Aux Belt Shredded, Cambelt snapped.....Help :(

[sparkey79]

First post from a long time lurker.
Firstly i would like to say i have hardly any knowledge of mechanical stuff being a young lady i just drive my car and look pretty
I am anxiously awaiting a call back from the garage and have been searching threads here for similar problems.
Clio 172 02 plate, 71000 miles
Had cambelt and aux belt changed according to service history at 57000.

On friday morning i took my boys to school and my car started to make a strange noise like rain tapping on a window, I pulled over straight away and switched the engine off.
Upon restarting the engine the car was jerky and sounded like a tractor and there was a tapping sound coming form the engine.If i put my foot down to 2000 revs it sounded horrific(like a really loud grinding sound)
I drove the car home around 1/2 a mile in distance with really low revs and called my dad who advised to ring green flag and get them to come and have a look.

The recovery guy starts the car up and revved it hard the engine management light flashed and he said it was probably the coilpack.
He then put it on the recovery truck and took it my local renault specialist.
Upon arrival at the garage the recovery man goes to get the car of the truck and it wont start.

Garage called me later in the afternoon to say the the aux belt had shredded, became tangled in the cam belt which had caused that to snap!
They are not sure of the damage until they have taken the head off.

they gave me a rough quote of £1200 if there is damage to the engine.
THis will include new cambelt, aux belt,Water pump, new valves and loads of other stuff if needed. Worst case scenario would be new engine.

What is the likelehood of needing a new engine?
Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else?
How long will my baby be off the road?
Is it possible that the cambelt snapped when my car was on the recovery truck and may not have any engine damage?

Many Thanks for taking the time to read my post
XxX

 

[latza]

ou may be better off picking up a second hand engine they can be got for around £500. and i wouldnt want renault doing it. take it to a specialist

 

[Fred@BTM]

unlucky, as long as it wasn't on the rev limiter it should just be a head rebuild, recovery truck driver shouldn't of rev'd the tits off it!

price sounds fair, they're a renault specialist which is good

 

[OLR]

What is the likelehood of needing a new engine? HIGH
Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else? Loads of people

Is it possible that the cambelt snapped when my car was on the recovery truck and may not have any engine damage? maybe, probly went when the Recovery guy revd the shocks of it

 

[m4rkie23]

lol, fred shouldnt you be relaxing on the beach (hope its better weather than here)

 

[Fred@BTM]

^if the revs were low then it should just be a head rebuild, but its hard to say without taking the head off really

 

[Fred@BTM]

lol, fred shouldnt you be relaxing on the beach (hope its better weather than here)

i'm back at home recovering from boozing it up! back at work tomorrow

 

[m4rkie23]

ah right. good hols? you free sat/sun/mon for the service (PM if poss if your online for a while)

 

[Fred@BTM]

no pm's! call me later today

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

A replacement engine would surley be a better bet than £1200?

Id bet an engine supplied and fitted could be done for under £800

 

[sparkey79]

Thanks for your quick replys!

i kept the revs really low when driving home, but as i said the recovery man really gave it some
Garage is taking the head of as we speak! so i will know soon.
Had car booked in for service this week which is really annoying.
Taken it to the only renault specialist i know in Swindon. Mike Allen Services, Hope he is good

 

[Sipha]

Very unlucky sorry to hear it, best bet is a new head or even full engine from somewhere like eBay maybe ?

Not what I want to hear this either as my Aux belt pulleys are whining at the mo, hoping Fred can fit me in soon !

Good luck

 

[Munson]

Surely if the cambelt had snapped it wouldn't run at all?

 

[sparkey79]

Surely if the cambelt had snapped it wouldn't run at all?

This is exactly what my dad said! it was running right up until the point the recovery man went to get it off the truck.
I dont much about cars at all im afraid, but if the cambelt had come loose, slipped a few teeth would the engine still run?

 

[Fred@BTM]

na won't have snapped, but the cambelt would've jumped a few teeth causing the valves to smack the pistons - bent valves - engine no run

 

[Munson]

BTW I think you need to prove the statement you made at the end of line 2 in your opening post.

 

[sparkey79]

so the noise i heard when revving could have been the aux belt shredding and getting tangled?
im sorry to sound dumb i havent a clue when it comes to cars!
As i have some time on my hands due to no transport. I am keen to learn as much as i can for future reference!

 

[sparkey79]

BTW I think you need to prove the statement you made at the end of line 2 in your opening post.

only pretty girls are worthy of drving nice cars!

