So my timing belt just melted in half

udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
in Engine & Drivetrain
I was driving and all of a sudden their was a weirdo scraping noise coming from the engine bay and I was down on power. Good thing I was right by my house, I pulled up and popped the hood. I could tell that the timing belt was scraping on its cover, so I turned the car off right away and pulled the upper timing belt cover off. Much to my surprise, the timing belt had apparently started working it's way off and had melted/sheared off half its width on the cover. Whats left of the belt is actually holding tight at stock tension. It's dark out, so I'm going to wait till tomorrow to pull the lower cover off and see if I can figure out why this happened.

Has anyone ever had anything like this happen before? Any ideas what may cause this? The only thing I could think of would be the water pump or tensioner pulley starting to seize. Since whats left of the belt is still tight, I'm assuming the tensioner bolt didn't come loose. I was missing one screw, the only one that is in the middle area of the lower cover, but I can't imagine that could cause the belt to get demolished like this.

I'll get some pictures tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

Tom

Comments

  • ogwagonogwagon Wagonist
    Did you have the upper timing cover installed when you were driving around? If not, something may have come loose or foreign debris may have lodged itself in the lower timing cover and caused the damage to the timing belt. I have seen this happen before from not installing the upper timing cover after installing an adjustable camshaft gear or performing a valve adjustment. Also if the timing belt was recently replaced, make sure the metal rings that surround the crankshaft timing belt pulley/gear were correctly installed as I have seen this also damage timing belts. If the water pump or tensioner were starting to seize, you usually would here a high pitch whining type noise well before the timing belt got shredded. Noticed any noise like that in the last few days before this happened?
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Yes the upper and lower covers have both been on the whole time I've ever driven the car. And yes I did hear a high pitched screeching right before the sound of the belt rubbing the cover, so I really hope it's the water pump or tensioner. I did just replace the timing belt but I made sure to put those keeper washer things back on according to the FSM.

    I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow.
  • ogwagonogwagon Wagonist
    Let us know after you take a look. I have a feeling something got stuck in there.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    OGwagon ftw!

    Apparently, the one timing belt cover bolt that came out somehow made its way inside the cover and lodged itself down by the crank pulley. Problem solved, crisis averted.

    thanks for your help!
  • ogwagonogwagon Wagonist
    udubrx7 wrote:
    OGwagon ftw!

    Apparently, the one timing belt cover bolt that came out somehow made its way inside the cover and lodged itself down by the crank pulley. Problem solved, crisis averted.

    thanks for your help!
    Sweeet!! Just glad you caught it in time before some serious damage was caused.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Yeh seriously.... I just got the A6 swap done 2 weeks ago.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Update!

    It wasn't the timing cover bolt. Good thing I made a little visual inspection before putting it all together.... TWO of the water pump bolts were missing! One got caught in the belt/cover and the other one is MIA. Good thing I had a spare water pump and bolts sitting around!
  • ogwagonogwagon Wagonist
    udubrx7 wrote:
    Update!

    It wasn't the timing cover bolt. Good thing I made a little visual inspection before putting it all together.... TWO of the water pump bolts were missing! One got caught in the belt/cover and the other one is MIA. Good thing I had a spare water pump and bolts sitting around!
    Did you also replace the water pump at the same time you did the timing belt?
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    But of course!
  • SkiptoSkipto Band Wagon
    check all the pullys make sure they spin freely my guess would be a bad water pump or idler pully. starting to seize up while your in there if you haven't change the water pump anytime soon i would while its all apart
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