Timing belt broke!

Hey all, I frequent the Chevy blazer forums and always get good advise over there, so thought I would try his one as well. My buddy has a 2004 Jetta 1.8t with 95,000 miles. His timing belt broke and basically trashed the head according to the mechanic. The mechanic told him a new head will run $3400 and I was hoping one of you might know of a better solution. We found a couple used engines but they will cost as much as the head and both have around 100,000 miles also. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

When a timing belt breaks on an interferrence engine the cam stops turning the valves and the pistons slam into the open valves. Typically, you end up with bent valves and some busted goodies. On a bad day it might take a chunk out of the piston. They recommended the head because its more cost effective. You get all new parts, and it's easier to put in.

That is the lazy way. If you want to do it your self, you are going to have to pop the Valve cover off and take a look yourself. You are going to have bent valves. It's a fact. It's just how many, and what else needs to be replaced. You can get the valves individually at your dealer. They are not that bad. Hopefully you only bent a couple. You can garuntee a couple hundred dollars in repairs even if you do it your self. And a couple thousand if you pay someone else to do it.

You will need a new timing belt kit (tensioner(s) water pump and probably a t-stat at this mileage).
For the head... a lot of stuff.