# Soooo the timing belt decided to break this morning....



## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

The funny thing is I had an appointment to have the belt changed at 7 am tomorrow morning.:banghead: I know that there a quite a few people on here that are more mechanically inclined than I am so I was hoping that someone could answer my two questions. Is there enough clearance in the 1.8t AMU engines to prevent valve kissing when the timing belt breaks? What is the likelihood that I bent a valve? The car is at the shop now and I am waiting to hear back from them. Any help or moral support would be greatly appreciated


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## ShockwaveCS (Jun 22, 2006)

think i saw a new/cheap 1.8t head in one the classifieds.


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

I saw one that was built for 1800. Is there another that I looked over?


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## surfinsk8r (Feb 8, 2010)

oktt400 said:


> The funny thing is I had an appointment to have the belt changed at 7 am tomorrow morning.:banghead: I know that there a quite a few people on here that are more mechanically inclined than I am so I was hoping that someone could answer my two questions. Is there enough clearance in the 1.8t AMU engines to prevent valve kissing when the timing belt breaks? What is the likelihood that I bent a valve? The car is at the shop now and I am waiting to hear back from them. Any help or moral support would be greatly appreciated


I was under the impression that there is definitely not enough clearance, and is pretty common to have valve kissing/bent valves. Sorry bro, thats the worst.


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## TavoG (Dec 3, 2009)

my belt snapped and the head was all jacked up...  sorry to hear that, its gonna be pricey and ur valves are prolly bent pretty bad, been there before it sucks, good luck!


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

Thanks guys I appreciate the support  we'll see how bad it is.


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## TTC2k5 (May 23, 2008)

oktt400 said:


> Thanks guys I appreciate the support  we'll see how bad it is.


dude, my sincere condolences go out to you...what year and how many miles?

cheers


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## jetta2.8 (May 18, 2009)

Tough luck bro. Sorry to hear that. Maybe you can get your shop to use one of those carbon or Kevlar belts that last longer and are stronger? TB alone is like $500-800. Plus the head is useless. :beer:


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## l88m22vette (Mar 2, 2006)

The timing belt almost never is the problem, its the hydraulic tensioner that craps out and causes slack on the belt. Get a manual tensioner for a 16v (9A) engine - Issam from INA sells a kit. Once that thing is on you'll never have to worry about the belt again :thumbup:


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## darrenbyrnes (Jan 4, 2005)

l88m22vette said:


> The timing belt almost never is the problem, its the hydraulic tensioner that craps out and causes slack on the belt. Get a manual tensioner for a 16v (9A) engine - Issam from INA sells a kit. Once that thing is on you'll never have to worry about the belt again :thumbup:


Do you have a link to that part??

Also - Yeah, the TB thing sucks big time. The Timing Chain tensioner broke on my VR6 Corrado back in the day. It was a little pricey.


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## chaldowhiteboy (Jun 14, 2010)

had this happen to me.. bent all 20 of my valves. had my head rebuilt. bit pricey


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

Well got an update. Friday I finally got a quote from a shop and they said 15 grand for a new engine!!! Yeah right!!! They haven't even taken the head off to see how bad the damage is. I don't know how they can say I need a whole new engine without even pulling the head. Oh well. I called another shop that I have dealt with in the past. They will pull the head and if the pistons are damaged pull the motor and rebuild it for 1500 plus the cost of parts. I don't think that this is a bad deal. Any advice would be great. Thanks for all of the response so far.


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## aTTenzione (Aug 18, 2009)

how many miles did u have?


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## Murderface (Nov 13, 2006)

Honestly you're probably best off picking up a used engine. That's what I did.

Ended up costing me maybe about $1600 TOTAL for the engine swap (I bought a transmission at the same time but factored that cost out of this)...that's price of engine and labor combined.


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

The car had a little over 100,000 miles. The head is coming off today. I found a local machine shop that will do the head for 300 bucks plus the cost of the valves. I think that I can get out of this for less than 2500 parts and labor. Still a lot, but less than 12,000!!!!


