robc_uk wrote:Hello,
'55 plate C3 1.4 petrol died today and the breakdown man diagnosed it as stripped teeth on the timing belt
Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth...
Does anyone have experience of this? Is there guaranteed to be engine damage?
Any opinions or recommendations on rebuild/repair vs replacement of the engine? And any recommendations for places to call for quotes? I'm in north London.
Thanks in advance
Robert
Hi Robert,
The TU3 engine found in the 8v 1.4 petrol C3 is an interference engine, so in theory you could have bent valves and bent con rods, but its
not guaranteed.
The belt is cheap to buy from
euro car parts at around £20. It may be worth just fitting the belt after resetting the timing marks to see if she fires up and runs ok.
If it won't run, then it may be cheaper to just get another engine swapped into it. (cam belt is easier to change when the engine is out of the car and you will have the belt already).
Its worth changing the idler and tensioner when you renew the belt, but if you only want to see if the old engine fires up and runs ok, it won't hurt to change them after its all found to be working.
