Any Clues

faolteam

I was Driving my Toyota Avensis today its a 2000 Model 1.6 Petrol, Anyway i was driving along when suddenly it cut out in me, which i tried to start but with no luck at the same time i was on a hill so i let it roll down thinking the battery might be the problem even though its only 3 months old,

Anyway as it free rolled down the hill i engaged 2nd Gear it did not make any difference it was not going to start ,

The car did try to turn over

Atlantic Dawn

Sounds fuel related, maybe fuel pump.

Ronnie Beck

Alternator or related wiring possibly. Is your battery flat?

Nissan doctor

Do you know which 1.6 engine you have?

Does the engine sound like its turning over very fast or is it normal?

faolteam

Well the Recovery guy who towed it to my local garage said after he started it and then lifted the bonnet up said immediately was the Timing Belt had gone.

I wont know probably till tomorrow hopefully fingers crossed its not the timing belt ,

my Toyota Avensis is the Lean Burn model

Avns1s

It struck me reading your post earlier that it could quite likely be the timing belt. I didn't particularly want to be the bearer of bad news. Your mechanic would have the benefit of the starter turnover sounds which would give a clue as to what the engine was doing as ND alluded to earlier.

What mileage is on the car and when was the timing belt last changed?

faolteam

yea the car tried to turn over and as i said when it cut out i was going down the hill but it would not connect even when i put it into 2nd gear

the car mileage is 173,000 miles

as far as i can remember it was changed at 100,000 but i will have to work that out

Avns1s

The belt should be changed every 60K miles or every 5 years or so on those. Idler should also be changed but is often not done.

Hope there isn't too much damage done, but I wold be worried. Might be worth looking for NDs thread on repairs after timing belt failure on this forum so you know what you're facing into.

Best of luck with it.

Nissan doctor

That where I was going with my question too.

The good..ish news. Although these engines are generally listed as interference engines(valves damaged if belt breaks), they are actually non interference(meaning no damage) although the tolerance is extremely close so if the revs were high or the pistons have high amounts of deposits then there is still the chance of damage.

faolteam

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Do you know which 1.6 engine you have?

Does the engine sound like its turning over very fast or is it normal?

the engine didnt start but when i tried the ignition it seemed as normal


as a matter of interest how long will it take for my mechanic to find out exactly what is wrong

Nissan doctor

faolteam wrote: »

the engine didnt start but when i tried the ignition it seemed as normal


as a matter of interest how long will it take for my mechanic to find out exactly what is wrong

If the engine sounded normal when turning over then that's good as it means you still have compression.

To diagnose/check shouldn't take long at all. Remove the plastic timing belt cover will confirm the belt failure and a leakdown test will show any cylinder leakage due to valve damage.

faolteam

Nissan Doc

faolteam

Just to let you know the Mechanic rang me,

he said the Timing Belt did snap, he had to put on a Tensioner ,

and tighten a few things he also is doing the oil change and filter that it was originally booked in for,

he is Charging me 250 euro , i think that's a fair price ???

MickySticks

faolteam wrote: »

Just to let you know the Mechanic rang me,

he said the Timing Belt did snap, he had to put on a Tensioner ,

and tighten a few things he also is doing the oil change and filter that it was originally booked in for,

he is Charging me 250 euro , i think that's a fair price ???

That's a very good price in fairness, is he changing the water pump too?

MarkR

If you were overdue on the timing belt, is there anything else that should also be looked at while it's up on blocks?

On my diesel avensis, it's been suggested you should also change the water pump at the same time, as it involves a lot of the same work as the belt.

You're lucky to get away with a small bill!

faolteam

MickySticks wrote: »

That's a very good price in fairness, is he changing the water pump too?

he just said i must have not been driving the car fast when it happened,

and i wasn't i was turning left going down a hill when she stopped on me

Nissan doctor

faolteam wrote: »

he just said i must have not been driving the car fast when it happened,

and i wasn't i was turning left going down a hill when she stopped on me

Like I said, damage, in most cases, is much less likely on this engine.

€250 is about right for a timing belt kit on those engines. The water pump isn't driven by the belt so doesn't necessarily have to be changed with the belt.

faolteam

what does the water pump do by the way ?

because i did notice one day my coolant had dropped a bit but i filled it up and it didnt drop again

Nissan doctor

faolteam wrote: »

what does the water pump do by the way ?

because i did notice one day my coolant had dropped a bit but i filled it up and it didnt drop again

A water pump...pumps the water(coolant) around the engine.

Avns1s

faolteam wrote: »

what does the water pump do by the way ?

because i did notice one day my coolant had dropped a bit but i filled it up and it didnt drop again

The coolant dropping and then holding (for a period at least) can be the first sign of the water pump going. If you have never had the waterpump changed, I would change it now. As was stated earlier, theres a lot of the same stripping involved as the waterpump on those sits partly behind the timing belt and the belt really needs to be slackened to change the waterpump.

My experience would suggest that the water pump can leak anything from about 150K miles on. The part itself is not expensive and most of the labour will be part of the tming belt change anyway.