How necessary is timing belt cover?

[mike]

we've just had similar on a A4q 1.9 TDI , aux belt shredded, a strand/thread made its way into the timing cover and got tangled with timing belt.

Luckily somehow (thanks Audi Gods) the cam/crank relationship stayed the same but the fuel pump managed to get about 90 degrees out of sequence which obviously stopped the engine but no damage to valves. Reset the pump timing and it was running again.




________________________________
 From: Steve B <urq at pacbell.net>
To: Project Pat <psdooley at verizon.net>; Qlist <quattro at audifans.com> 
Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2013 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: How necessary is timing belt cover?
 

It got in there when I did the timing belt R&R ... Must have been in the engine compartment somewhere and I didn't see it.  It was very small, in a way it is hard to believe it could have such catastrophic effects.

Steve Buchholz

Project Pat <psdooley at verizon.net> wrote:

>I don't understand how the paving material got in there with the covers on.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com] On
>Behalf Of urq
>Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 12:20 PM
>To: quattro at audifans.com
>Subject: Re: How necessary is timing belt cover?
>
>... let me pass along my personal experience on the subject.  
>
>Many, many years ago I replaced the timing belt on my '88 5kSCQA.  I 
>followed proper procedures and closed everything up when I was done.  No
>more 
>than a month later I was taking the car to meet up with the local Audi fans
>when 
>all of a sudden the dash lit up and the engine died.  It didn't take long to
>
>realize that the cam was no longer spinning with the crank.  I had the car
>towed 
>home.
>
>When I opened the timing cover I found that the timing belt had a 1/2" wide 
>slice stripped off one end, which then caught on something and tore the belt
>
>apart.  What I found was that when I did the TB service a very small piece
>of 
>sharp paving material had gotten inside the timing belt area.  The clearance
>
>between the belt and the oil pump casting is deliberately small to minimize
>the 
>
_______________________________________________
quattro mailing list
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information