Broke Timing Belt

[Supercharged98]

Not me, a lady from work let her uncle borrow her 2001 NB 2.0 auto, and the timing belt broke on him. Has anyone had this happen? I'm trying to find out how much it cost to repair. I told her I would help her out and repair it. I just don't know how much to charge her.
It broke at highway speed, and most likely bent valves. The car has 78k on the motor, so the bottom end should be still good as long as the valves didn't bust a hole in a piston.
Any clues anyone? I know Al and Chuckie went through this, but they have different engines than this one.

[D2Beetle]

This Thread Post might be helpful.

[Supercharged98]

Thanks. My iPhone doesn't let the org's search engine work.

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

Shame on her! Another lesson in not letting this service go.

Aside from all the parts involved with doing the TB & WP Service (TB, WP, Serpentine Belt, both tensioners, bolts, etc), I don't see any way you could even begin to quote a cost until you get the engine opened up. So many variables.

M.

[Zann]

Potentially cheaper to replace the engine considering the speed at which it happened.

There's already one Beetle on the forums right now for sale with a blown engine thanks to timing belt and highway speeds.

[Supercharged98]

Originally Posted by MyOtherRidesAVette

Shame on her! Another lesson in not letting this service go.

Aside from all the parts involved with doing the TB & WP Service (TB, WP, Serpentine Belt, both tensioners, bolts, etc), I don't see any way you could even begin to quote a cost until you get the engine opened up. So many variables.

M.

Ignorance is no excuse for her. She didn't relize how long her uncle actually had the car and how many miles was put on it by him. He had it for almost a half a year.
I was trying to get her the estimated guesses on the best and worst case scenarios.

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by Supercharged98

Ignorance is no excuse for her. She didn't relize how long her uncle actually had the car and how many miles was put on it by him. He had it for almost a half a year.
I was trying to get her the estimated guesses on the best and worst case scenarios.

My .02 ...

AEG Cylinder Head Rebuild Project -- A DIY Ball Park Rebuild Cost

PARTS LIST
Cylinder Head............................$ 90.00 (Purchased a used one and had it rebuilt)
Cylinder Head Complete Rebuild...........$ 470.77 (Includes TN Tax & Labor -- Performed by Local Machine Shop)
Water Pump and Timing Belt Kit...........$ 171.62
Thermostat...............................$ 32.99
G12 Coolant..............................$ 26.16
Parts List Sub-Total.....................$ 791.54

TOOLS LIST
Cylinder Head Bolt Kit...............$ 33.75
Head Gasket Aligner..................$ 35.51
Aligner Complement...................$ 10.67
Poly Drive Bit Socket................$ 23.57
Connect Rod Support..................$ 42.84
Timing Belt Tensioner................$ 16.20
T-HDI Hex Key........................$ 21.94
Universal Joints (x2)................$ 9.97
12 Inch Extensions (x2)..............$ 11.06
Compression Tester...................$ 32.91
Tool List Sub-Total..................$ 238.42

Final Grand Total....................$ 1,029.96 (Ball Park Estimate)

All Parts Purchased On-Line and no tax was applied unless otherwise stated. Shipping rates apply for your location.

[scarabY2k]

My experience.

Jumped timing.... how??? I haven't a clue. TB was done; 2nd one @ 141,000 mi. All was good and in time as inspected by WagenWerks, a very reputable VW shop here in Jax.

Anyhoo, Cup suffered numerous bent valves, gouged head as well gouges in piston #1. Thankfully no cylinder wall damage, considering one of the valves broke in cylinder #1.

Solution:
* new-to-me head
* all new valves
* new-to-me piston from donor engine inventory
* new timing belt
* necessary gaskets.
* labor
Total= 2831.00

Price would've been more, but they discounted me the piston- guess they liked me or maybe me frequenting their business.

Here's some pricing for new engines, still the rebuild would be cheaper. Click here for new VW engines.

Anyhow I hope this gives you a rough base to work with. Still, it's cheaper than getting another engine. At least this way they'll know what their dealing with in a rebuild.

[Supercharged98]

Got the car to my house. Opened the hood and behold, a 1.8 turbo, not a 2.0L. I guess they didn't know what engine they have. Did a little investigation and found, all the pressure plate bolts missing. Timing belt still on. Spun the crank from spinning the flywheel. Marked the timing belt and it doesn't spin with the turning the crankshaft. So I'm assuming either a clutch bolt fell out and jammed the flywheel or the belt chewed off some cogs and locked up the engine and sheared the pressure plate bolts. I guess I'll have to pull the head next and see how much damage has happened on the inside. Wish it was a 2.0, a lot less crap to work around.

