vastremotors.com BLOG

Everybody knows that car manufacturers recommend the engine be serviced at regular intervals to keep it running smoothly. But many people ignore this or “stretch” the time between services to save money – something which can turn out to cost more in the end.

Broken belt

This image shows the two broken ends of a cambelt which broke while the car was travelling at around 50mph. The cambelts job is to keep the inlet and exhaust valves synchronised with the crankshaft and pistons.  If the belt breaks then the valves will be open when the piston rises and on most engines the two will hit, at best bending the valves, at worst breaking either the valves or pistons.

Bent valves

The picture on the right shows the inside of a cylinder head after a timing belt failure. The head is upside down and shows a closeup of the valves of one cylinder. The end of the spark plug is in the centre and you can see clearly that the larger valve (the inlet) has been bent and is permanently open. The exhaust valve is also bent and open although to a lesser extent.

Repairing this sort of damage is possible but very expensive as the top of the engine needs to be stripped down and all the damaged parts replaced.

So make sure you get your vehicle serviced regularly at the recommended service interval. If you are not sure what that interval is give us a call on 01686 888101 and we can let you know.