My timing belt went!! What should I do??

[Dee]

Timing belt has just gone on my 86 golf gti cabriolet... is this going to cost a lot to fix? I'm thinking surely no more than £300. How ikely is it that I've killed the engine?

Don't know what to do with this car now...

Dee

[raferackstraw]

i'm sure its a non interference engine so you should be able to replace belt and time up engine again
use the search function and lots of info will come up

[Horney]

Did it make a horribly clattering noise or just stop? If you're lucky a new belt and tensioner and it could be fine but you may need an engine rebuild if valves and piston have collided. If engine rebuild is on the cards it's cheaper and easier to buy and installed a good used working engine.

Nick

[Dee]

Many thanks. It didn't make a great deal of noise... a clunk and then loss of power.
So it's worth getting it done just to see then really... just don't want to throw money at it if it's highly probable the engine's sh@gged.

I would imagine replacing the engine would be expensive??

D.

[Horney]

Easiest thing to do is whack on a new belt and tensioner making sure it's timed up properly and then fire it up and see what happens. If it runs fine and a compression test shows nothing dodgy then you're laughing. A garage will probably charge £150 - £200 to do that but it's not that hard and you should be able to do it yourself if your handy with a spanner.

A good used engine would probably set you back £100, fitting it will cost a bit at a garage as it would probably take at least a day. Do it yourself and it'll cost your time and the consumables like oil and coolant.

nick

[Wayne]

^^As above try it and see you may be lucky.

[DarnPB]

You should be lucky, but before you send money on replacement belts etc, remove the spark plugs and shine a torch down into the cylinders onto the top of the pistons. If the pistons and valves have had a coming together, the evidence will be there, make no mistake!