so my cam belt has lost a whole load of teeth around the bottom pulley. it happened just at the end of my road and not knowing much about what was wrong i tried to bump start the car while pushing it back to my house. knowing now that i have probably destroyed my engine in doing so i would like to try and see if i have been lucky with a new belt. obviously the bottom pulley (don't know the name of this one) has turned independently of the cam shaft pulley.

my problem is lining up the tdc's. i have read all the threads i can find on cam belts but they all talk about doing it before it goes. i suppose i have to turn the bottom pulley independently to get it back to alignment but is there a way to do this that will cause the least damage? is my engine definitely damaged and should i even bother with doing this? I have also made numerous attempts at starting the engine after swapping bits around because i first thought it was an ignition fault.

thanks guys

what's the engine code? The 1093cc engine isn't interfearance. But the odds of you having that engine aren't great I guess.

There is a timing mark in the shape of a slit on the alternator pulley this lines up with an arm on the engine marked with a 0

Turning the engine by hand won't do any more harm than what has probably already come of it. Because the valves point directly down, you just won't be able to turn the engine any futher. So make an adjustment of the camshaft and try again.

If you set the cam pulley to TDC wherever the crank is you'll probably find it won't hit anything unless it's near BDC, so find where the marker on the alternator pulley is pointing

Ahh i have an hz 1043cc engine. thanks. I assumed the valves would stop on the piston but unsure of damage so thanks for clearing that up

the timing marker on the bottom pulley on mine is like a flat piece of metal that sticks out parallel to the ground with a cutout. Am i right in thinking the pulley marker goes between the two prongs that make up the slit? it sounds a bit different from what you are saying. I Want to be sure on this one. I can get a photo tomorrow.

is there any chance this wont be knackered do you think?

How many teeth on the belt have gone that would give an indication

Loads have gone. They went around the bottom pulley. I would say enough have gone to fully wrap around the bottom pulley without any teeth engaging.

it didnt make any noises when it stopped and hence i thought it was electrical.

nige, that is extremely helpful. Thank you very much

Edited 12 February, 201313 yr by lobbster