Punto 1584cc Engine

When did the belt break , at high speed/ high engine revs or as you turned the engine over to start her up

at high speed / high engine revs very few engines will survive unscathed

If you were just starting her then there is a 50% chance that its worth repairing , thers only one real way to find out

was travelling about 20-25mph, just changed gear into 3rd and ...bumph

Chueck it and get a new motor and pay more attention to servicing needs.

some nice words and some wise words that will be heeded. Thankyou.

If it was me, I'd put a new belt on and cross my fingers. If it's knackered, scrap it.

If it's an 8valve, you might get away with it.

i might do as Chris said and try a new belt. It's an 8 valve 1.6 (title should have read 1581cc)

I've already done the AA thing of spinning the engine on the starter with no ill-sounding noises (apart from no camshaft spinning). But then...it did stop kinda suddenly.

the AA will love you for posting that !! you should NEVER spin an engine over with a suspected broken cambelt, because if there's was no damage before, you've more then certainly done some damage now.

pants :-(

didn't wanna hear that, oh well

Depends upon whether it's an interference engine. If it isn't, spinning it over is not going to cause any further damage. Mike.

thanks mike, unfortunatley, that question was raised in my original post and noone seems to know yet. I guess I will when I get to have a look-see.

autodata says that it is an engine where valve damage is MOST LIKELY on belt failure

Very lazy western-style engineering; there's no reason real good reason, except cost-cutting, that timing chains and non-interference couldn't be the norm in all cars, not just Japanese.

thanks for the ultimate reply Mrcheerful...although your current grin at my predicament is most unwelcome.

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for the information.

The Mrs seems to want me to have a new car right now rather than repair the little beastie. Ebay here we go......

Not all Japanese cars are chain-cam, and very few of them are non-interference.

Chris

Come to that, chains can fail too.

I take no pleasure in it. 99 per cent or more of belt failure is preventable by routine maintenance, so I find it depressing to hear if yet another car written of the sake of a service, it doesn't do the planet any good either.

Mrcheerful

Oil and timing belts are really the only required maintenance excluding the obvious-fail items such as brake discs/pads that are consumables anyway. Seems a waste that so many cars get ditched just because a plastic belt goes.

Indeed. And the plastic sprockets that Toyota sometimes use...

Chris