CAM belt broke while driving 70 mph

HARRYJAM

MEMBER
2011 PEUGEOT 207
59,000 MILES

My cambelt went when I was doing about 70mph on the motorway on my Peugeot 207 11 plate Sportium. I was told the damage would be quite bad and it would make more sense to scrap the car than to repair. However, repair was quoted around £840 - and equivalent working Peugeot 207's are selling for about £1500 so I felt if I could swallow the repair price, I could sell for £700ish profit. So I've had it repaired. On my invoice it's starred at the bottom to say my sump is porous and leaking oil. I'm sure it wasn't the case before this damage. The garage only told me when I went to collect my car and told me to monitor any leakage. It is leaking oil as oil is present on the floor when I've parked it somewhere for a few hours. Additionally, after starting up the car, it starts to make a tappety noise after about 10 seconds which it definitely wasn't making before. Is it a coincidence, or could something have been done wrong in the repair of the damage caused by the snapped cambelt? I'm annoyed at paying a lot for the repair and now having more problems, related or unrelated! Should the garage be seen to help to fix this in any way or is it just a complete coincidence and I have really bad luck?

1 Reply

DANNY L

MECHANIC
5,648 POSTS

Hello, I'm Danny.

Kind of surprising to have your timing belt break at such low mileage. Usually service/change is not due until 100,000 miles. When a timing belt breaks during engine operation major engine damage can occur. Some engine are called "interference" engine and when a timing belt breaks on those the valves contact the pistons and cause serious damage. The tappity sound you describe could just be an incorrect valve lash adjustment (too loose) when the shop fixed your car. You didn't mention if the shop gave you any type of warranty/guarantee because I would take it back to them. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.

Danny-