Snapped timing chain at start up, damage potential

[Ian]

Sorry about this, bit of a newer car dilema!

A small bit of background as we all love a story.

Last month after my Mrs 06 astra looked like it was going to fail it MOT on discs and pads all round and a bent suspension strut, we decided in our wisdom, that the cheaper option would be to retax my old 02 astra 2.2 which I have had for almost 3 years and put over 30k on, has been a great car, and after spending £550 on its MOT at Christmas on again brakes all round, new suspension, and replacement tyres and exhaust. the tax on this is high at £156 for 6 months.

Friday night she rang me to say its making a strange metallic noise, but in all honesty I forgot to have a look at the weekend, so yesterday morning she went to drive it and said it was running rough, so didn't use the car. When I got home from work i tried to start it to have a listen, it didn't start sounded awful, made a small clatter and smoke came out in the inlet breather, now the starter just spins and doesn't crank the engine at all.

I think this will be a snapped timing chain, which is common on these 2.2 engines, but I thought there would have been more warning than that with a change in noise. I am guessing that even at start up the valves will have had a nice little chat with the tops of the pistons!

Does anyone think I am right in deduction, or could there be anything else?!

[stealthstylz]

Sounds about right, they're not cheap to fix either.

[stealthstylz]

Sounds about right, they're not cheap to fix either.

[Ian]

I figures as much, to be honest I don't think the car will be fixed, and sadly will get broken up, which is a shame, as it was a good car, I think that's why there are so many of them still on the road, as unlike certain slightly older makes Vauxhall seemed to have given them pretty decent rust prevention measures, as there isn't any on it all, the interior is in almost perfect condition. It is what it is! we currently have 4 cars in the house only one of which is usable luckily that my company car!

[composimmonite]

I'd say dismantle (you've nothing to loose) remove cams and with no chain so all valves closed do a compression test. If they give decent readings then with each cylinder at BDC lever the valves for that cylinder down to check the open and close easily (and therefore not bent). If that is all Ok I'd then fit a new timing chain kit.

Quick look on eBay shows a new chain and sprockets / tensioner kit is around £100.

Paul H

[stealthstylz]

It's a 2.2 Vauxhall if it hasn't bent all 16 valves i'll eat my hat.

[Ian]

Even just being turned by the starter? I guess it doesn't take too much force to bend the valves!

[taurus]

Even on the starter they bend the valves, and that's when most of them go. They are also prone to damage at the lower end if the pistons have met the valves, though usually that's when they let go at speed. Shame, my Z22SE ran to galactic miles with no problem even though it was one of the early ones with the tiny oil feed. It's the extended oil changes that kills them.

When they go you don't get much warning. If it was rattling on Friday then that was probably the only warning you'd get. They often go with no warning at all.

[Ian]

Well thanks for the advise, it only made it to 109k miles, which is the same as my dead 328 BMW! So at least I have a pair of defunct motors. It did use a hell of a lot of oil!
Full aet if discs and pads bought for the 06 astra 1.9cdti 150 today for £106 from gsf so that's not too bad, then replacement strut and hub is going to be £150 fitted and then MOT and tax, so that's at another nice cheap month out of the window, without tempting fate, I don't know how long this one will last as it's done 185k miles, and last year had to have a gearbox rebuild, dual mass flywheel and clutch, then another flywheel 2 weeks ago! Don't have much luck with cars.

[retrowrongun]

The chain breaks on these because the paper style cartridge oil filter starts to break up ,and as such deposits bits of paper in the oil ..... Which in itself isn't a major worry

bUT then what happens is the little nozzles that lubricate the timing chain clog up with the paper from the oil filter ,chain runs dry and snaps ....

Would imagine the noise your other half said about is probably when it clogged up fully !!!

Its also an interference engine and can guarantee valves will be mashed in and bent ,cheaper to get good s/h head

Was a recall fault too and nozzles were revised around march 02

[Battles]

We got an old 2.2 recently that met this very fate.
We stripped it for parts to recycle into furniture and the like and, as above, there wasn't a single straight valve.

[stealthstylz]

The front struts for the Astra are cheaper from Vauxhall than aftermarket suppliers (ECP etc)

[gavs1]

Auto data says this is an interference engine so busted valves is a definate

[retrowrongun]

Just get a good second hand head and new gasket and chain kit
Chuck it all together and should be good for a few more miles until it snaps again

(Yes they are that bad )

Good luck with it anyway pal these motors are well known in the trade for being very troublesome

[taurus]

The issue with the oil filters is that when they were first released the aftermarket spec ones were slightly too long. As a result they get crushed in the housing which is why they tend to break up. Another favourite trick is to seize the exhaust cam when that happens.

The original oil feed was only 1mm which was a tad optimistic with 20k service intervals. 5k oil changes plus a GM filter and they'll run fine for massive mileages, but very few of them got treated like that.

If the oil filter has broken up then check the oil feeds if you repair the engine, or it will go again.

[Ian]

Will have a look at the filter, to be honest if I put the original wheels back on, scrap for £150, reclaim the tax £100 , sell other wheels for £100 and gsi spoiler for £50 that's more than I had it for sale for when it was up and running, sadly it's not worth the time or effort putting it back on the road, which really is a shame

[jrevillug]

Gutted for you - I had a timing chain fail about 2 miles after I put a rebuilt engine in, and ended up with one bent valve, so I kinda know the pain.

Jul 1, 2014 10:41:08 GMT composimmonite said:

I'd say dismantle (you've nothing to loose) remove cams and with no chain so all valves closed do a compression test.

Couple of points:

1) With the chain off, some of the valves will still be open. On a 4-pot there is no moment in the engine's roation where all the valves are shut.

2) Without the inlet valve opening and closing at the right times you'll never see compression; it takes a full charge of air at atmospheric pressure to build the compression pressures. This is why you'll get very different numbers if you do a test with the throttle close, and with it wide open...