Technical Question on 348 cylinder head. Please advise

Never break ? They break often and regular if not changed ! Even on smaller 3 - 4 Cylinder engines with just 2 Cams and less force on the belt. On a V6-V8 it happens quite faster. Look at a old belt how it looks then you will see easily why it will break sooner or later If tooth are already missing it is a ticking time bomb.


Thats how it will look like if not changed regular dependend on time and milage ! ->

http://www.haenssler-rott.de/resources/_wsb_400x300_Zahnriemen+und+Ventil.jpg
http://www.umdiewelt.de/photos/3949/3846/11/317563.jpg
http://www.zir.ch/Ulysses/bilder/zahnriemen/sehr_nicht_gut.jpg
http://www.autoservice-wynands.de/assets/images/Zahnriemen_kurz_vor_Schluss__.JPG

From the bill i would say :

1. Belt broke , Exhaust or both Side of valves hit the piston and get bend. No compression on the cylinders because of the valves bended and leaking.
2. Valveguides (for safety) and all valves where exchanged. Headgasket ofcorse too. And the Belt.
3. The pistons are not on the bill so they leave them in. But they will have definitly have impacts of the valves in it. This can be ok if the piston was messured that it size doesnt changed. It depends on wich driving situation and RPM the belt snap. I got engines in with low rpm there the pistons only have some marks of the impacts but still where in shape. On higher rpm the aluminium of the pistons is compressed so much that the size of the piston changed. It get bigger and the gap between cylinderwall and piston gets smaller. This results in heavy wear of the engine if the damaged pistons stay in the engine. Because the piston will scratch on the cylinderwall when it is pushed and piston gets warmer. The worst case i had was a piston wich was even developed cracks after such a impact and fall apart after some time. But as the engine runs over 10.000km after the change i would say this is not the case . If the tests ernie recommans are all good you dont have to worry about it and all is fine just some scars on the piston valve pockets left from the big boom in the past


4. Switzerland never had euro as ther currency they are still one of the neutral countrys wich are not in the EU so cant be called european except for their geografic position on the earth. And the prices in switzerland are always higher then in the rest of the world

Regards Samy

 

Funny :-D

Btw in Norway we charge 410$ pr hour at Volvo dealership. This was quite cheap! Haha..

 

$410 per/hour?? Wow, even with rents and taxes as high as they are we have a hard time wrapping our heads around $100 per/hour

 

High incomes and high prices in Norway

 

Because of the US deficit and need for exports and investments the dollar has not been supported and all these "normal prices in N and CH" are just blown up due to the dollar being worth nothing. In December 2010 the Ferrari dealer in Sion Switzerland offered a Mondial T engine out belt and tensioner bearings for Sfr 5k (US $ about 5.5k) from Dec to March. The prices are ABOUT the same as here. They are really good about trying to take care of their clients. There are also independents but they are usually ex-F-car mechanics who do not give much of a price break because the general mechanic quality in CH is generally top quality.

There is really no F-car surcharge there because the mechanics are already expensive.

 

Samy, you are absolutely correct. My post was a bit of a derisory comment about all the ridiculous, unfounded posts that occur, where inexperienced owners claim that belt failures on these cars are a myth created by the pros to take their money.....
Of course, people who live in the real world know otherwise!

 

Sometimes with a failure like this the bottom end can suffer damage. Depending on the engine - its fragility, position and toughness of parts - a timing belt failure can lead to a hoist of problems later on in the engines' life, like big end or or small end bearing failure, oil consumption, piston slap, and in extreme cases a warped crank. So if only the top end (valves etc) were attended to, there is a potential risk. Such is however worst-case and specific to the the engine model. A lot of engines suffer this, get a top end repaired and run for years to come.
So I would consult someone who is experienced with this failure on this particular engine. The user Rifledriver on this forum comes to mind.
The car already did 14000km which is as mentioned a good sign, however a seller is unlikely to be honest about oil consumption? Another good sign as mentioned is that is was repaired in Switzerland. The hourly labor rates may be very high there but generally the same applies to the standard they keep for their cars and repairs.

Is there anything on those bills related to the bottom end? Bearings, lower engine gaskets, etc?