Drive Belt Query

JAM3114

Any idea why a Drive Belt would fall off the engine? Have a 05 Lacetti & the engine stalled when we slowed down and cut out. Tried to restart engine & it made a clanking noise. Pushed car over to the side & looked under car. Drive belt had fallen off but wasn't broken or looked to be shredded in anyway.
We only bought the car from dealer less than 9 months ago & now it looks like we have to pay for repair of the engine because there is damage to the heads & timing is affected. Is this a normal thing to happen due to wear & tear? Under Sale of Goods act if its not normal wear & tear we have have some hope of not having to pay for damage but don't know enough about cars to know why the belt would have fallen off? Or what is normal wear & tear?

Any suggestions would be helpful?

Rob32

Assuming you mean timing belt and not auxillary drive belt?

Was the timing belt ever changed? If its claimed by the dealer it was then the company who made the belt is liable provided the belt hasnt surpassed its mileage/age allowance. If it wasnt changed and its over the reccommended interval theres not a lot you can do. It sounds like a tensioner/idler pulley failed.

JAM3114

Its not the timing belt - its the auxillary drive belt.
Car has 80k miles on it & was due service at 80k or August whichever came first - last service by dealer when we bought it in September

Rob32

How exactly did the fan belt "falling off" damage the head and affect timing? That makes no sense?

Its possible the belts tensioner failed.

Rob32

How exactly did the fan belt "falling off" damage the head and affect timing? That makes no sense?

Its possible the belts tensioner failed.

Nissan doctor

It would be almost impossible for the auxiliary belt to cause any damage to the engine if it fell off.

I can only assume that you mean the timing belt as only this failing could damage the head as you mention.

Timing belt failure is very common on these engines as the replacement interval for the timing belt is every 40,000miles/60,000kms or 4 years and people rarely have them done on time.

JAM3114

Car was acting up that morning & was cutting out when I was braking. The rev counter just went straight to 0 as soon as brakes pressed. This happen twice that morning and when I tried to start it up the 3rd time it made a weird sound so I just pulled over without turning back on the engine. When I looked under the car you could see the belt hanging down & a friend was able to pick it up off the road. The problem with the car cutting out happened back in Feb also & dealer said no issue with the car (hooked it up to computer but nothing showed up)

They took back the car yesterday & had a look at it today, said its not turning over & that they need to strip it back to see what kind of damage has been done. Told us that head & timing could be damaged.

What we don't know is if the car cutting out in Feb was an indicator that there was something wrong with the belt. They've told us that both situations are unrelated that the car cutting out was electrical / sensor issue. We're curious to know if the problem in Feb could have caused the belt to fall off yesterday. On the odd occasion the car would completely cut out when you braked but you could power off & back on again with no problem. It just seemed to lose all power for no reason and there wasn't any particular reason that it happened except it was always happening when braking or stopping.

Unfortunately neither of us are car savvy when it comes to repairs but just don't want to be taken for mugs either when it looks like it could be an expensive problem.

Rob32

Nissan doctor wrote: »

It would be almost impossible for the auxiliary belt to cause any damage to the engine if it fell off.

I can only assume that you mean the timing belt as only this failing could damage the head as you mention.

Timing belt failure is very common on these engines as the replacement interval for the timing belt is every 40,000miles/60,000kms or 4 years and people rarely have them done on time.

I wondered when youd show up....... hows the new boss

Nissan doctor

A cutting out problem in February couldn't be related to your current failure as a failing timing belt will do so within a very short time(few mins driving at most).

The auxiliary belt may have come off as well, perhaps due to the engine suddenly stopping or something, I'm not sure. But if the is damage to the engine internals then it has to have been the timing belt that failed.

On very rare occasions the auxiliary belt can snap and break through the timing belt cover, in turn damaging the timing belt....but you'd have to be extremely unlucky for that to happen.

Have a squint here for what's involved in repairing your exact engine(assuming your's is 1.4)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77563130

firefly08

EDIT: never mind my post...late to the party!

JAM3114

Thanks - we'll know more on Monday
I'll let you know what mechanic says then

Nissan doctor

Rob32 wrote: »

I wondered when youd show up....... hows the new boss

:mad: