G

gareth123

Active Member
I just got home after having to have the poor hippo loaded onto a breakdown truck on a motroway and taken to a garage in Montpellier. There were some ugly clicking but not metalic noises coming from the engine bay and then the battery charging light came on - I assumed I had snapped a drivebelt but was eager to get off the motroway before taking a look. No problem with performance. About a kilometre further on (ie not long) I lost half the power and then the engine died completely and I had to pull over. No sign of overheating. I couldn't investigate because of traffic and obvious motorway danger so called for help and it is now in a garage awaiting dignostics. The guy who took it away confirmed the auxillary drivebelt had snapped and said that I should have stopped immediately the light came on and I may have wrecked the engine because I didn't. However, I can't see a connection (so quickly at any rate) ? Maybe the engine shut down to save itself??

Any ideas? I will be talking to the garage in the next couple of days but want to try to get an ide of what may have happened. The timing belt was renewed last November.

Thanks
 
Maybe the drive belt has been flung around the pulley knocking off something vital? I can't see it causing much damage to the engine unless it's got caught in the timing belt? Some pictures would be useful.
 
Nodge68 said:
Maybe the drive belt has been flung around the pulley knocking off something vital? I can't see it causing much damage to the engine unless it's got caught in the timing belt? Some pictures would be useful.
Click to expand...

Thanks. My thoughts as well. I suppose the quesion is whether the engine computer has disabled the engine or whether there is real mechnical failure?
 
probably a goosed alternator, shorted out, flattened the battery so no power to keep the injection pump live.
 
freelance said:
probably a goosed alternator, shorted out, flattened the battery so no power to keep the injection pump live.
Click to expand...

Thanks. But the engine did turnover with the key so presumably there was enough juice left for the fuel injection. I think I will just have to wait to see what the garage says and then try to work out what happened. Will update when I know more.
 
UPDATE

The timing has slipped so it is a head off job to investigate the cause and assess the damage. €€€€

I cannot understand how an auxilliary belt failure can upset the timing - unless as Nodge said in his first post some debris got thrown somewhere. Merde! She was going so well before this.

Gareth
 
gareth123 said:
UPDATE

The timing has slipped so it is a head off job to investigate the cause and assess the damage. €€€€

I cannot understand how an auxilliary belt failure can upset the timing - unless as Nodge said in his first post some debris got thrown somewhere. Merde! She was going so well before this.

Gareth
Click to expand...
A piece of belt might have found its way into the timing belt housing.
The L series is a good strong engine. Has the belt has slipped enough to allow valve contact? If you are lucky you may need a few valves and followers as these take a real hammering. If you are unlucky the valves can break causing lots of damage :(
 
Last edited:
Nodge68 said:
A piece of belt might have found its way into the timing belt housing.
The L series is a good strong engine. Has the belt has slipped enough to allow valve contact? If you are lucky you may need a few valves and followers as these take a real hammering. If you are unlucky the valves can break causing lots of damage :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Apparently this is what happened which is just freaky bad luck. I have no idea how far it slipped so will just have to wait and see. I expect plans of summer holiday extravagence will need to be curtailed.
 
gareth123 said:
Thanks for the info. Apparently this is what happened which is just freaky bad luck. I have no idea how far it slipped so will just have to wait and see. I expect plans of summer holiday extravagence will need to be curtailed.
Click to expand...

It is August and France stops working so things have been a little slow. The diagnosis is that there are some bent valves but nothing shattered so the engine itself is OK - just need to rebuild the top and put it all back together with new valves, lifters, belts, gasket set etc etc . Still - very expensive (garage costs in France are high and parts - being foreign - are price-hiked as well). They are quoting for 14 hours work which to me seems reasonable to do the job properly. I have told them to get on with it because there is not much else I can do. The garage is 100km from my house so no point in even beginning to think diy.

The moral of the story is to not only change the timling belt at specificed intervals (mine was) but also check the auxilliary belts as these can cause far more damge than onecould ever imagine ...........
 
OK we are back o the road!

A price to pay .... but now I have a virtually new top end, valves, followers, lifters, belts, gaskets, etc so the engine at least should serve me well for a long time. It is a shame that the obvious fault I sought to repair after buying the car in January (VCU) was done and then I had a freak problem with the accessory belt breaking on a motorway at speed a bit of which knocked out the engine timing.

I just had a ride up a mountain to collect my daughter from camping and all is well. Nice to have the beast back on the road.

Gareth
 
GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT NEWS:p:bump2::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray::5bhurray:
 
Tis good news indeed, and in a lovely bit of La Belle France too. I bumped a rover214 into the back of my brother's volvo 360GLT in Montpellier town centre. I've spent the last 20yrs telling people about standing on top of the Pont du Gard, which used to be pictured on stowell's wine boxes, but I'll shut up now.
Have the bullet marks on the buildings near the fountain been repaired yet? The war's been over for 70yrs, they should have got round to them by now!

That bit is a joke by the way, & no disrespect to any combatant of any nationality is meant, they all have my respect
 
Are you sure it wasnt the timing belt after all? Or is there a way that the Aux belt can interfere with the timing one when snapped??? Worthwhile doing both each time then
 
davef2901 said:
Tis good news indeed, and in a lovely bit of La Belle France too. I bumped a rover214 into the back of my brother's volvo 360GLT in Montpellier town centre. I've spent the last 20yrs telling people about standing on top of the Pont du Gard, which used to be pictured on stowell's wine boxes, but I'll shut up now.
Have the bullet marks on the buildings near the fountain been repaired yet? The war's been over for 70yrs, they should have got round to them by now!

That bit is a joke by the way, & no disrespect to any combatant of any nationality is meant, they all have my respect
Click to expand...

Yes Montpellier is lovely - my son is now living there and looking for work as a photographer. Lovely ambience and lots of smilinbg people not doing very much except enjoying themselves. I haven't seen any bullet holes buit will look next time I am there - you mean the main square, presumably, Place de La Comèdie?
 
Skynet said:
Are you sure it wasnt the timing belt after all? Or is there a way that the Aux belt can interfere with the timing one when snapped??? Worthwhile doing both each time then
Click to expand...

These were my questions, too but it seems a bit of the aux belt lodged itself somewhere inside the timing belt cover. First of all a ripping noise, then the battery light came on (I guessed what had happened but carried on to get off the motorway) - then suddenly I lost about half power and shortly after - dead completely. The aux belt was all over the place - bits everywhere.

Lesson learned - is ALL belts should be inspected regularly ......
 
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