I'm distressed to report that my timing belt let go at engine idle last night. The were two distinct creeking noises from the engine bay, then rough idle, no power, then stall. I had no idea about what had happened. Just a sick feeling in my head. I have just switched to Gavin Wood Autotech at Labrador QLD for services. I called Gavin Wood's centre at 4.30 PM and Brett and another guy came straight down to where I was. Brett checked the cam movement through the oil filler while cranking the engine. No movement. I had the Zed tray towed to Gavin Wood's last night. They will remove the engine and break it down for inspection. (valve damage) The Zed had 59,000 k on the clock when I bought it 4+ years ago. Now shows 92,000. Brett said that he had never seen a belt fail under 100,000 K. He suggested that the clock may have been wound back in Japan or prior to compliance here in Australia. Maybe I should have had the 100,000 K service done earlier to be on the safe side. I'll keep you posted.
Timing belt Bugger!. Well aren't you having fun,first your wheel bearing, now your timing belt chucks it in.Well lets hope there's no major damage.Keep us posted. Cheers Grahame.
Bad luck, maybe this should be a warning for others ....>> even if the km's are genuine, the 15 year old belt may fatigue and fail.
At low RPM, it might be only a few valves ....>> Even at cranking speed, a broken belt will cause valve damage.
with a suspect broken timing belt turning the car over is a dangerous thing to do as it can make the matter worse. You might have escaped without any damage with just a snapped timing belt at idle but cranking the car over with a broken timing belt is going to more likely bend valves. It would have been much more sensible to pull a couple of the timing belt cover bolts off and pull back the timing belt cover to see if the belt was really loose and hence snapped.
Sorry to hear that I had my timing belt replaced at around 75,000k as part of the 100,000 service. I was concerned the clock may have been wound back as is the case with many imported cars. However, upon inspection the mileage looked genuine judging by the condition of the belt and other parts. Better to be safe than sorry.
VG30DETT engine - interference or non-interference engine? There is some suggestion at www.twinturbo.net that the Z32 VG30DETT engine may be a non-interference engine (valves will clear the pistons if timing belt fails.)due to the lower compression ratio to accommodate the turbo boost. The NA is definately an interference engine. http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg.aspx?forum=general&msg_id=1402892&words=timing%3a%3abelt%3a%3afail I mentioned this to Brett my tech at Gavin Wood's and he commented that in the past, he had actually replaced timing belts where they had failed, and then tested for valve damage, finding both the valves and pistons to be undamaged. It's a slim chance, but here's hoping.
Thanks John, I would encourage anyone in doubt to change out their timing belt. It's a big cost, but re-building an engine is a far greater cost.
I thought it was an interference engine Tim but if what you say you've found on TT Net is true and going by what GWs mechanic has said, then there's a ray of hope there. I'll keep everything crossed for you:thumbsup: Cliff
Thanks Cliff, yep, I have everything crossed here too... The guys at GW have a wait and see attitude, but I appteciate that they will put a new belt on and test before they pull down the engine. There may even be a variation between different year models with the VG30DETT. Here's hoping anyway.
It's the old story John... my timing belt looked perfect after 120,000km except for the break in the middle that is
About 3 months ago or so, I bumped into a fellow zed owner in a Supercheap carpark. He reads the forum but I don't think posts. Anyway he said his timing belt had let go recently and all that was needed was a new belt - no damage to anything. It was a black TT. Maybe there's hope. cheers, Peter
I agree with IB, do you wait for 100,000KM's after 15 years of use? All materials fatigue, especially a rubber belt held at tension. I replaced mine 2 weeks after I got my Zed @ 71,000KM's. It looked pretty good but nothing like the piece of mind you have after you fire it up knowing you put it back together right.
That's the feedback I've been getting here and in the US.. Not all TTs that throw a timing belt will suffer valve/piston contact. As Peter said, sometimes it's as easy as just replacing the timing belt. This is like waiting for Christmas or a "get out of jail free" card. I hope that I'm not deluding myself! Waiting for the outcome is the worst. No, come to think of it, being without her (Z32) is the worst....
Was in a diesel Landrover a few weeks back that snapped a timing belt - vehicle seven years old, only 22,000km, intermittant use as bushfire unit. The bang when it let go was very loud (metal snapping) and we came to an instant stop. Lucky we were only doing about 20kph at the time. A bit fortunate on the repairs - only snapped rockers and damaged valves (pistons survived). Maybe a word of warning - not worth waiting for 100,000km on an older vehicle.
sounds as if my 100km service is going to brought forward much sooner than originally planned ...!!!!:thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
