My cam belt snapped on the M4 motorway whilst in the middle lane . . 'STOP!' and load of lights warnings!!, but no big bang . . .(?)
Was able to coast to the hard shoulder . . (Luckily there was one . . .!)
AA arrived within 45mins . . Towed to the services 300 yards away . . Analysed as a broken cam belt . . .
Got towed home . . . Next day I started 'Google'ing and 'YouTube'ing . . .
Confirmed the 1.6HDi engine as being an interference engine . . However, during watching one video it looked like a disaster zone inside the head . .
BUT!!! . . The 2nd. video showed that the Peugeot engine has been designed with 'sacrificial' parts . .!! . . The rockers and even the cam lobes.
Due to the valves being vertical and the pistons having, mainly, a flat top, if the cam belt snaps it can provide stronger pressure than the rocker arm . . .
and if the rocker arm is not sacrificed, then the cam lobes can rotate!! . . . These cam lobes are press-fitted onto the cam shaft!!
I have pictures of this happening with my car.
I stripped out the cam shaft and replaced it with one off eBay . . (Approx. £34) . . A new 'Gates' cam belt kit . . . (Approx. £84) . . .
Put it altogether and waited for noises . . None! . . It started first time, and I have completed over 2000 miles since. . . .
I know that I was very lucky . . Maybe because I was just cruising at around 2000rpm.
(Maybe the destroyed engine in the 1st. video was being revved much higher . . . )
My car had done 111,000 miles and is just over 10 years old . . Schedules state '112,000 miles or 10 years' . . .I was pushing my luck . . .
My recommendation would be to do it before 100,000 miles . . .
I hope this topic helps someone who has a similar experience to not panic and check things before taking it to the scrap yard . . . As I nearly did after seeing the 1st. video . . . !!
