Timing belt broke 96 Fiat Bravo 1.6

Capt'n Midnight

I was told there was a big bang.

Is there any way to tell if the engine is OK without having to fit a new belt.

Is it worth getting it looked at or is it a case of just swapping the engine out for a similar one ?

mike65

Unless FIAT have managed make a cylinder head design breakthrough. Your valvegear is now in bits the top end will need rebuilding, lots of parts and time.

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:J593Dvy_HcEJ:www.carsurvey.org/review_19082.html+timing+belt+snapped+fiat&hl=en&start=5&lr=lang_en

oops.

Mike.

Squirrel

Brava Review wrote:

Reliability marks
10/10

Lol! Is the car worth much to you?

mike65

I'd say your best bet is to either, find a complete engine from a breaker or simply wave "bye bye" to the car and buy somthing else. If you find a replacement unit you wil have the chance to get it lots of new bits (plugs leads, fluids, er belts etc).

Mike.

ibanez

Your engine is ****ed a backstreet mechanic might be able to find an engine in a scrapped car and carry out the transplant for you.Like Mike65 said its a good time to renew or replace any parts like Belts,Filters and clutch if necessary.

stratos

I presume you have checked it is actually the timing belt.
I had one break on me and yes there was a pinging a shreeking a banging, and then lots of weeping. when the piston hit the valve it stopped briefly bending the crankshaft before it pulverised the valve into the camshaft.
new engine I'm afraid.
On some cars the piston can't hit the valves, I used to have a car years ago that broke timing belts often.
It was no problem coast to halt new belt out of the boot and 20 mins later off we go.

Capt'n Midnight

Yeah can see the tops of the camshaft sprockets

And uses "ribe" bolts to hold the camshaft housing so can't tell how bad the damage is meself.

Buy and Sell have similar cars (yeah I know - but it ain't my choice) for about €1,250 and I'm guesstimating say €700 to get a breakers engine bought and fitted - does that sound way off ?

bazz26

Might be worth considering getting another one instead. Just spotted this in Carzone:

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Car&carID=229793&message=You%20searched%20for%3A%26nbsp%3BFiat%20Bravo%2C%20Year%3A%201999%2E%20Your%20search%20returned%20one%20vehicle%2C%20which%20is%20shown%20below%2E&CFID=14012813&CFTOKEN=14928242

You would probably buy it for €2,500 waving cash in their face and its a year newer also.

Capt'n Midnight

Thanks all - just spotted a typo was a 1996 not a 1998 , the shape hasn't changed much