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Repair cam-belt failure.

2K views 43 replies 7 participants last post by  J 
#1 ·
How difficult and how expensive is a cambelt failure to repair on a TS? The valves are mashed, and I don't know about head damage on the pistons.
Would it be a job I could do at home assuming I have the parts? Are any specialist tools required?
Has anyone done it?

If there is head damage, how is this rectified? Grind the heads?
 
#28 ·
No, that's no reason to worry at all. That's your variator. It make it sound diesely when it's shot. Best thing to do is get the belts done at the same time as iwhen it's in for the variator. You car will run fine this way, just a bit rough.
 
#29 ·
Ok then i will hold you ot that then :)

As my car has done 84K now and the bloke who sold it says it has had two cam belts changes. Why can't that do the hole job and not just the belts. So now i have to get the hole job done again. what a bummer. I might as well get the cams done at the same time.. Oh well more money that i dont have right now. I better stick to driving below 3K revs for now.
 
#31 ·
It's with Auto Maintenance Services in Finglas. I've had the car for nearly 3 years at this stage so it's well out of warranty (I bought it second hand)

It needed 16 new values, gasket set, belts and tensioner. I'm getting them to replace the variator as well. They are also adding a one way value to the variator sump to keep oil up around it so hopefully that will prolong it's life.

After the job is done they want to drive the car for 50 miles before giving it back to me. I'll ring them @ 5 tomorrow to see if I can collect it.
 
#38 ·
McGuinn said:
At what milage were the belts previously changed?
I don't know. I think 72K miles but then he had then done after that too. As he wasn't sure if thay where done or not.

But i did cheal the oil yesterday, i found that i needed, 1.5L as the dipstick only had 1mm of oil on the bottom. Now the diesel sound is less than before.

I think i better cheak my oil levels more. Im glad i had oil in the boot and did't have to drive to get some.
 
#41 ·
xtremeuk said:
Oh one more thing. Cheak you oil before its too late.
It's fecked now, so I don't care. I may as well fill it up with water.
I'm so depressed.
3 alfa's and not one is road worthy!
 
#42 ·
I collected the car last Friday and put up 150 miles over the weekend but I wasn't happy as she was having trouble starting from cold and was juddering slightly (mainly in third gear between 2000 and 3000 rpms)

I rang the garage and they offered to reset the throttle body. While the intake was off the engine we turned the car over and BANG! A noise like a gun shot and a small puff of smoke. This was unexpected as the fuel cut off switch should have prevented that. Investigation showed that one of the pins on the ECU had been bent when the plugs were plugged back in. They fixed it and put the car back together but she wouldn't start, it turned that the intake manifold which is in 2 halves held together by clips (on the 1.4 anyway) had burst open with the explosion.

I left the car with them and received a phone call to say that the spark plugs needed to be changed. I was curious to know why that hadn't been spotted when the head was removed. They offered to change to plugs and not charge for labour so I accepted.

I got the car back on Tuesday and it is definitely running more smoothly. I am driving to Cork for the weekend so I will have a better idea of how she's running on Monday.

Total bill €2211 which is approx.£1480 stg.

So far I'm happy with work done and the effort made by Lee and Ciaran at Auto Services to get the car running right and their policy of wanting me to ring them next week for feedback on the work done show they value the business and want to keep me happy.
 
#43 ·
Yeah, keep us posted. So how much of that was parts, and were there any other unexpected parts replaced?
 
#44 ·
In that bill there was 12 hours labour @ €75/hour - €900 plus vat. The rest was parts. The total list off the top of my head was:

Head set
8 Inlet valves
8 Outlet valves
Variator
Cam Belt
Belt Tensioner
AntiFreeze
One Way valve (to keep oil around variator)
Oil
Oil Filter
8 Spark plugs

The plugs and values were all about €30 each and the belt tensioner was about €130

I thing that's the whole lot.....

The car is running extremely well so at the moment I'm happy.....
 
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