1987 325i timing belt snapped

[redhatpat]

The valve on the right side is the one that broke the rocker arm, can anything be told from this pic?

Probably not. You might be able to see a gap around the valve head to see if its bent, but don't bet on it.

What do I do once valve cover is off?

Take off timing belt and then pull head. Then the fun begins. Will it take a little money to fix, or a lot of money? Whee. :)

[amdspitfire]

OK heres the bad news, looks like the valves hit the cylinder... ALL of them.



















What do i do now?

[Erick]

That......is pretty ugly.

Save yourself the hassle and get a motor from the junkyard. Freshen it up with new gaskets, seals, etc and off you go.

[amdspitfire]

That......is pretty ugly.

Save yourself the hassle and get a motor from the junkyard. Freshen it up with new gaskets, seals, etc and off you go.

damn :( I wanted to fix this thing... is it that bad? Needs full rebuild top and bottom?

[Jean]

take the head to a machine shop for inspection (40-100, plus a rebuild will cost another 200-500), they'll tell you what the damage is or find a good used head (100-300). Clean the tops of the pistons off and take another pic , it's hard to tell what damage they suffered etc.

[amdspitfire]

take the head to a machine shop for inspection (40-100, plus a rebuild will cost another 200-500), they'll tell you what the damage is or find a good used head (100-300). Clean the tops of the pistons off and take another pic , it's hard to tell what damage they suffered etc.

What should I use to clean the tops of the pistons off?

[redhatpat]

What should I use to clean the tops of the pistons off?

A wire brush and brake cleaner should be fine. Dont get crap in the coolant passages, and change the oil afterwards, cause some brake cleaner will leak into the oil.

Now's also a great time to inspect the cylinders. Check if there is a ridge near the top of the cylinder. If its not too deep, then you might want to re-hone the cylinders to get a fresh cross hatch pattern on them, and replace the rings and bearings at the same time since you're already in there. If the ridge is too deep then start looking around for another block with fewer miles, or look into a full bottom end rebuild.

Good luck.

[SandyEggoE30Girl]

If it was me.............. since you already have the engine apart. Like rwdrift said go to a junk yard and replace the whole thing. You can get a long block for 200-500 dollars.
I mean if the pistons all got hit by valves? Pretty much it is toast. It more than likely took some life from your bearings at the least, and not only that, I would be willing to bet there is some damage to a few of those pistons, and con rods that you will not see with out tearing down the bottom end.
Find a second motor, and maybe rebuild that one if it is rebuildable?
But to just try and patch fix the one you have after that kind of failure, will only lead to more problems down the road.

[sticksdaman]

get a m20 from the scrap yard put that in

thats what i did after i snapped my timing belt

keep that motor and maybe down the line rebuild it bore it out put all the goodies in there