It finally happened. The timing belt snapped...
 

...and my silky smooth 2.5 V6 now sounds like a diesel. On a bad day.
The noise can be heard when attempting to start which of course it can't do.
I now have one of the most accessorised, most polished, best loved and downright beautiful paper weights that there is.

I can't talk about it right now. Waiting for a tow truck.
I'll add more detail tomorrow.

Sigh. Just sigh. :(

p.s.
I knew it was time to replace the belts. I frankly couldn't afford it and was living on borrowed time.
I'm not blaming anything other than that.
2003 model. Original belts.

I feel for you and it’s a position a lot of people will be in with the way things are going with jobs and finances

Yes Les it a horrible feeling when something big and expensive lets go. Don't know the mileage of our OP's car, but according to both the earlier and later service schedules the cambelts should be replaced every 90k miles or 6 years, so should have been done in 2009, 2015 and coming up again next year.

If finanaces are tight then maybe owners should opt for the 1.8 which is cheaper to replace the belt on, or the diesel engine which has camchains designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle.
















.

Hello Matthew,

First of all my deepest condolences. Despite the fear associated with this, it's still very rare.

You might have read that, when I changed them, my original belts were 19 years old and had covered 90,000 miles. I was surprised to find that they displayed virtually no wear and tear however, the tensioner and idler pulleys were in need of replacement.

I'd be interested to know the mileage of your car because if it has suffered pulley bearing failure (leading to belt detachment), that information will be a very useful guide to other KV6 owners.

Once again, I'm very sorry to hear of your predicament. Hopefully the damage can be repaired.

Simon

£450 over 6yrs equates to only £6.25 a month.

Oh yes only to true!, i purchased a mg zt in mirage many years ago from an eastern european fellow in northampton, it was rough around the edges but a true bargain £350 for a monogram 190 with 96000 miles on it. It was brought for spares for my other mirage 180 ztt, but it drove so well that the 180 was laid up and i started daily driving the 190, it did however have a very load water pump/bearing failure, so i knew it was only a matter of time before it let go, however i did manage to tease around 2500 miles out of it before the bearing letgo and it jumped a few teeth and i coasted to a halt right on the aeroplane roundabout at lutterwoth, so yes if the belt does,nt let go something else will!.... as for the car i got the bits i wanted and sold the rest for scrap, it ended up on copart, not sure what happened to it after that?. BN53 OVB.:shrug:.

If it's still running sounds like it's lost a couple of teeth and slipped timing .
If you have the storage space they you could just fix it over a few months and just take your time learning on the go
Good luck anyway

Shame, but probably inevitable. Sorry to hear of the engine’s demise.

Interestingly it is near the 3x factor often used in engineering (for the age).

Has anyone recorded failure ages/ mileages for belts to judge the factor of safety?

Totally inevitable.

Here in Australia you have to have good contacts to find anyone willing to work on your Rover at all.
Many owners here have found that the belt replacements cost $2500 (1400 pounds ish) or more.
Now that the bearings have been ground to new and wonderous shapes according to the dang noise it makes. I will need a replacement engine.
Cheapest I can see all this costing is around $5000 (2800 pounds ish).

BUT...as I said I knew I was taking a risk. It's just a shame that's all.
It now rests in a garage where she will stay until I can work something out.
I'm on a disability pension so umm...I'll work something out. Eventually.

If it takes a couple of years or more it won't matter.
I'm keeping her :)

She helped fix me* I'll be sure to fix her.

*Having a strong emotional attachment to an inanimate object may not be even remotely practical, logical or wise, but I know a whole lot of you get it.


It had managed 162007 km.

Ouch! I feel for you. On the plus side, we now know that the belts will last 17 years! :getmecoat: Plus, still thinking positively, the money you saved will buy you a car from sales corner.:shrug:
Always look on the bright side of life.;)