 

[Munson]

Prove it.

 

[sparkey79]

no! :rasp:
You will just have to take my word for it!

 

[Munson]

Pfff.

 

[Cunney]

If it is the cambelt then I don't understand how it was running before the green flag guy stupidly went and rev'd it, I'd get renault (if they can) to write to you explaining that this would not be possible so you can forward it to green flag and let them know they've fooked it

 

[_WILL_]

^^ I would do this to, the green flag guy sounds like a tool!
Hope you get it sorted.

 

[ben_p]

Pic of said driver..next to said engine to prove this isnt a WAFT post.

 

[sparkey79]

Pic of said driver..next to said engine to prove this isnt a WAFT post.

Car is at the garage at this very moment so no can do!, i will post a piccy of my car during better times!, to shy to post one of me though

 

[sparkey79]

If it is the cambelt then I don't understand how it was running before the green flag guy stupidly went and rev'd it, I'd get renault (if they can) to write to you explaining that this would not be possible so you can forward it to green flag and let them know they've fooked it

Sounds like an excellent idea, I will get onto them this afternoon see what i can find out.
I think the green flag man put the nail in the coffin for my poor car.

 

[sparkey79]

Piccy of my baby in better times!

 

[AlanHod]

I had a similar problem with my 182, aux belt started to shred (but didn't completely let go). The shreds then took out the cam belt. This happened when i was driving at about 40mph on a dual carriageway. It bent all 16 valves and wrecked all the valve guides on the exhaust side. Engine needed a head rebuild and new cam and aux belt kits. Total cost £1070! It was the aux belt tensioner that caused the fail for me. Got photos of some of the damage and the valves didnt look pretty afterwards!!

 

[SBV116]

£1200 sounds fair!! Shame really, but worse things happen!

 

[.GAZ.]

Any news?

 

[sparkey79]

No news yet, Called Garage at 4:30 this afternoon and they had started to take the head off, so am hoping i will find out more around lunchtime tomorrow.The waiting is the worst part. Once i know how much damage has been done at least i know how much of my savings will be gone and i can look forward to getting my car back............god i really miss it.

 

[sparkey79]

I had a similar problem with my 182, aux belt started to shred (but didn't completely let go). The shreds then took out the cam belt. This happened when i was driving at about 40mph on a dual carriageway. It bent all 16 valves and wrecked all the valve guides on the exhaust side. Engine needed a head rebuild and new cam and aux belt kits. Total cost £1070! It was the aux belt tensioner that caused the fail for me. Got photos of some of the damage and the valves didnt look pretty afterwards!!

Would be interested to see the piccys,I have know idea what any of this stuff looks like!

 

[AlanHod]

Would be interested to see the piccys,I have know idea what any of this stuff looks like!

I'll try to get pics up later. Give me an hour.

 

[AlanHod]

Piccys

Bent valves

Head with cam shafts

Cylinder block

Edit: pics are small, if anyone wants a bigger pic i'll email, just send a pm.

 

[sparkey79]

^^ Wow! so thats whats inside! i can see now why its such a big job!
did your car run okay when it was all fixed?

 

[AlanHod]

^^ Wow! so thats whats inside! i can see now why its such a big job!
did your car run okay when it was all fixed?

Well, i've had the car back about 3 weeks now and all seems fine so far.

 

[Fred@BTM]

wow those are some majorly bent valves!

i notice they haven't removed the inlet cam pulley, who did the work again?

only reason i ask is if they didn't have the special renault tools your timing will be off, does the car still go mental and pull hard when it hits 5K rpm?

just a few words of warning

 

[Martin_172]

price sounds resonable, to be fair id rather get a head rebuild on what was a perfectly good engine even at £1200 than stick a cheap £500 engine in it + a new cam and aux belt kit on top of that + fitting for something that you have no service history for when it comes to selling.

 

[AlanHod]

wow those are some majorly bent valves!

i notice they haven't removed the inlet cam pulley, who did the work again?

only reason i ask is if they didn't have the special renault tools your timing will be off, does the car still go mental and pull hard when it hits 5K rpm?

just a few words of warning

To be honest, the car doesnt seem quite as quick once above 5000rpm as it did before, i thought it was just me but know you have said that im starting to think different. Could do with getting it looked at i think.

 

[AlanHod]

Fred@BTM, i tried to PM you earlier for some advice but your inbox is at its limit. Get deleting