Hello I wondered if anyone could help me.

I was driving my Audi A4 1.8 se the other day and then it ‘died’.
By that I mean I was doing approx 40mph and then it was as if someone turned the ignition off on me and I had no power and steering was heavy.
I pulled over to the side of the road and got the car recovered.

Ive since had someone try to start it and the drive belt and aircon belt both turn – I then removed the timing belt cover and found a lot of rubber dust stuck to the plastics.
The belt isn’t turning .

Its disheartening as I have only owned the car for about a month now and it has been great, easily best car I have owned to date. It’s a 1996 car however it has full main dealer history – ‘audi and volkswagen’ and 16 stamps in the book. Only covered 102000 miles.

The belt is still in tact so im guessing it must have slipped or something.
My question is, has anyone experienced this aswel and what would be the extent of the damage. What would need replacing.
Could I in theory just replace the whole ‘head’ inc valves. Timing Belt.
Is there more I need to check for, more that could be damaged.

I would hate to scrap it and don’t really want to replace and pay out for whole engine.

Thanks for any and all your help in advance.

 

It's going to be hard to say exactly how much damage is done until you tear down the engine. You could start by doing compression and leakdown tests. Odds are you bent several valves at least. With any luck the pistons are just scratched and not totally destroyed.

Depending on the extent of the damage, you've got a couple of options:

1. Buy a used engine and swap the whole thing. You'd want to find an engine from the same year as your car with the same engine code. ($$$)
2. Buy a used head and swap it onto your engine. This will only work if the pistons and cylinder walls are intact when you get it torn down. ($$)
3. Buy just the parts that you need to replace, and rebuild your engine yourself. This could include valves, valve seats, valve springs, pistons, piston rings, etc..etc...etc..($$$$)
4. Sell the car as-is and use the money to buy a whole new car. (Probably the least $ out of your pocket, but you'd be taking a loss on the car)

 

Sounds like a timing belt.

Did you take the front end off and inspect the whole belt?

If it's not turning when you crank the engine, you have problems and shouldn't be cranking the engine although the damage has already been done at that point.

The good news is it's not too difficult to fix at home, but it's still not cheap.