Timing Belt broke today.....help!!!

[krazylowgsx]

hey guys,

i own a 96 gtp as my daily driver, and on my way to work today, my timing belt broke. i had the cruise set at 80mph, and all of a sudden the gas peddle popped up like it felt like i just took the cruise off, and when i pressed on the gas, nothing happened. i pull over, and check the ignition fuses, and pull the timing belt cover off to see black dust, and no belt. this is very frusurating for me since i bought this car jan.1st, w/ 68k on it. i bought it for a daily driver since i have turned my eclipse into a street/drag car!

anyways...i had the car towed home. what should i do from here. its a 3.4 as you know, and i just did a tune up about a month and a half ago, and the spark plugs, and wires were not fun at all. i really don't want to dive into another project since my dsm is in the middle of a motor swap.

i just need to know what i should do as far as replacing the belt, and how do i tell if the vavles are bent?

thanks for the space, and thanks in advance for the replys,

Clay

[krazylowgsx]

ok, i called a shop today, and they said it may be ceaper for me to just find a rebuilt head ready to drop in. they even mentioned a new motor, but i think thats a little far! is there any way to check the internal damage with out completly ripping into a whole new project?

thanks.

[danthemanluvatan]

I have replaced several timing belts on 3.4 engines where the belt was broken. Not one had bent valves all ran fine afterwards. Installing the belt may be a little tough for you to do. You would have to remove the upper intake manifold and valve covers to properly time engine. When you or someone replaces the belt make sure you replace the idler pulleys as well. They seem to wear out allowing the belt to shred itself again in short order if you don't.

[danthemanluvatan]

I have replaced several timing belts on 3.4 engines where the belt was broken. Not one had bent valves all ran fine afterwards. Installing the belt may be a little tough for you to do. You would have to remove the upper intake manifold and valve covers to properly time engine. When you or someone replaces the belt make sure you replace the idler pulleys as well. They seem to wear out allowing the belt to shread itself again in short order if you don't.

[krazylowgsx]

Thanks for the reply! my grand prix is totally diffrent from my 97 awd turbo eclipse! i'm currntly swapping motors in my eclipse, and its no big deal to me since i'm so firmiliar with the car.

the grand prix on the other hand......i changed the plugs, and wires, and it wasn't to bad. i also went ahead and changed the air filter, and fuel filter while i was at it.

say i dive into it, and attempt to replace the belt my self.....before i just go off and install a new timing belt, how would i beable to check and see if anything was damaged such as the valves? i would hate to do all that work and find out i have bent valves.

thanks again for you help!

[kilroypr]

Well I have never broke a timing belt on my 93 Z-34(has the same DOHC engine) but when replacing it since the pulleys do not have marks is a pain. You have to be carefull when looking for the dead center for piston 1 and 2 to properly allign the cams on each side, what I do is after i have the dead centers and cams properly alligned I strap them. Install the new belt and then take the straps out. It is not hard, but, alligning the pistons with valves/cams is the tricky part.