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evanbottcher · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2003 6:37 pm Post subject: Broken cam belt!!!

About 2 miles out of Thaxted heading towards Saffron Walden on a B road today having a lovely time when a gentle POP! occurred then the 33 only ran on one bank of cylinders. No rattles or bangs, and it would actually restart but definitely only on one bank and then it would die. Levering open the left hand cam belt cover I can see the loose belt.

Just home in the tow truck Crying or Very sad

So... my question is - if a belt goes on a 16V boxer, will valves be bent??? Other than a sudden inability to propel me forward there were no other untoward signs i.e. metallic banging and explosions like when our old Sud dropped a valve.

any thoughts?

thanks,
Evan. Crying or Very sad

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'77 Alfasud Ti
'69 1750 GTV

ChrisC · Alfa Sprint Joined: 13 Mar 2003 Posts: 152 Location: Frome

Do a compression check and find out. Seems that the belts are dying non-stop these days!
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evanbottcher · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2003 7:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks - Wish I had a workshop and my tools, but I left all that in Australia a couple of years ago...

Recovery guy claimed to have run 33's racecars in South Africa - he said that they never bend valves when a belt goes, but I always thought they did (or could). Is he right or wrong?
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'77 Alfasud Ti
'69 1750 GTV

Sergio · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2003 7:38 pm Post subject: Cam belts

Hi Evan

The same thing happened to me last year...
I was lucky, my car had 1 year warranty and the dealer got it fixed... Smile

Anyway, I asked the mechanic what was the engine damage and he told me there were only two bent valves... Smile

The rest was OK...

Wish you all the luck

Best Regards

Sergio

Ian M · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2003 9:15 pm Post subject: Busted Cambelt

You will be very very lucky not to have bent at least one valve.
When mine went (8v) there was no noise either but I still had two bent.
Dropping a valve is different as the valve will have dropped into the cylinder.
One peice of advice often given is to change the belts and see if it runs.

Gary UK · Guest

I have had a belt slip and bend 8 valves(hyundia) and it made no noise at all. Sorry!!

tvatavuk · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2003 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Broken cam belt!!!

Scott Sander · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:14 pm Post subject:

Evan,

If you do find you have bent a valve, have a look at the piston once the heads are off to see what damage is on the piston. You don't want to find out after you have done the heads and refitted to find out a piston is cracked. Crying or Very sad

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'91 Alfa 33 Boxer 16V Monza - Awesome
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evanbottcher · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2003 11:54 am Post subject:

My friendly local repairer has told me the 'book' estimate for one head off and replacing valves is 12 hours! He says that's pretty pessimistic, but even so I'll be up for most of the value of the car to get this fixed, and mostly in labour.

I'm going to resist the urge to have a go myself - given I have no garage and no tools with me in the UK...

Why do I form such an emotional bond with inanimate objects?
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'77 Alfasud Ti
'69 1750 GTV

stedee · Alfa 33 Joined: 02 May 2006 Posts: 364 Location: brighouse

i recently bought a p4 with a slipped belt - it made the usual nasty noises however there were no bent valves - its worth putting a belt on and timing it up just in case.
in my case though i did this 1st and it still made nasty noises so i stripped the engine to check the valves etc and nothing was obviously wrong which is what not i wanted to see - its better if you can see the problem and just fix that, i have replaced all the hydraulic tappets as they can break instead of the valves ( a ferrari mechanic told me that - my other car - i wish!!!!)i took the time to port and skim the heads and mod the inlet valves so basically i am hoping it makes nice noises when i put it back together
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evanbottcher · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:55 pm Post subject:

Note the date on my last post - 2003! I'm not even in the UK any more Smile

I did get the car repaired - four bent inlet valves but otherwise everything was fine, just the smallest crease in the piston heads. The car served me fine for another year or so before I sold it (for less than the cost of the repair) and moved to Australia.

cheers,
Evan.
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http://www.trofeoalfasud.com
'77 Alfasud Ti
'69 1750 GTV