[geniushanbiao]

I don't think clutch bolt fell out is possible because this only causes the engine to seize it can't damage the TB. The TB can be damaged by only these reasons: belt aged, water pump seize, TB tensioner fail, foreign object entering the TB cover, and camshaft seized. You can check the clutch bolts by opening the access cover and then I believe you can see if there is anything fallen using a flashlight by looking into the clutch housing. I think you can do this first and make sure the clutch is good(I'm guessing that the clutch is 99% good). Then you can take the TB, tensioner and water pump off to see what caused the problem. I can't guess because there are too many possibilities. Take a look at: is the timing belt missing any tooth? is the tensioner bearing good? is the water pump rotating freely? are the sprockets(CAM and CRANK) good? and then post your results and we can discuss more. I suggest you find out what's happening before you open the head or you might be wasting your time.

Originally Posted by Supercharged98

Got the car to my house. Opened the hood and behold, a 1.8 turbo, not a 2.0L. I guess they didn't know what engine they have. Did a little investigation and found, all the pressure plate bolts missing. Timing belt still on. Spun the crank from spinning the flywheel. Marked the timing belt and it doesn't spin with the turning the crankshaft. So I'm assuming either a clutch bolt fell out and jammed the flywheel or the belt chewed off some cogs and locked up the engine and sheared the pressure plate bolts. I guess I'll have to pull the head next and see how much damage has happened on the inside. Wish it was a 2.0, a lot less crap to work around.

[VDubYah]

Since the timing belt is broken you won't see it turn with the crank.I am confused as to you saying the pressure plate bolts are sheared. Is the transmission out of the car? since the pressure plate bolts are inside the bell housing. Do you mean bell housing to engine bolts? What ever is wrong you are corect the head has to come off to see the total damage done.

Head damage to the 1.8 is expensive as it has 20 valves in the head 5 per cylinder.

[geniushanbiao]

But I suggest to do some investigations before pulling the head. If the camshaft is seized it's probably a better idea to replace the engine... it might be the camshaft bearing out of lubrication ...

Originally Posted by VDubYah

Since the timing belt is broken you won't see it turn with the crank.I am confused as to you saying the pressure plate bolts are sheared. Is the transmission out of the car? since the pressure plate bolts are inside the bell housing. Do you mean bell housing to engine bolts? What ever is wrong you are corect the head has to come off to see the total damage done.

Head damage to the 1.8 is expensive as it has 20 valves in the head 5 per cylinder.

[D2Beetle]

Perhaps you might want to look at these numbers ...

[geniushanbiao]

Yes this is what I mean. If the camshaft is still good it might be worth repairing but if not it's better to replace the engine...

Originally Posted by D2Beetle

Perhaps you might want to look at these numbers ...

[Supercharged98]

Originally Posted by VDubYah

Since the timing belt is broken you won't see it turn with the crank.I am confused as to you saying the pressure plate bolts are sheared. Is the transmission out of the car? since the pressure plate bolts are inside the bell housing. Do you mean bell housing to engine bolts? What ever is wrong you are corect the head has to come off to see the total damage done.

Head damage to the 1.8 is expensive as it has 20 valves in the head 5 per cylinder.

The timing belt isn't broken. Just missing a few cogs off of it. The pressure plate isn't bolted down to the flywheel. I removed the starter and the pressure plate moves freely from the flywheel.

[simonsi]

Originally Posted by Supercharged98

The timing belt isn't broken. Just missing a few cogs off of it. The pressure plate isn't bolted down to the flywheel. I removed the starter and the pressure plate moves freely from the flywheel.

Even if just a few cogs it is likely the engine lost time and has collided pistons and valves. Compression test will confirm easily.

Puzzled how the pressure plate would become detached, don't buy the bolts sheared theory - but don't have a better one either - never heard of that before and I can't see it being caused by the engine locking up - once the valves are bent there is very little resistance to spinning the crank. Even if a valve head broke off on revolution 1, if it angled and locked up on revolution two I would think it would be driven into the alu head before shearing the clutch plate bolts

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by simonsi

Even if just a few cogs it is likely the engine lost time and has collided pistons and valves. Compression test will confirm easily.

Puzzled how the pressure plate would become detached, don't buy the bolts sheared theory - but don't have a better one either - never heard of that before and I can't see it being caused by the engine locking up - once the valves are bent there is very little resistance to spinning the crank. Even if a valve head broke off on revolution 1, if it angled and locked up on revolution two I would think it would be driven into the alu head before shearing the clutch plate bolts

I am curious, at no time in this thread is it mentioned why they choose to remove the transmission and check the clutch/flywheel. There is so much more to this event than we know.

[simonsi]

Originally Posted by D2Beetle

I am curious, at no time in this thread is it mentioned why they choose to remove the transmission and check the clutch/flywheel. There is so much more to this event than we know.

He said he removed the starter and states he can feel the pressure plate is loose.

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by simonsi

He said he removed the starter and states he can feel the pressure plate is loose.

OK, must have read over that one.