Cambelt's Gone - Garage Repair Dilemma

Sizzlingsmith

Hello All
The car concerned is my wife's 6 year old Citroen DS3. 64,000 miles We have been informed by the mechanic at a local garage that the cambelt has gone and there may be other considerable damage done. He has no idea of costs but mentioned it could cost 1,000's to put it right as parts would have to be sent off to access the damage. He said it will be a big job and we would be looking at 4 weeks before we got the car back fixed. My issue is when the cambelt went , the car had only just moved off a few feet and was doing no more than walking pace when it happened. No loud noises or anything heard out of the ordinary. it was as if the car stalled, on turning the igition key it made a whirring sound. My dilemma is if I give the go ahead to have the car fixed, The garage could say it was a much bigger job than it is and charged me a few thousand pounds. Or I could have taken to another garage, again further recovery costs to have it collected and taken to another garage. We just have no idea of costs on this type of repair. 
Any advice would be most welcome guys, thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sizzlingsmith

angrycrow

The problem with modern engines is that if the cambelt fails the valves hit the pistons, even at low speed. 

Best case four bent valves and a new head gasket. But if you are really unlucky a valve can snap and smash the piston or score the bore in which case it's new engine time. 

Until they take the head off there is no way of knowing the full extent of damage.

Martin_the_Unjust

What angrycrow said, even at 'walking pace' the pistons are going up and down fast enough to spin the shaft at a couple of thousand rpm, those valves are going to clout the pistons at a fair old speed.

daveyjp

angrycrow said:

The problem with modern engines is that if the cambelt fails the valves hit the pistons, even at low speed. 

Best case four bent valves and a new head gasket. But if you are really unlucky a valve can snap and smash the piston or score the bore in which case it's new engine time. 

Until they take the head off there is no way of knowing the full extent of damage.

Depends how you define 'modern', as has been the case since cambelts were fitted to non interference engines, which was in the 1960s.

Its 25 years since I had my only belt failure and it cost £1,000 to fix.  The damage was limited to bent valves as it happened at tickover speed whilst stationary at a roundabout.

angrycrow

I had a 1st gen megane snap it's cam belt at 70 mph on the motorway. I was lucky and just had 4 bent valves. That cost around £600 to £700 15 years ago so would be £1200 to £1500 now.

By modern engine I was meaning 16v engines. Was trying not to get to technical as I suspect OP would not know the difference between a non interference and interference engine. And yes I know not all 8v engines are non interference. 

2see

yep can be big bucks, belt pops at tickover, bent valves ,top of pistons dinged , might get away with a few dings on top of pistons, but even possible to bend a con rod , valve guides may get cracked / split , = new guides to be fitted to cyl  head (if it can be done) or really unlucky new cyl head , price of parts/ labour to fix can = recon engine / or breakers yard,
things can snowball , hopefully all it needs ,valves , timing belt etc, 

missile

How much is a 6 year old Citroen DS3 worth?

Homer_home

What engine do you have?

Its so we can check you have a interference or non interference engine 

peter12345678910

I would also consider cause not just effect, have you been changing the oil and filter every year? If you have then it can happen again, especially if it is low miles, but cambelts need to be changed after 80,000 miles but this number will vary with different cars. 

I only buy cars which use chains. 

Sizzlingsmith

Hello to all who have taken their time to comment on my post, it is very much appreciated.
The Citroen DS3 is probably worth £3,500 to £4,000 therefore if the costs of the repair do unfortunately escalate into the thousands is it worth it having the repair done. Especially as its going to cost just to access what damage has occurued in the first place. We really to be honest dont know what to do. The car would be in the garage for about a month and in the meantime my wife is using my car for her business as a private carer. She cannot let these people down, therefore with no car myself my cleaning business has ceased. A month is a very long time to have no money coming in. 
But thank you all for your comments 

photome

It’s your call wether you give the go ahead, I don’t think anyone can tell you yes or no. You could hire a van/ car for your cleaning business rather than not earn at all