I have a 1996 AUDI A4 12v 2.8l car which the timing belt broke off when I was driving on the highway. I had the car brought over to a mechanic and they first told me I had a hole in my lower oil pan, (loss of oil killed the belt?) so after I had the lower oil pan installed with fresh oil in the car, there we're "no compression in the engine." They told me, even if they replaced the belt the car wouldn't be able to turn over.

Now... I had an Audi Specialist take a look at it and he told me that with the 12v engines, there is enough clearance for the valves so MOST-LIKELY the valves and heads did not bend. With that being said he told me to just change the belt/water pump/tensioner and I should be fine. What should I do?? Should I get the belt replaced and hope for the best? Or sell the car off for parts. Since it's a 1996 it's not worth switching out the engine for a new one... It will cost too much $$$ in the long run!! Nor do I want to spend $600-700 to change the belt if it's hopeless!!

Thank you for reading my post!
Please someone HELP!!

 

heres what i would do: buy the timing belt/water pump/tensioner and replace them yourself(there are plenty of diys for this), and if it doesnt fix the problem sell it for parts. cus then you car sell the belt/water pump/tensioner for what you bought them for or maybe a little more. theres no real way to tell if the engine is damaged. sometimes it destroys the engine, sometimes it doesnt do anything, sometimes its somewhere in the middle. thats my .02 cents

 

Thanks for the advice, only problem is that I do not have the space nor tools to pull off a job like that. I've looked through forums and videos on how to change the belt, but given my resources it will be nearly impossible.
I've been quoted $250 plus towing to the garage to install the belt and pump. I just wanted to know that "if there is no compression in the engine" does it always mean that it is something more than just the belt that is damaged? or... is it possible that if changed the belt I will be-able to start it right up.

 

you bent valves. these are interference engines, i dont know what audi mechanic told you there was "enough room" to not have the pistons hit the valves, but they were wrong. sometimes if you are at a stoplight and the belt snaps you can catch a bit of luck and the engine just stops. but if you were doing 60+ on the highway, theres almost no way around it.

if you are not doing any of the work yourself, this is going to be expensive. you have two options: pull both heads off and see how many valves you bent. if its not too bad you can just have the head rebuilt with new valves and sand off the valve marks on the piston tops and reassemble. hope that you didnt crack a piston or bend a rod when this happened. or option two: you can buy two used/rebuilt heads and have the mechanic throw them on, and then sell your other ones later to get some money back. after all that you will need to have the timing belt/water pump installed.

 

Would it be more feasible to sell the car for parts and purchase a new car? Or should I risk some time and money to see if the car is fixable?

 

The mechanic told me that since the engine is a 12v, the valves have more room for clearance. If the engine was the newer 30v one, then for sure my valves are bent.

 

there isnt any more clearance, you just have two larger valves per cylinder instead of five smaller ones. an interference engine is an interference engine. it means that the valves and pistons occupy the same space at different points in time, making the valve and cylinder timing more important. if the valves share 2mm or 10mm of space with the piston is irrelevant. unless this was a completely non-interference engine, the valves still will hit the pistons. if your timing belt snapped while your engine was above idle speed, you can bet that you bent valves. even when it happens only at idle, most of the time you bend atleast a few. ive only seen a select lucky few that escaped a Tbelt snap with no damage.

 

So basically it boils down to chance... I can take the chance and repair my t-belt to see what damage has been done, if no damage is present than it's a bonus. If damage occurred than I'm out 6-7 bills. But the chances that no damage has occurred is less than 50%,

 

the chance that no damage occured is probably closer to like 5% unfortunately. this is why its so important to change the belt before this happens, but you dont need me to tell you.

if you have a spot in the driveway and a basic set of tools and a free weekend, you can have the car fixed for probably $1000-1500. if you need to have a shop do it, you are looking at $2000-4000 depending on what exactly is done and what is damaged. at that point it might be worth your while to part it out.

what you need to do is pull the heads off, that will tell you: if the pistons and rods are ok, how many valves were bent, if the heads are repairable.

you can pick up refurbished heads for $400-600 a piece. if you find someone parting out a car you might be able to get a working used head for $150-200. or if you only need a few valves replaced, figure $100-300 labor at a machine shop and $30-40 per valve.

then $300 for a timing belt kit w water pump, another $250 for various parts and gaskets and new head bolts. this could only end up costing you $1200 in parts. if you have to pay for the labor to put it all together though, its going to be atleast twice that.

 

OK, I have a question...?

How did the mechanics check compression w/o installing a TB?? If there is no TB, you cant turn the cams. If you cant turn the cams, you cant open and close the valves. Open valves mean no compression. Telling you so means more money in their pocket.

Oh, and if they did turn the engine over with no TB, they just did more damage!


Here's what I would do: Take it to a different shop and have them pull the heads and do an inspection on the valves, followers, cams, and pistons. Should not cost much do get done, especially if they think they will get to do the actual repair, and you will be in a much better position to make decision.

Good Luck.