Cambelt failure

[morningglory]

Hi all,

So, bad day. My timing belt went on my lovely 1994 TZD estate today. Only 77k and the timing belt was only done a few years/20k ago. Flew through last few MOTs no advisories, well looked after, looks great inside and out. It won't turn over but neither me or the recovery man wanted to keep trying it.

I've had two garages say they're not interesting in fixing it and say its a write-off. I understand its rare and not worth loads, but surely the engine parts aren't that rare.

Anyone any advice on how much the damage is likely to be £££? Anyone know a garage in Sheffield that might be interested? I haven't got the time to be researching and sourcing engine bits right now, and need someone else to sort it all.

If its only going to be an enthusiast's labour of love, then it might end up for sale.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers,

Joe

[Jaba]

What bad luck. You have to take the head off to assess the damage. Typically there are some bent valves and a snapped camshaft. Both easy to fix.
An engine swap is another option for a known good one. Sorry but I don't know anyone to suggest near to Sheffield but I am sure someone else will have some suggestions.

[morningglory]

Cool, thanks. That sounds more positive than my usual Citroen man who just said, "Write off, mate. I'm certainly not interested in faffing with it". Fair enough, I suppose. I'll take it apart a bit if I get some time over Christmas and get more detail.

[rutter123]

As Jaba says I suspect at worse yr be looking at a few bent valves- depending on how fast the engine was running at the time, prob not the end of the world but I would expect a bill of in excess of a monkey if yr putting it into a garage to fix it, nothin really technical involved just basic spannering, shouldn't be too difficult to source a s/h lump if needed the xud9 was utilised in several French vehicles.

[morningglory]

Its the XUD7TE turbo - know if that's likely to have more damage?

[arlever]

i recently bought a used complete head from rutter 123 because mine was cracked. i have saved the camshaft and all the valves and you are welcome to these free of charge if you want them. they are off a 1.7 turbo as well but you would have to collect from north notts.
hope this helps keep a bx on the road.
let me know mate
andy.

[morningglory]

Wow, that would be absolutely perfect. I commute Sheffield to Nottingham every day so could easily collect. I've sent you a PM.

[arlever]

not received pm mate but anyway i would consider doing the repair yourself if you can. it really is a case of following instructions in the haynes manual carefully and methodically and any problems you have this forum is full of knowledgeable people.
when i do mine i book a week off work so there are no time constraints and make sure i have everything i think i will need.
got to be worth keeping your bx on the road if you still have the passion for it.

[rutter123]

Ok so it's a turbo xud7te, still nothing major spannerwise, unfortunately I have no turbo heads available even still sourcing parts shouldn't be a major issue, a little more tricky to get the head off as the turbo manifold is a bit more fiddly, personally I would remove the engine completely this would also give you better access to check that nothing like broken valves hasn't got into the turbo itself. You may consider sourcing parts from Peugeot 205/309/405 or Citroen early Xantia or even the Rover 418 of which all use the xud7te lump. First things first get it stripped down, if it comes to it you can use a non turbo camshaft from a 1.9 which oddly will give better low down torque.

[rutter123]

And I have a plentiful stock of new quality head gaskets and used turbo's should you need, also poss I could get hold of a complete head .

[jamescarruthers]

Sorry to hear this.

If the damage is limited to just the cylinder head can't you just send it away for refurbishment? On my Volvo, more for piece of mind when the engine came out to replace the core plugs, rather than snapping a belt, I sent the head to Ivor Searle, and was very happy with the work and service. http://www.ivorsearle.co.uk/

[KevR]

Had exactly this happen on my Xantia (same engine but 1.9). Didn't even bend any valves as far as I remember, but did snap the camshaft and break a camshaft bearing cap. A brand new camshaft was cheap enough, and I sourced a cap from somewhere. Easy enough job to do if you're at all handy with the spanners – getting at the exhaust to manifold join to disconnect it is probably the hardest bit!. As I recall though, you can't order a head gasket til you've got the head off and measured how far the pistons stick up above the block.

[hubrad]

Ouch! Had that happen on an Escort decades ago, and it really was death of an uncollectable car.
I've not been to these guys in a long time, but in the days of having BX and Xantia cars I lived about a mile down the road from them near Holmfirth.
They were THE place for Citroen repairs, also for both new and used parts, Could be worth a phone call at least.
http://www.mandmmotors.org.uk/

[morningglory]

Thanks all for your help on this, especially Andy for the parts. Sounds like it can be rescued whatever, but I'm so pulled out with work etc, I doubt I will have time to even take it apart to inspect the damage until June, plus I'm only up to three-spanner skills in the Haynes manual! No way its being broken or scrapped anyway.

[Kaapelimies]

You're lucky if it's just the valves and the cam. I rebuilt once a BX N/A diesel engine that had suffered the same, two connecting rods were bent (determined by piston extrusion over the block, one was 0.3mm and another 0.7mm too low compared to the survived two). So I suggest you do the measuring according to Haynes manual.
The engine did run problem free with the twisted rods (as the head was changed by the previous owner after the incident), but only the guy I don't believe in knows how long it would've gone before spontaneously dismantling itself on a highway...