TDI Broken Timing Belt = Warped Cylinder?

I've got an '02 VW Jetta TDi, and the timing belt went out on it this morning (126,000 miles). My local Pep Boys doesn't want to touch it because their mechanics don't have a lot of experience with diesels. When I called the dealership, they informed me that if I busted the timing belt on this type of car, that I definitely warped the cylinder head... which turns a $400 job into a $5K job.

Is this a fact? I understand enough to know that you can't really tell for sure whether the cylinder head needs to be fixed without, well, fixing it, but that's a pretty steep change in cost to just take it for granted. At that price, I'm almost better off buying a whole new engine!

It may be a little cheaper through an independent shop, but stick to someone familiar with VW.

It may be a little cheaper through an independent shop, but stick to someone familiar with VW.

When the engine went out did you hear fast knocking in the engine or were you driving real slow and it stopped quick?
The engine is designed so that when the valves close the piston comes up to the head (timing) and when the timing belt goes the cam stops turning leaving the valves hanging open and the piston comes up and hits it. Don't be discouraged before removing the head, you may have to have some valve guides fixed and replace a few bent valves. You could search the junk yards and get a good used head. Regards
Sam

When the engine went out did you hear fast knocking in the engine or were you driving real slow and it stopped quick?


The belt must have gone out overnight, because I drove it home fine the night before, and it had only stopped working when I tried to start it the next morning. I did hear some wierd clunking/knocking as I tried to start the engine, but not while the car was actually on.

This is another reason I'm sort of dubious about assuming the cylinder is damaged. If the belt went out while the car was off, or just as I was trying to start it up, would the cylinder have had much chance to be damaged?

The belt must have gone out overnight, because I drove it home fine the night before, and it had only stopped working when I tried to start it the next morning. I did hear some wierd clunking/knocking as I tried to start the engine, but not while the car was actually on.

This is another reason I'm sort of dubious about assuming the cylinder is damaged. If the belt went out while the car was off, or just as I was trying to start it up, would the cylinder have had much chance to be damaged?
There shouldn't be much damage seeing that you cranked it over with the car battery and it didn't go out while driving. I would just pull it off and take a look, check the valves. You never know.

There shouldn't be much damage seeing that you cranked it over with the car battery and it didn't go out while driving. I would just pull it off and take a look, check the valves. You never know.

Thanks for all the help! I found another dealership that's willing to replace the belt without automatically assuming damage to the rest of the engine. We'll know for sure sometime this evening.

It's a bad story, but I'll tell it anyway. I had a Chevy Lumina come in saying it needed a starter. He said he parked in his driveway the night before & when he got in the next morning tried to crank it but the engine only turned a couple of times then stopped & the starter would just click. The engine was locked up, a valve seat had dropped into the cylinder. Don't underestimate the power of the starter because just by trying to crank the engine it caused severe damage to the piston, it was shattered & also the valves were bent. I hope your's comes out better. Slipping a belt on is probably worth a try.