

 

  being realistic its a 12 year old car and  the repair cost at a garage would outweigh its value   so its only worth scrap money 

[alf892]

I bought a Vectra for £80 with a snapped belt figuring on a few bent valves.........turned out every one had bent as the failure was the idler pulley which helpfully meant the cam kept turning a bit. But 16 new valves was only just on £100. On some engines it will all crack the valve guides.....again not expensive but it does all add up. It helps minimise damage if the valves are at an angle though as they bend nicely rather than whacking the top of a piston and pinching a ring...or worse.

[Pillock]

But in a petrol interference engine, there's a bit of room in the combustion chamber so a chunk of valve could survive without holing the piston? Not ideal, sure.... But not catastrophic.

 

My understanding of diesels is the gap between piston at TDC and valves is absolutely tiny. So the luckiest outcome is all the rockers will break, or valve stems will break nice and high up so nothing ends up flailing around in the chamber.

[Junkman]

I've seen broken off valve heads stuck in holed pistons too often in order to even bother.

There are nice cars out there for 350 that run like a clockwork.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

To demonstrate its lack of brokenness and compression he wound the engine on the starter. I thought this was a bad idea what with no belt fitted but he thought otherwise. Certainly no bag of spanners were heard.

McLOL, what was he trying to prove with that??

[twosmoke300]

Parts could be bloody expensive for that . I bet even a head gasket is pricey.

Broken cambelt cars are good earners but I usually only pick simple cheap petrols. A diesel could even have damaged an injector tip with all the cost and coding bollocks that goes with it .

[drum]

Sounds like putting a new head on might not even fix it. Best I walk away.

 

My old man has a V70 estate with the same engine and it's a topper but I can't see any engines available near here for sensible money.