A pal with no internet connection has asked if I can post a few questions for him.
1996, 2.0 Laguna - don't know yet if it's 8 or 16 valve.
Timing belt snapped last night. What is the likely damage? Some bent exhaust valves, or do the inlets get bent as well? Any piston damage likely? He was slowing down to turn in at home so he reckons he was doing about 15mph when the engine stopped, though he did try to restart it a couple of times.
I know it's difficult to put a repair cost on it without knowing the extent of the damage, but assuming it's 8 valve and all the exhaust valves got bent, what sort of price is he looking at to get it repaired? Even an educated guess will do. The car cost him £600 a couple of years ago, so if the cost of repair approaches that, he'll scrap it.
I /might/ be willing to have a go at it for him if it's straight forward enough, though I haven't done any work on engines for years. Is there anything to watch out for, or any special tools needed?
Martin.