Is my engine worth saving?

bladerunner

Hello all, new to the forum as I only discovered it once I googled my problem.
I have a 2.2 astra sri that's done 65k. Yesterday (Thursday) I pulled out of a junction and the engine stopped. I've taken the rocker cover off and discovered that the timing chain has snapped. As I've read, this seems to be common on these but the question I'm now faced with is - Is it worth spending the money on or do I just strip it for parts??
As stated I was just setting off from a junction, so my revs and speed were very very low. Will the head be damaged or will I have escaped serious damage and get away with fitting a new timing chain kit?
After reading many posts on this forum, If I fit a chain kit I'll buy it off here and make sure it's the new tensioner and oil way with a genuine chain, but is it worth doing? I paid 1800 for the car 18 months ago and it's well looked after and low miles, but if it's only worth 1500 now and it's going to need a full rebuild is it really worth it, I really don't know.
Any advice anyone can offer would be very much appreciated.
I've already sent benny an email but no reply as yet.
Thankyou in advance for your help, Karl. (one very gutted owner)

vocky

worst case it will have bent a couple of inlet valves, it's quite cheap to repair the head so I would rebuild it :thumbup:

sandyc

I second that. Its not a bad job to do.
£200 worth of bits and a good days work should see it running again.

bladerunner

I need help! Just spent the day fitting my new cam chain kit but no joy. I've no compression on any cylinder (My compression tester is ok). Is it really possible I've bent valves on every cylinder and done them bad enough to not register any reading on a compression tester??? The timing is correct, the pistons are moving up and down, and the cams are moving all the valves. Please help.
Karl.

jwalker

Did you remove the valves and check to see if they were bent?

bladerunner

No, I've not had the head off yet. But surely I should have something somewhere. I have absolutely zero compression on any cylinder! I can't have done that much damage considering the low speed and revs, surely. Can I???

jwalker

No compression because you will have bent valves, even if you were going slow.

You need to take the head off and check the valves and guides

bladerunner

I appreciate some valves are probably bent but I don't want to rip the head off if theirs another problem. How likely is it that I've bent valves on all four cylinders, severe enough to leak enough air so that a compression tester doesn't even flicker? I've never known this before on any engine, you usually get a poor reading on a cylinder or two. Even if one cylinder is shot, the others usually still hold pressure enough to register on the tester. Are these engines known for destroying a complete set of valves?? I'm only asking because this seems so unlikely, but if you think that's the problem I'll get the head off. Head bolts, pulley bolts, head gasket etc etc, I just want to be sure so I don't throw good money after bad.
Thanks for your help,
Karl.

jwalker

Do a search for 'bent valves' and you'll see that it does happen, you could have bent valves on each cylinder and possibly damaged guides.

Considering how you're going to have to take the head off anyway to replace the ones that are bent, I'd whip it off and have a look!

vectra2k9

the guides would have cracked i saw some on ebay for £24 pounds for 16

sandyc

It is possible. I used to have a Mondeo that I bought from a neighbour after a timing belt tensioner broke up doing a very low speed.
Result 15 valves out of 16 bent.
Often the damage isnt caused by the initial snappage but by attempts after to restart the engine.