Timing belt snapped!

carwash_2006

My timing belt snapped last night on my Renault Kangoo van. I had this changed at the service before last at around 108,000km 9 months ago, the van is now at about 132,000km so this was rather a shock and I'm really worried about how much damage it has caused and how much it will cost.

So, is there any recourse from the fact that the belt was under a year old and way under the mileage they are supposed to be able to endure? The AA guy didn't seem very hopeful that we would have any comeback to anyone, but surely the manufacturer must have some responsibility for this? Thanks for any advice

knuth

Did you get the belt done by an authorised dealer?

William Powell

How do you know it was changed?

lomb

Who changed the belt? Was it a main dealer?If not forget it.
Changing timing belts is a waste of time without changing the water pump and all the tensioners and rollers. A bearing seizing on any of those and the belt will let go. Also oil leaks from rocker gaskets will damage any belt old or new. Bolts have to be set to the correct torque as they can come undone or snap and also if the tensioner is not automatic the tension has to be set with special tools.
Had an 97 corolla from new till recently with 132000 miles on it and nothing was ever changed on it. A bit of a gamble but paid off as sold recently. Done badly(and that would be typical here with few knowing one end of a torque wrench from another) changing timing belts is madness imho. Had the belt pump and tensioners changed on a golf once in Ireland and it never ran right after that. The timing needs to be locked prior to old belt removal. I had mine changed on my golf at 65000 miles by someone who knew what they were doing in the UK with oem parts and its been fine.

Plug

Did you put the belt on backwards. Did you put too much tension on the belt?

OldmanMondeo

ok, do you have receipts fro getting the belt done? Is the garage still operating than changed the belt? Most timing belt manufactures will give some sort of warranty on the belt. Where I work we sell Gates timing belt kits and it does happen that they sometime fail. Once it is proven that the belt or parts provided with the timing belt kit where in fact the reason why it failed, they have paid to get the car / van sorted. Don't panic yet, speak to the people who changed the belt or the place where you bought it.

carwash_2006

Yes I have the receipt from, having it changed and yes the garage are still operating. They're not a main dealer, but they do have a very good reputation and I know several other regular customers of theirs who are all very happy with their work and service.

The AA guy said he couldn't see all of the belt, but what he could see looked like it had just sheared through.

carwash_2006

Oh, the van was serviced again there about 4 weeks ago.

Just looking at the receipt now, it says timing belt kit and water pump changed at 108,042.

Bigus

Something caused the belt to snap so prob not the garage or belt fault. could be seized water pump or camshaft.



Not reasonable to blame garage on a Renault with 132 km on it

carwash_2006

Not necessarily blaming the garage, it's more the part I'm wondering about.

So presumably if it was the belt and nothing else causing the problem we should be ok?

I wouldn't have thought 132,000km that much for a van! That's only just over 80,000 miles. The AA guy looked it up and the specs said the belt should actually be ok for up to 92,000 miles.

Nonoperational

First place I'd go is to the garage that changed the belt. Could have been a faulty component in the kit or something. A reputable garage would stand over a belt change for at least a year.

Bigus

carwash_2006 wrote: »

Not necessarily blaming the garage, it's more the part I'm wondering about.

So presumably if it was the belt and nothing else causing the problem we should be ok?

I wouldn't have thought 132,000km that much for a van! That's only just over 80,000 miles. The AA guy looked it up and the specs said the belt should actually be ok for up to 92,000 miles.

Fair enough

Was more than likely something seizing caused belt to snap

carwash_2006

Well I can hope for a while yet that the people that say it could be faulty timing belt kit that was the problem :pac: But I will bear in mind that it could have been something seizing.

OldmanMondeo

TBH, I would say 1 of 3 things,

1. there was a faulty component in the kit. Once this is tested and proven, you should be left in a position where the van is put back as it was before the problem happened. Neither you or the garage will be out of pocket on that score.

2. The garage missed something when doing the kit. Maybe they over tightened something or only replaced the belt and not the full kit. Again you should not be left out of pocket on this.

