Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap

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Fri 15 Oct 2004 22:57
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - autumnboy
Hi, everyone

A friend of mine has a 1995 Vauxhall Omega 3.0 v6 Elite automatic, the problem is the cambelt snapped on tick over and wondered what sort of damaged this might of done other than a few valves and what sort of costs are we talking of repair either by a garage or myself.


Cheers for any help.

terry
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Sun 17 Oct 2004 09:01
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up)
More damage than you may imagine.Many bent valves, broken guides and damaged pistons. Remember the engine has only to turn over a couple of revs to do as much damage at idle as at 30 mph. As the car is worth little in terms of resale I would suggest a secondhand engine from a reputable breakers with a warranty would be most cost effective but fit a new belt kit before installation. Parts for these engines are very expensive,the engines are difficult to work on in situ, add to that the time and cost involved stripping the heads off, skimming, replacing valves and cutting seats fitting new valve guides etc etc and you can see where the costs in time and money mount up. Going down the engine route you could be back on the road fairly quickly.
Andrew
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Simplicate and add lightness!!
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Sun 17 Oct 2004 12:06
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - Schnitzel
I don't agree that as much damage can be done at idle as at 30mph, as when going at 30mph, there is 1700Kgs of inertia behind the collision within the engine, but at idle, there is just the mass of the engine components.
Having said that, for a nearly 10 year of V6, it may not be worth all the effort and expense.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 01:06
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - Chad.R
I don't agree that as much damage can be done at idle as at 30mph, as when going at 30mph, there is 1700Kgs of inertia behind the collision within the engine, but at idle, there is just the mass of the engine components.

I'd agree if the car was a manual but since it's an auto, if your "coasting" at 30mph then there's probably very little load on the engine. If you were accelerating then obviously different.

Just thought I'd add my 2p worth, especially since I run an almost identical car....I know how expensive they can be :-(

Chad


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Mon 18 Oct 2004 23:25
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up)
I bow to the theory of your calculations but, in the cold light of day,a bent valve is a bent valve whether you clout it with a mallet or toffee hammer it still needs replacing.
Andrew
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Simplicate and add lightness!!
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Tue 19 Oct 2004 00:00
Vauxhall Omega Elite Cambelt Snap - Number_Cruncher
Andrew, I agree fully, once the cam stops, the engine only needs to do one rev to do the piston/valve damage. The valve head will not resist the kinetic energy contained in the engine's own considerable rotational inertia at idle without bending - especially if it is at an angle with respect to the cylinder axis.

The cam will stop very quickly after the belt snaps because it has relatively high friction, and owing to the camshaft's small inertia, it possesses little kinetic energy.

number_cruncher
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