Hiya,

Yep, my cam belt went today. Well, when I say 'went', the car cut out, the EPC (Electronic Power Control) light came on, followed swiftly by the Electronic Engine Control light and the Charger Indicator light. I came to a stop, and (bad thing, I know) tried to restart the engine. On turning the ignition key there was a whiring sound

On inspection under the hood, the cam belt is still in place with good tension, but has frayed half it's width with some teeth missing.

The car is a 2001 (X) Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.4 16 valve Petrol. Aprox 55000 miles on the clock. Was going to have full service and belt change at 60000!

I gues what I'm after is someone to say everythings giong to be fine, don't worry about it, but in reality I think I am in the brown stuff big time!

Has this happened to anyone else? Dare I ask, at what cost?? Words of encouragement/advice much appreciated!

PS: can anyone in the North East reccomend a good garage with VagCom software and reasonable prices?!

If the belt is still intact, there's every chance it has just degraded and slipped a tooth or too, hence all the timing sensors would have thrown a wobbly. I reckon you stand a great chance of no serious engine damage - compared at least to a full on cambelt snap.

aww, thanks for the encouraging words

i suspect if the belt is still intact, the water pump siezing up was to blame....

i'd expect you'd pay upwards of £1000 to get it fixed... may be cheaper to get a low milage engine from a breakers yard and swap them over

More than likely the tensioner/roller has come apart. The belt has lost tension and slipped, seen it plenty.

If its just spinning over thats due to lack of compression as the valves are jammed open as they have hit the piston, bad luck.

Good reason to change them every four years as well as 60k.

Hope it'll all be ok - if you believe in karma, perhaps if this hadn't happened you would have run into a HGV another half mile down the road.....

HTH

Bas

Good reason to change them every four years as well as 60k.

Yep, Take notice everyone! I'm living proof of should 'av's kicking you in the ***!! Change that belt!!:thumbdwn: