2000 v70 timing belt broke engine was running

[tiffbrian]

Car was running at low RPM when timing belt broke.
I am familiar with timing repair under normal circumstances, just not when the car had been running.

[rspi]

Hi and welcome to the site.

If you would be so kind as to tell us why you believe it failed? Bad water pump? Seized idler? Bad tensioner? Old belt way overdue replacement on mileage?

Other than that, these are interference motors, when the belt breaks, it destroys almost ALL 20 valves.

[tiffbrian]

It was not overdue. It was 20 below zero. The car started for about 20 seconds, i removed the cover, and saw the belt was broken. Stopped immediately because I'm familiar with the interference motors. I am just getting around to looking into possibly fixing it now. Is it worth putting a new belt etc?

[erikv11]

IMHO it is always worth resetting the timing and putting on another belt, just to see if it will run and how. That takes a couple hours and $20. The alternative is to pull the head and fix it, that starts at about $700 and many hours for DIY.

[rspi]

Now I'm confused??? It was very cold, 20° below zero?

The car was running with the timing belt broken?

You shut it off? It did not stall?

If the belt actually broke and the car stalled, the valves are bent. If you want to test it you might want to install used parts to test it.

[tiffbrian]

i started the car, it ran for apx 20 sec then died. and wouldn't start.
When i go to put the belt on do i just put the belt on with everything where it is? Or do i try to try to get the timing marks lined up?

[erikv11]

If you tried to start it with the belt off, that's not good.

You must set the timing first. It is tricky on your car, it has VVT, you will have to do some reading to know how to do it right.

I had a timing belt snafu once where there wasn't enough coolant in the car (the level wasn't low, but the mix had too much water). Started it on a very cold morning, it ran for like 10 seconds then the waterpump siezed because of frozen coolant, and the belt slipped. I heard a lot of metal clatter, presumably the valves hitting the pistons. I let it sit all winter because I assumed the valves were bent. But then in the spring I reset the timing, put the belt back on, started it up and it ran great. Compression was good on all cylinders. I drove the car another couple years before it got wrecked.

[tiffbrian]

How do i go about setting it? can you suggest a specific source? I have worked on cars my whole life so I'm comfortable with just about ant situation. If i put the belt on and try to then turn over the motor to see if the marks line up...would that be the best way to go about it?

[erikv11]

I don't know how to do the VVT, I can't advise you there.

The general procedure is
(1) get the crank on the mark (notch(es) on the crank sprocket must align with a mark on the oil pump housing)
(2) put the cams on their timing marks
(3) do the cam rotation thingy for VVT

You can start on (1) and (2) right now though. I've never done this, but would feel comfortable doing it now if faced with your car: You want to rotate the crank *by hand* until it is on the mark. If you are really lucky the mark is close and won't require much rotation . Try to find the mark and figure out which direction you need to go the shortest rotational distance to get it aligned. Take the plugs out so you don't fight compression (if there is any ). Start rotating; if ever the crank causes a piston to bump up against a valve there will be resistance - stop. You then need to rotate the offending cam by hand until you can get the crank moving again. Keep going like this until you get the crank on the timing mark.

Once the crank is on the mark the pistons will all be out of harm's way, you can rotate the cams freely to get them set up for timing.

[erikv11]

Oh, and as for a specific source, search this forum for posts by Ozark Lee about setting VVT (variable valve timing) on 99 and 00 motors. His instructions are very clear and very accurate.