3. Something was loose or faulty in the engine that caused the belt to snap. This can only be told when the engine is striped down, I would think the garage would have noticed something that would possibly cause damage to the belt and fixed it or mentioned it to you.

Since you did say it was the timing belt kit replaced and the water pump, I would talk to the garage that done the job and try and get it sorted

Nissan doctor

Whats with so many asking was it done in a main dealer or authorised dealer? how is that question relevant?

The question that needed to be asked is was it a full kit that was fitted? was the belt fitted rotating the correct way(very important on these engines)? was it tensioned correctly(only the 1.5dci has a tension gauge on the tensioner itself, the 1.9d/dci have to have their tension tested using an external tension gauge)?

In my experience that chances of the failure being a manufacturer defect with the belt/kit are very slim.

As for the consequences of the failure, all diesel engines fitted to the kangoo(the most popular by far) are interference engines so there will have been damage, how much depends on what the engine was doing when the belt failed.

Nonoperational

Slim but not impossible. Had a faulty tensioner fitted to my car last June. VW Golf.

Nissan doctor

gpf101 wrote: »

Slim but not impossible. Had a faulty tensioner fitted to my car last June. VW Golf.

Did you determan it was faulty yourself?

I've fitted hundreds of timing belt kits and never seen a fault with any. But I have seen many mechanics blaming faulty parts for incorrect fitting!

Nonoperational

Nope, funny noise about 3 months after fitting (at a main dealer). Took it back and they rang me saying the tensioner was faulty and I was very lucky the belt didn't go. They replaced the kit again, for free obviously.

Could have been bad fitting but I was inclined to believe them. Maybe I'm wrong though.

carwash_2006

If something was badly fitted or something else was having trouble would you expect to hear noises from the engine?

What happened mine was unbelievably sudden, no noises or indication anything was going to happen. There was a dull thump and the power went and when I pulled over the engine had died. We were only doing about 60km or less as we we hadn't reached the 80 limit yet, so I'm hoping this will mean the damage is minimised anyway?

Nissan doctor

carwash_2006 wrote: »

If something was badly fitted or something else was having trouble would you expect to hear noises from the engine?

What happened mine was unbelievably sudden, no noises or indication anything was going to happen. There was a dull thump and the power went and when I pulled over the engine had died. We were only doing about 60km or less as we we hadn't reached the 80 limit yet, so I'm hoping this will mean the damage is minimised anyway?

If the belt tension was too tight then the belt would be under higher stress and could fail prematurely, the same extra stress would be on the tensioner and water pump. If the bearings on one of those failed due to overloading then they could seize and snap the belt.

Its all just guesses until you get it checked though. TBH the cost for repairing the head if 1 or 2 valves are damaged is not much less then if all are damaged. The damage will be determined by the rpm and load the engine was at rather then the speed of the car.

Solnskaya

This fault is a known problem with Kangoo diesels, not really surprising and almost certainly nothing to do with the garage that fitted the belt, you are in the company of many others with the same isssue. Have a look at a few of the review sites or renault forums - Kangoos are like the old escort diesels, love breaking belts.

carwash_2006

Solnskaya wrote: »

This fault is a known problem with Kangoo diesels, not really surprising and almost certainly nothing to do with the garage that fitted the belt, you are in the company of many others with the same isssue. Have a look at a few of the review sites or renault forums - Kangoos are like the old escort diesels, love breaking belts.

So likely no comeback for us?

Solnskaya

Sadly, no, none at all. Sorry.

Nonoperational

How do you work that out? No comeback and it's not even a year since it was fitted?

-Chris-

and even though the cause of breakage hasn't been determined as belt or poor-workmanship based.

Solnskaya

Ok, Say you own a garage,(my best mate does and I spend half my life there) and you fit a timing belt to a vehicle(esp a kangoo which is, like the santa fe, renowned for seizing up either a cam pulley, a pump pulley, or just plain breaking plasticy bits and bobs that then shred the timing belt) and then almost a year passes. The customer duly returns with a broken belt and claims poor workmanship/defective product. What would you say? Realistically, what would your responce be? Do you think the belt Mfr will hold their hands up? Or Renault? Personally, I would say sorry, but sorry.