S40 V40: Broken Cambelt pulley

[Sweeney Croc]

Volvo V40, 2000 131,000 miles. Cambelt was changed at 92815
I was coming out of a car park doing less than 10 miles an hour, engine was near idle revs, nasty noise and the car stopped and wouldn’t start. It turns out that the cambelt pulley has broken in half.
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Car has been looked at by main Volvo dealer and they have said that they have exposed the inlet ports into the engine and they can see that the valves are bent, so she needs a replacement cylinder head. Quote of £2193. My question is, can they see the valves are bent by this method? They have found a load of other bits and bobs wrong with her despite her passing an MOT 10 days ago bringing the total to £3675. Has anyone else had a pulley break like this? Is it fatigue or the sign of another problem? As far as the garage are aware there shouldn’t be anything else wrong but won’t know until they have taken the cylinder head off. If the pistons are cracked it would mean a new engine. (I hate to think the price of that). Is it worth doing anything with it or after 10 years of reliable service (1st time shes broken down) is it time to call it a day? The belt is still in one piece!!

[Clan]

I think you need to determine what went wrong , for example where has the bolt gone which holds that part of the pulley on? Are there polished parts which would indicate the bolt fell out before it broke? There is no need to take these bolts out when doing the cambelt change but did they ?

The most economic repair and a used engine about £300 ish ... and off you go again for many more years , dont let the dealer near it at that age ..

[flyingtech55]

Bent valves does not mean a new cylinder head! Bent valves mean renewal of the valves which are actually bent; a fairly straightforward and not uncommon job. The pistons are not generally cracked under such circumstances but you may be unlucky. If so, drop the sump and renew the piston(s) while the head is off.

Incidentally, how did you determine the gender of your car? Just curious, as cars are generally of the neutral gender in the English language. Boats/ships are sometimes referred to in the feminine gender but that is for historical reasons.

TimR

[Sweeney Croc]

Have decided to bring the car home so I can see it for myself. From memory, one of the bolts was tucked down at the front on the radiator side, the AA man saw it and said that it didn't look as if it had broken off.

Clan could you please elaborate on what you mean about 'economic repair'? Does that involve just getting the current engine going or getting a recon one?

Also would it be an idea to just replace the pulley and see if it works? Thought the garage were going to do that but they did not.

Thanks both

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Sweeney Croc

Have decided to bring the car home so I can see it for myself. From memory, one of the bolts was tucked down at the front on the radiator side, the AA man saw it and said that it didn't look as if it had broken off.

Clan could you please elaborate on what you mean about 'economic repair'? Does that involve just getting the current engine going or getting a recon one?

Also would it be an idea to just replace the pulley and see if it works? Thought the garage were going to do that but they did not.

Thanks both

I suspect one or all of the bolts holding the toothed pulley to the hub was removed at the cambelt change and not tightened ! They have no reason to be removed at all .
If you want the broken outer pulley bit i have a spare one some where. The whole pulley assembly is around £150 i dont think you can get the outer part on it's own new .
It is likely valves are bent , yes they can see by taking off the manifold and looking down the inlet ports but that only checks inlets , you cant see the exhausts
Valves are about £50 each , it could well turn into a £1000 repair job ...

Hence the most economic repair is a good used engine ( Most of these engines are fine used ) I repaired a similar case 10 years ago , a good used engine was £250 .

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Clan

I suspect one or all of the bolts holding the toothed pulley to the hub was removed at the cambelt change and not tightened ! They have no reason to be removed at all .
If you want the broken outer pulley bit i have a spare one some where. The whole pulley assembly is around £150 i dont think you can get the outer part on it's own new .
It is likely valves are bent , yes they can see by taking off the manifold and looking down the inlet ports but that only checks inlets , you cant see the exhausts
Valves are about £50 each , it could well turn into a £1000 repair job ...

Hence the most economic repair is a good used engine ( Most of these engines are fine used ) I repaired a similar case 10 years ago , a good used engine was £250 .

Clan is 100% correct and the idea of going to a Volvo dealer with such a problem is financial suicide.
I've never seen or even heard of a pulley failure, it's always loose bolts and one possible reason is that some person decided to change the oil seal when doing the cam belt job, took the pulley off and then forgot to use a thread locker or torqued the bolts incorrectly. They might have even lost a bolt and then used the wrong ones afterwards.
Some engineers that have worked on engines that suffer from cam or main shaft oil leaks regard replacing the oil seals during a cam belt job as normal.

[magnuz]

Can't really understand why anyone would want to undo these bolts, and it has done 38000 miles since the belt was renewed? They are quite a wierd shaped head on the bolt & it is quite difficult to get a conventional socket, or spanner on them. i have dismantled an old VVT pulley, to see what was in them, but had to hammer an old worn socket on the bolts, & even then they weren't very easy to shift !
Maybe something has caused the pulley to crack & over time the movement has loosened the bolt ??

[Sweeney Croc]

Picking the car up today so will post some pics of the damage over the weekend. The cambelt was originally changed by main dealer by the way - not me! Thanks for all your posts :-)

[Sweeney Croc]

Please see attached photo.
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The other half of the toothed pulley is still attached - the pulley moves a bit in situ. There is oil on the remaining pulley - should there be? It looks like an old break to me-it is not clean. I have been quoted £160 for a replacement cylinder head but need to get someone to fit it. Do you think its worth it or is another engine still the best option? Lots of people say that the pulleys don't break ..... knowing my luck there will be something else wrong if we just try to get the cylinder head changed! Can't see what the valves are like I suppose the main dealer has a special camera.

[Sweeney Croc]

Sorry, cont: As the main dealer told me it was illegal to tow on the road with a tow rope (we did use a tow pole) I have checked and it is not illegal, just not advisable to do so, it makes me wonder what else they have told me is true ....