2002 Volkswagen Jetta timing belt

I know this is an old post, but in case someone else is reading this.

Being a diesel (TDi) engine, yes, the likelihood of engine damage
is very high.

Diesel engines have high compression. To achieve high compression,
there is little room between the pistons & valves in the combustion
chambers.

So when a belt breaks, the pistons go up & down as they normally
would, but because the belt is broken, the valves above the pistons
no longer extend or retract as they should.

Valves that are in the extended position, then come in contact with
the piston. Which results in the valves getting bent.

At best, there will only be bent valves that need replacing (along
with valve guides after removing the cylinder head), and at
worst, there might be cracked pistons or bent connecting rods as
well
as a cracked cylinder head.

Before removing the cylinder head, one can set each cylinder to TDC
and then perform a cylinder leakdown test to test for loss of compression. Or install a new belt to see if the engine starts
and how rough it runs.

Thomas