Have I Damaged The Valves? Pinto 1.6

[Guest sadjagboy]

Unfortunately while I was running my engine on Monday, checking for water leaks and so on, the timing belt broke.

 

Can anyone tell me if I will definitely have bent valves, or is it worth putting a new belt on and trying the engine? It is a 1982 Capri 1.6 pinto engine. It had just warmed up and was idling when the belt broke. If needed I have another head with reground valves etc, it is from an standard (ie not an e-max) 1.8 pinto, will it fit?

 

I have written the cheque for IVA so would like to have a quick and cheap solution to get the car on the road.

 

Many thanks

 

Angus

[Andi]

Years ago I had a Cortina 1.6 and the belt broke.....

Most people told me it was definately knackered, but since the cam belt was only a couple of quid I gave it a go and hey presto, it ran for years.

 

 

Andi

[Guest paulrrh2b]

Hi,

 

I would pop another belt on and check compression on each pot, then try and run it before stripping down. If in any doubt pop thenhead off and check. However at tickover damage should be minimal.

 

Good luck!

 

Regards

 

Paul

[Guest stevox5]

Hi mate

 

Had this happen to me on a cortina years ago at 40mph and did no dammage replaced the belt and good to go . i would certainly try it .

 

Good luck , hope its a cheap and easy job

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Guest sadjagboy]

Thanks for the replies guys, I really meant to go out to the garage and get started on changing the belt, it but its a cold wet and miserable night and I was worried I'd be wasting my time, you have given me hope, and now I have a Friday night date in the garage! Out tomorrow, more new year celebrations...

 

Many thanks

 

Angus

[Guest chris brown]

The Pinto is classed as a safe engine so providing it hasn't got high a lift cam or an excessive amount off the head you should be OK

[Guest ickle]

gutted for ya mate

but nice to see the iva is in sight

if i can help in anyway just give me a shout

 

regards stuarty

[Grim]

last belt i bought was £8, and easy to fit. Thinking of which i am probably due another by now...! No risk of any damage, like others ahve said.

[Guest Alan_builder]

Hi Angus,

 

Like the others have said the Pinto is non interference, so just a new belt.

[agent_zed]

When i put my 1.6 e-max (longer stroke than normal 1.6) back together with a 2ltr camshaft (which has higher lift) i must have done something wrong as it was making a horrid knocking noise when i ran it. I still don't know what was wrong and can only assume it was a valve hitting a piston although i'd triple checked it before putting it back together and turned the engine over by hand. Couldn't see any marks on the piston tops when i peered down the plug holes. Eventually took the belt off and reset everything again and it was fine, still have no idea what changed. But it has run fine ever since.

 

Not sure whether it was because of the higher lift of the cam or if the e-max 1.6 doesn't free run even with the normal camshaft. But as others have said a cambelt is worth a try as they seem to be pretty resilient. You could find out if it runs free by slowly turning the engine over without the belt and see it it jams against a valve (obviously do it very slow and gentle if you do this).

 

the 2ltr pinto in my dads transit snapped a belt and had no problem at all. Even tried cranking it over loads as didn't know what the problem was at first. new belt and its still going strong after 20k.

 

hopefully though its caused no damage and just spins free.

[Guest mower man]

Pinto 1600's are safe 2'0 litres are not ,thats what I learnt from a very exp Ford tech [ 40+ years at it ] and through my own experience find that its true altho have seen them survive a tick over speed belt break , time it up and turn over by hand with the plugs out ,any lumpiness you have a prob HTH mowerman

[Guest sadjagboy]

Thanks to everyone that has replied, and thanks for the good wishes, all sounds good news. Of course I have a replacement timing belt already, just too lazy/busy to get round to fitting it sooner. I had already fitted a new belt to the 1.8 engine I had in the car originally, only to find no compression on cylinder 2, different belt for a 1.8 and a 1.6 but only a few quid on ebay.

 

Thanks again

 

Angus

[agent_zed]

Pinto 1600's are safe 2'0 litres are not ,thats what I learnt from a very exp Ford tech [ 40+ years at it ] and through my own experience find that its true altho have seen them survive a tick over speed belt break , time it up and turn over by hand with the plugs out ,any lumpiness you have a prob HTH mowerman

 

maybe because its the low compression version in the transit that means that it isn't a problem? but it definitely was ok with it snapping and suffered no ill effects on a 2ltr pinto and was free to go round on the starter without it touching anything.

[Guest sadjagboy]

Thanks again for all the replies. Update is: belt changed, timing reset and running nicely again. Just a few small jobs to sort out pre IVA...

 

Best regards

 

Angus

[Bob Tucker]

Make sure you know why the first belt broke ASAP.....

Bob