[Closed] Timing belt snapped!

If it had been a few hundred miles and from a main dealer you might have some luck but I think you’ll be very lucky to get anything otherwise.
You’ll have to prove the belt or other parts were not up to standard or that they were not fitted properly, however the latter is unlikely if they lasted 34000 miles.

That just sounds like rotten luck. Has it messed up your engine?

"Has it messed up your engine?"

Yes if its an interference engine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_engine

This happened to me last year 3 hours after I paid cash for a van. The seller vanished like a mouses fart.

What car is it?

If it's one-owner from new, always serviced by the supplying dealer then I'd be looking for some serious good-will from the dealer if it's £££.

Their is a reason it's snapped though, the belt could be damaged by dirt or contamination, maybe tensioner bearings are shot, or a damaged pulley. Until someone looks at it properly, you don't know the cause

I'd be checking out if their has been internal damage before deciding what to do with it, it could be a £50 fix, or it could be new-engine day.

Expected lifespan isn't a guarantee of life, it's just a reasonable expectation- there's always going to be some that fail outside of that but it's far enough out of the bathtub curve to be sure it wasn't fitting and reasonably sure it wasn't a defect. Belts can get damaged by other stuff... So I wouldn't think there's anything to be done unless the parts had a specific guarantee.

(there's also the question of whether it was all genuine parts, whether all the recommended bits like tensioners, sometimes pumps, were also replaced...)

Or, the snapped belt could be a symptom of the engine damage, rather than the cause. It's pretty hard to prove which broken bit broke first.

I shouldn't have clicked on this thread, I have a belt and tensioners kit in the garage that I've just not got round to fitting yet, that's tempting fate...

Yeah, it was more of a rhetorical question, just pissed that it's happened.

It's a 1.7 diesel Zafira B. Was under the impression that everything this side of the millennium is an interference engine although for obvious reasons, I'd really like to be proved wrong!

No idea what the damage is yet, hopefully find out tomorrow. Didn't hear any big bangs when it went which I hope is good news.

My S-Max is supposed to be 125000 or 10 years for the timing belt, but my mate who works for Ford said he wouldn’t trust any longer than half of either

I feel your pain, We have eeked out the wife’s car (wee panda runabout) to 6 years due to covid/££s etc. it’s booked in for belt change on Wednesday 🙏🤞

Is that the old Isuzu engine? I bet they're cheap and plentiful. The hard part might be finding someone to take on the challenge.

It’s a 1.7 diesel Zafira B. Was under the impression that everything this side of the millennium is an interference engine although for obvious reasons, I’d really like to be proved wrong!

A good few years ago I had an Astra 1.7 diesel timing belt go really early. Probably a different engine configuration now but the water pump siezed which took the belt with it. Just unlucky although I'd have thought a £30 water pump would be done with the timing belt. Apparently not.

No noise, just sudden silence and bent valves. Was doing about 60 at the time. Was a company vehicle, I don't think it was too catastrophic, certainly not replacement engine territory.

Was it changed at 100k? If so by who?

It'll be the 1700 dti 16v. Itll fix. I'd be putting a new water pump on it. Also did the oil pump run on the belt too? It's been a long time 20yrs plus since I saw one in bits.

Where are you. Can recommend someone in the northwest

Water pumps aren't routinely changed with timing belts but are worth getting done at the same time!

Yeah, water pumps... My old Polo had the (belt driven) water pump seize and that stripped teeth off the belt and lunched the valves.

RIP Polo Coupe S... I never did find out why you made that weird noise turning right.

All I can think of to do is buy this and find someone to install it- www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294237523346

A good few years ago I had an Astra 1.7 diesel timing belt go really early. Probably a different engine configuration now but the water pump siezed which took the belt with it. Just unlucky although I’d have thought a £30 water pump would be done with the timing belt. Apparently not.

This.

Years ago the belt on my 535i snapped when the pump seized.

Lucky that the belt only did the pump/alternator etc as it's a chain engine, but it still took out the various plastic housings and snapped a big bracket.

Just unlucky although I’d have thought a £30 water pump would be done with the timing belt. Apparently not.

I've paid for a good few timing belts. My garages have always recommend the water pump be done with timing belt.

I’d have thought a £30 water pump would be done with the timing belt. Apparently not.

Yeah learned that one a long time ago. We got lucky in that the impeller came off and engine over heated.

Thankfully it was a piece of shit poorly built MK4 golf

But yeah unless it's explicitly listed as done.....it won't be done

I’ve paid for a good few timing belts. My garages have always recommend the water pump be done with timing belt.

I do my own and it's recommended 5yrs intervals and water pump every other. @£300 for the pump it's slightly more expensive insurance but still cheaper than a potential top end rebuild with sodium filled exhaust valves in an odd size.

We were wise to the potential water pump issue but this car has been far from kind to us.

On top of the usual maintenance and wear and tear stuff, we had gearbox issues that required a rebuild and took the advice to upgrade the housing and the main bearing size (from the Vectra I think). Then had the gearbox rebuilt again 2 years later (cost parts only as they'd buggered up the preload on the last rebuild).
EGR valve not long after we got it - I then got into the habit of regularly removing/cleaning that.
Then clutch/dmf.
Oil pick up pipe needed sludge cleaning out a couple of times.
Then a premature timing belt failure.
That's just the obvious stuff off the top of my head. It's also had the usual discs - shocks, even new rear calipers a few times because they seize up on Vauxhall!

It was a great boxy load lugger but it will be a dark day in hell before 8 buy another Vauxhall!