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Awhile back I was driving to work when my engine starting reving down, I wasn't sure what was happening but I finally got it pulled off the highway and the engine died. I had it towed to a shop where they had diagnosed the timing belt but didn't say for sure if the valves were affected but assumed so. How would I check to see if they were in fact affected. I have a 5 speed 1.8 litre turbocharged by the way. Thanks!
Did it die with a bang?
normally you will have to pull the head off but the other way is to pry or push down on all the valves and see if they all move freely and pop back up to closed,this will tell you if you have bent a stem but will not tell you if you have bent the head of the valve.
I strongly suggest removing the head because you should also inspect the top of the pistons since they are what would hit the valve,this may save you from spending time and money for nothing
The 1.8L engine is an interference fit engine, this means when the timing belt breaks the cam stops turning which leaves some valves open, the crank keeps spinning and hits them, causing them to bend. It doesn't mean that they are all bent, but you can bet some of them are
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Your timing belt broke. Normally it won't start after breaking, but it could have jumped a gear and when it did start it ran very poorly. Finally it broke completely. Timing belts are only good for 60-80,000 miles, most never change it till it breaks. Unfortunately many engines are ruined when the timing belt breaks due to no clearance between the valves and pistons. Your car, depending on which engine, is safe. It has clearance built in . While you replace the timing belt, I would reccommend replacing the timing gears too, and if you have high mileage, replace the water pump, because it is behind the belt.
my books show it as a interference engine in which case valve damage is most likely to occur
however if that was the case , it would be having a miss from the start and would not run 2 weeks before something happened
if a valve spring breaks there could be valve piston contact but it is doubtful if that would destroy the engine but again breaking valve springs is rather rare on diesel engines
the engine would not just quit but would rattle and bang it's head off then develope a big noisy miss from a hole in the piston
so I suspect a timing belt problem from when they removed/replaced the head after the glo-plug fix or a crank/cam shaft position sensor or wires ( possible faulty connections for the cam shaft)
I would suggest finding an accredited service center for a proper diagnosis and quote for engine repairs
check to be sure the pop was not the timing belt broke. if car poped then quit, it is a possibility! if it broke car will not start !! replace if needed.
Pull the distributor cap, and turn the engine over. It you see no movement, the belt is broken.
I believe it is possible, to get all the pistons down, you have to pull the plugs and peak or poke in there. If they are all down,you can freely spin,(yeah right) the cam, If your belt broke while it was running, the damage has already been done. But do you know for sure if your engine is intermittent or free running? I also think that when the cam is at -0- it has no valve up or down. Not sure about that. My car was set out of time and the cam shattered in 3 pieces in less than 10 miles. And the **** that did it said it wasn't his fault? What a ****!
The previous solution to check the idle air contol is in the correct area but needs some clarification.
The idle control is accomplished by two parts: Throttle position sensor ( $35 at Autozone) and idle contol valve approx $190. I replaced the throttle position sensor about a week ago and it runs perfect
to date but am a skeptic after almost two years of dealer incompetance. I researched all the sensors and failure symptoms on the internet and the throttle position sensor failure symptoms matched mine
exactly. See http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Throttle _Position_Sensor
Plug the connector back in & pull the AC fuse. You probably have the beginnings of a "locked up" compressor. The pulley will turn if the engine and the AC is off. When the compresser clutch is engaged, and the compressor is locking up, it will overheat & snap the serp belt.
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