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## fijitt (Mar 1, 2007)

you said 100k on the car, but how many miles on the timingbelt itself? 

Best of luck getting it put back together:beer:


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

Same amount on the belt. The belt had not been changed since the car was new.


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

I was looking around on ebay and came across a seller called Odessa cylinder head. I called them and they are in Clearwater FL. They are selling two heads. One with the valves minus the cam and lifters for 555, the second is a complete head for 775 cam and lifters. They are saying that they are new castings. Is it worth it? Anyone have any experience with these guys?


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

chineese casting, german parts installed


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## oktt400 (Oct 7, 2005)

Slimjimmn said:


> chineese casting, german parts installed


So not a good buy or go for it?


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## l88m22vette (Mar 2, 2006)

Just buy a complete head off a used engine for like $300, bolt it on, and take bets on how long it'll work perfectly. My (serious) guess is you'll become a rich man :thumbup:

BTW, what kind of TT do you have? Do you know the engine code? I'm asking to determine if you have VVT or not, the AWP and BEA both do...


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

I would pull the head, send it out for a resurface and valve grind and new valves/seals. reinstall with new HG and tbelt kit. Its usually what I always do. One time I just pulled the head, replaced the intake valves that bent, cleaned up the head in the parts washer, rolocked the surface and put on new gaskets/ bolts. Car never had an issue.


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## GTi 1.8T (Mar 15, 2000)

How long do you guys wait between timing belt change intervals? I heard its every 50k miles... 

good luck with your car :thumbup:


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## Corbic (Sep 1, 2003)

GTi 1.8T said:


> How long do you guys wait between timing belt change intervals? I heard its every 50k miles...
> 
> good luck with your car :thumbup:


I think VAG suggested 80k, but it's recommended around here to do it every 60k on a 1.8t. The belts are a common fail item and a $700 belt change a year or two early is much better then a $3,000 head change.


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## Doooglasss (Aug 28, 2009)

Honestly I just spent a little over $3000 to have just my block rebuilt with forged rods & pistons and all the little tidbits that come with this work as well. In retrospec if I wasn't such a stubborn fool and wanted the stock motor in the car I should have went to the VW Engine classifieds and bought a completely rebuilt block for 2k or less.

If I were you I'd look at your long term goals with the car now before making a decision. Either way I'd go with a "used" rebuilt engine from the classifieds or just a used engine.

BTW, didn't read the whole thread - I'm sure somebody said it but yes these are overlap motors which is why when the timing belt snaps extreme destruction takes place. Also :thumbup: for the 16v manual tensioner! I love how VW innovates total garbage and we all downgrade to MK2 parts... whatup 1992


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## GTi 1.8T (Mar 15, 2000)

Would you guys recommend the manual tensioner, just for peace of mind (overkill)? Or just stick with original parts?


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## Doooglasss (Aug 28, 2009)

I'd be doing the manual tensioner-- most people that are building 1.8T's these days won't do anything else. It's been proven to work on 16v's & 8v's for the last 25+ years with a lower failure rate. Also it's a $15 part compared to a $80 part (IIRC). I think the only downside of it is that you need to check your timing belt tension at every oil change interval - but that's probably something all of us should be doing anyway.

If you do the manual tensioner be sure to buy the adjustment tool as well:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Jetta_II--16v/Engine/Timing/ES1306820/

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Jetta_II--16v/Engine/Timing/ES1866442/


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## ECS Tuning - Audi (Oct 12, 2009)

Sorry for your TB issue, 100k is pretty far on stock components. For the above questions I would say most of our customers replace timing belts at 65k - 85k intervals.

If you've found a shop to do the labor you can save some additional money by bringing them the parts, you don't have to pay mark up that way. We have valves intake and exhaust here and a new timing belt kit which should include everything you need to replace your belt and tensioners here. For about 500 in new parts you'd only have to pay labor! We could even ship to you shop if you'd like.









Heck, carted together, we can even ship it all out for free - click here for a cart with valves and a timing belt kit.


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## storx (Dec 6, 2006)

where are you located?


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