Snapped cambelt

[Insigtopher]

Hi all,

 

Never posted on a forum before, always lurked and usually found the answer but I've come unstuck this time around!

After nine years of faithful ownership my Mondeo got wrote off due to being rear ended, looking for a cheap replacement but still with gadgets I plumped a 2012 2.0 CDTI Insignia Elite A20DTH (private sale). All is good until about 400 miles later where there is rapid overheating and then sudden loss of power on the motorway, I luckily manage to cruise it into the services and await recovery. 

Turns out the water pump had seized and took out the cambelt (gross picture for interest). Frustratingly it had only been done 30k ago. Obviously gutted and keen to find a fix for such a recent purchase I turn to the forums and to my relief they've been known only snap rockers and not valves (2nd gross picture for interest). I a took chance on a new (used) cam housing, lifters and rockers and fitted those with a new timing kit. After A LOT of cranking it fires up but the turbo immediately sounds bad on revving, imagine one of the modified cars where you can hear the howl. The engine then complains of high exhaust gas temperatures and shuts down, no other fault codes present. I'm fairly certain the turbo is now dead and a used one isn't an unreasonable price but I'm keen to understand what might have killed it?

Exhaust gas temperatures killed the turbo?

or

Exhaust gas temperatures high because of a failing turbo?

If it's the former where should I be looking before replacing the turbo?

 

TL/DR - Cambelt snapped, relaced rockers & new belt, engine starts but now the turbo has died. Only fault code is exhaust gas too high. Did the exhaust gas kill the turbo or was it a symptom of a failing turbo?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this one as it's a nice car and I enjoy the features that came with it, it'd be such a shame to let it go so soon after buying it too. I guess you pays your money and you take your chance with a private sale!

Any thoughts at all will help.

Cheers,

Chris

 

 

 

 

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Oh crikey, that's very unfortunate as you had just bought the car.
Luckily the sacrificial rocker arms saved you from having to remove the head assembly.

Not sure of the exhaust temperatures though but may be unburnt fuel and oil sitting in the cylinders.
Maybe keep an eye on it and it should decrease

Alternatively, the oil may be coming through from the turbo and if you believe it is damaged then I would replace it if cheap enough

[Insigtopher]

Thanks for the reply, I am leaning towards putting a cheapo turbo on it to see how it goes.

 

Good point about the turbo leaking oil to cause an increase in temps. There’s slight play on the intake side of the turbo.

A friend suggested I might have inadvertently starved the turbo of oil briefly on start up by not priming the oil pipe after removal, might have caused it to die there.

 

I’ve ran out of time on this one so will have to park it for awhile, I’ll be sure to throw an update down the line.

Thanks again,

Chris