Hello all.
I'm new to this forum, pretty new to diesels, but not new to VWs.
My timing belt snapped. Here's the story and some photos:
I've been living in Japan for over 4 months now.
Before I left, however, some buddies and I had a 1.6D swapped into a formerly gas Rabbit and had it towed to my BMW-loving buddy's place in southern Michigan.
He and another BMW guy said they'd work on it while I was in Japan if I gave them cash and free will to sell my spare parts for cash.
WELL, to make a long story short, they got it running...poorly.
It would run (terribly) with the advance cable engaged, then fall on its face when the advance cable was disengaged.
They don't know much at all about diesels and tinkered with it.
Eventually, they decided to take it onto the road.
A few hundred feet later, supposedly while the engine was choking to death again, the timing belt snapped.
SO, my minty, <8k-mile VW Certified rebuilt 1.6D engine is likely damaged.
Do you think there's a chance nothing happened to the valves?
My friend said the belt snapped when the engine had nearly stopped... For this reason, he thinks there's probably nothing wrong with it...
And, because I timed it, he sent the blame my way.
About that... When I bought the engine from a VW mechanic's barn, he said it had been sitting for a few years, but ran like a top with good compression before they pulled it out of a dasher that was rotting to death.
Taking this as truth, I replaced the timing belt, carefully marking the belt and sprockets so that nothing would change position during the new belt installation.
I tensioned it to the extremely accurate specs I have read about twisting the belt to "about a 45* angle" between the cam gear and pump gear.
So, what do you guys think?
Is the engine doomed?
Pics!
:beer:
-Chad in Japan