Technical cambelt petrol.

[henry74]

Hello, it looks that my cambelt snapped (according to the useless RAC guy).
My car is a Ulysse 2003 2.0 Petrol. Cambelt changed at 69000 and it has only 90000 yesterday. I was at a stop so not fast, and only 1st gear. Is there a lot of damage on a petrol engine? Also is it normal to change the cambelt after 21000 miles. I thought the cambelt default was only on the diesel.
The fan belt is still working is it normal? How much would cost to repair?
Any experience with Petrol engine and cambelt failure?
Thanks

 

[Brittleware]

I don't know whether the petrol engine is the same, but the diesel has "sacrificial" rockers between the cam and the valves, so that there will probably be no damage to valves and pistons. As the biggest problem on the diesel engines is getting the injectors out I suspect that this may not be the case on a petrol engine. Anyone know better?

 

[avionista]

On the 2.0L petrol engine, I think the camshaft acts directly on the valve-stem (via a hydraulic tappet) so it is likely that cambelt failure will result in damage to valves and/or pistons. The only way to find out is by removing the cylinder head, which should not be too difficult on a petrol engined Ulysse.

 

[henry74]

Well....today I had a reply from the garage.
Cambelt failure (it was changed at 69000 miles and now snapped at 90000!!!!).
He said the on this type of engine there is a lot of damage and he gave me a list of everything that the most probably is wrong.......and it is a loooooooonnnnnngggggg list!
Tomorrow I will have the definitive quotation but I really don't know what to do because if it is a lot of money.....
But the car drives very well so that's a problem because I love the car. It is nice and big. So I don't know if it will be worth changing it.
Thanks

 

[Brittleware]

I hope you have a good outcome from this - but two thoughts arise. Firstly, that's a very low mileage (90,000 - 69,000 = 21,000) for a belt to fail at. Secondly, was the idler/tensioner and the water pump changed at the same time? (Yes, I know that doesn't help, sorry.)

 

[henry74]

Hi
Yes it looks (invoice) everything was changed.
Also the garage said about headgasket to change because this is an interference engine and it has damaged a lot. I will have the quotation tomorrow. But my dad (was a a diesel specialist) he is convinced a petrol engine shouldn't be as damaged...especially the head gasket.

I am very upset as the cambelt was changed only 21000 miles ago(2 years ago);