Vectra timing belt has gone

Wig

I know you said you don't have the first clue about cars, but if you know someone who is willing to help or you could get a haynes manual and have a go.

It would be fairly easy to remove the cylinder head and take a look and then take the cylinder head for an estimate or just exchange the cylinder head. And check the pistons are ok.

Obviously reassembly would have to be done by a garage. The point I'm making is that the cylinder head has to come off and you could do that yourselves.

immoral_angeluk

My sister in law's boyfriends cambelt went on his car and took 8 valves and pistons with it (16 valve car) and it cost his £1600 to fix. The car was also on finance with no warranty so he had no choice but to pay up.

judosteffer

Go to https://www.findapart.co.uk and put in a request for a 2nd hand engine- its free and you'll get loads of scrapyards writing back within 48 hours- I got a really good 50,000 mile engine for my fiat bravo for £300 this way.

reheat

Just reiterating what most have said here. With a lot of modern engines the valves and pistons can extend into each other's space ... but not at the same time! If the timing belt goes then it can all go badly wrong and they can end up in the same place at the same time! Bent valves, damaged pistons, possibly even bend con-rods and damaged cylinders - bits can break off and fly all round the place. How much damage only really possible to ascertain by stripping the engine - which costs a bomb anyway.

Unless of course you're lucky and your engine is one where the valves and pistons never occupy each other's space anyway.

Your best bet may be to get a 2nd hand engine fitted and then sell it - depends really whether the cost of repair is more or less than the price drop you suffer selling it as it is. Or try selling it on Ebay ... just might find someone with a clapped Vectra that's got a decent engine it

tomstickland

Engine swap is the easiest option and probably the cheapest. Top end rebuild is the other option. It can be done DIY by someone who has the tools and know how.

kitchpoo

https://www.vvoc.co.uk

https://www.vec-c.com

Both will point you in to the right direction. There are a number of VX breakers nationally and perhaps an engine swap would be a better option as you are not opening yourself up to an unknown price situation, once you instruct a garage to start work, it can be easy to get carried away and keep on adding things because its a good opportunity to do it whilst the engine is stripped - plus you dont know the extent of the damage.

tomstickland

You can sometimes buy crashed cars with engine for a few hundred and the rest of the parts are worth that anyway when sold.

Wig

If you can source a scrap engine which looks good (you may even get to hear it running in the car), the labour to swap them over at a bacck street garage should't be more than 150 pounds. But you'll need to find the engine yourself and get the engine transported to the garage with the car.

I sourced an expensive engine for Omega 2.0 2 years ago £500 (there was a 100 deposit included - so it was actually £400 - which I never went back for - he wanted my old engine in return! bleeding cheek!) The back street garage swap over was £100 labour, the result was an Omega that worked fine.