A but of a build up, but I *do* have a question...
The timing belt on my '87 16V Scirocco stripped last Tuesday.
This is the second time I've had one strip out on a 16V Scirocco. And the third time I've had a timing belt strip out. The first time was many years ago on a Fiat X-1/9. The result was that the valves became works of modern art (bent in interesting ways) with all the attendant repair work required. I was told back then it was because the engine was an "interference" type. The top of the piston fits so closely to the head that if the a valve is open when the piston comes up they will "interfere" with each other and something will get wonked.
Fine. I was also told that the 1.8L 16V's in the Scirocco's were interference engines and that there were only two possible positions the engine could be in where they would not mash things up.
When I lost the belt on the first Scirocco some years back I happened to be at idle, at a stop light. Everyone said that that was what saved me because it (somehow) increased the probability that the engine might be in one of those two position when the belt went. The shop put in a new belt, timed the engine, and it ran fine for another five or six years. In fact, it was running fine until I took it off the road a few months back.
When I lost the belt Tuesday I was coming down an exit ramp, clutch on the floor, engine at idle. The shop put in a new belt, timed the engine, and it's running fine (so far, anyway).
My question is, was I misinformed that the 1.8L 16Vs are "interference" engines, or have I just been really really lucky twice?
- Bill