[Closed] Car just shat its guts out

Friend of mine had a timing belt go; wrote off engine in his 2010 Audi a3. The bill came to £6.5k! Hopefully no serious damage was caused by timing belt failing; if it has may not be economical to repair.
Fingers crossed!

Petrol or Diesel? Which engine is it?

Will depend on how much of the internals it has chewed.

Might be cheaper to get a second hand engine from a breakers.

Diesel, 2.4 5 cylinder 😐

On the Volvo Owners club website there is a bloke selling a “guard” which stops a particular aux belt taking out the timing belt if it fails. Can’t remember what engine it is to be honest but it sounds like a similar issue to what you have.

You might be lucky with no valve damage, engines don’t get wrecked every time a timing belt goes but it would still be a few hundred quid to fix if you were that lucky.

2nd hand engine probably cheaper if all the valves have been mashed.

ouch want a shame. you might get lucky and have no real internal damage. best case scenario is just 2 new belts at about £4-500 , worst case new engine and sadly in an 08 car it might not be worth it.

Here’s the link I mentioned.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=246107

Good forum to join, helpful folk on there, would be worth asking on there too.

I once tried to compress water in a TD engine. Complete rebuilt + new piston and con rod came to £931 at a local garage. That was about 20 years ago, though....

I only know two people who’ve had a timing belt go, 1st it wasn’t an interference engine (I think that was the term) and it wasn’t a big thing really, new belt and away you go. 2) was, high revving petrol engine from a Suzuki I think, ruined, but then bits of it came out of a hole in the oil sump so the writing was on the wall I guess.

I reckon it’s a case of okay or nearly okay v total and utter destruction and you’ll be in no illusions at the time.

Well she was on the A46 at the time doing 70, so I'm not overly hopeful 😥

you need to check if it is an interference engine or not if it is when the timing belt snaps the pistons hit things and that is an expensive repair as the engine is damaged.

if not it just changing the belts and cheaper as its just fix the belts

websites let you check this but need exact engine to google

you need to check if it is an interference engine or not if it is when the timing belt snaps the pistons hit things and that is an expensive repair as the engine is damaged.

if not it just changing the belts and cheaper as its just fix the belts

websites let you check this but need exact engine to google

Most engines are interference now. I think my Volvo 940 was the last Volvo to have a non-interference engine....mmmmmm red block...

Cheers for that link newrobdob, that looks like exactly what we needed to prevent the situation 🙄 damn, I had no idea it was an issue

The chap who owned my s60 before me had the Auxillary belt snap and take out the timing belt. This was the d5 engine. The bill from volvo was £4500

First thing I did was fit the guard after buying the car as recommended in the volvo forums. It's not an isolated incident either. Sometimes you can get lucky and the belt falls off the pulley but in most cases it slips the other way and takes out the timing belt.

Very glad I did fit the guard as the timing belt let go again in France due to the alternator pulley (sprag clutch) failing.

D5 is interference engine. Fit a replacement engine.

The aux belt failing is probably the alternator one way pulley seizing (should be changed on the 2nd aux belt change). My V70 pulley went a few months ago because I didnt know about the change schedule- luckily didnt take the timing belt.

D5?

I think the 01-07 D5 were interference engines, but I don't know about the later models.

You can pick up a cheap D5 engine from the bay for <£500 or and low miler for <£1000

Oh and the d5 is most definately an interference design.

Also from a fellow volvo driver (enthusiast) my condolences on your loss.

Yeah, it's the detuned D5 (probably called a D4 on newer models) and as it's interference I'm fully expecting it to have chewed itself up nicely. Splendid.

I like the car but we seem to have had a lot of issues with it. Stupid little things which seem to be both expensive to repair and easily avoidable by considered design.

Feel your pain op. I loved my volvos and have owned two s60s and an s80. The d5 block itself is great. Loads of torque and durable. It's all the stuff bolted onto it that's rubbish. Luckily I am handy with a spanner and hammer so fixed loads of stuff myself but there is a long list of common issues that can lead to high costs....

Alternator pulley sprag clutch made of cheese
The Dmf is weak and not able to cope with the torque ripple from the powerful d5 block
There is a great little design feature regarding an oil plug in the ally block that sits in the bell housing. This often pops spewing oil onto clutch.
Injectors are weak (Bosch oem but block easily and £250 each new x5)
Vacuum leaks on the engine pads
Front so heavy that drop links get eaten along will all other suspension components

I could go on.

Great cars though

I like the car but we seem to have had a lot of issues with it. Stupid little things which seem to be both expensive to repair and easily avoidable by considered design.

To be fair thats the same with most modern cars, no matter what the brand. Still get the same thing with German/VAG cars but their parts are very expensive, you may as well go Ford/Vauxhall as at least their parts are cheap!

I did this many moons ago on my Renault Megane.

Those 'clunks' after the twang of the belt letting go will most likely be pistons hitting valves. They were on mine. The good news was that a new top end fixed it, at least for the 10,000 miles it did before I got rid of it. The bad news is that it took me and my Dad several days to pull it all apart, change the top end and reassemble, and he's a mechanic.

Common fault unfortunatly. I think one of the tensioner puley bearings fail , that leads to aux belt fail, which whips its way around the timing belt and hey presto , new engine.

Just to pour on some salt mies on 209,000 . Owned it from 138,000 and its been very good in terms of reliabilty. I have changed aux belt , tensioner and AOP. The local garage mis diagnosed the AOP failing as PS pump so changed that as well pointlessly.

However its starting to die.- 53 plate D5 which is 30,000 miles past cambelt change date . RWW fail, drivers window fail, drivers mirror fail, central locking on drivers door fail, radio self retunes to other presets as you drive along, NSR wheel bearing humms after a long drive . So its going very soon to be replaced with an 05 SAAB 9-5 2.2 Tid estate with 112,000 and FSH bought for £960 yesturday.

Engine swap from a write off is the way to go IMO. Although the amount of ECU modules and CAN BUS systems on these cars will cause you head aches in getting the thing runnning again

No tag.

🙁

This place is losing it.

Nothing to say here, apart from at first glance I read the title as "Cat just shat its guts out."
Not sure whether I'm relieved or disappointed.

Nothing to say here, apart from at first glance I read the title as "Cat just shat its guts out.....

Now that you mention it, Tiddles has been looking a bit peaky. Pics to follow.

Just for you Capn

andeh - Member
Cheers for that link newrobdob, that looks like exactly what we needed to prevent the situation damn, I had no idea it was an issue

saved yourself £55 by not having one tho 😀