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Rebuild Lasted 600 MIles

rmontalvo23

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Recently got #330/1000 on the road after picking it up in NorCal last March.

Got the first 500 miles on her and then did an oil change. 100 miles later, this happened. Actually happened last night (Valentine's Day)


So another rebuild will begin this weekend. For those more knowledgeable guys reading this, any ideas as to what may have caused a belt to rip apart like this with only 600 miles? It is a Mitsu OEM belt that we bought brand new. In order to keep this from happening again I wanted to get some suggestions/tips about this.

Also since I'm tearing the engine apart AGAIN, I'm going to upgrade the internals. So anyone selling pistons (20 over) and some rods please hit me up with prices. ARP head bolts also needed.
 

JCorbo25

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
533
Location
Sacramento, CA
t-belt snapping horribly usually is caused by a seized balance shaft or oil pump from my understanding. I'd start there.
 

Barnes

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Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
6,249
Location
Richland, WA
Are you sure you bent valves? (However unlikely it is possible you didn't bend any.)

What other t-belt related components were used during the build? How was belt tension set?
 

rmontalvo23

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Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Balance shafts were removed so that's one I dont have to check. Once I pull the head off I can pull the cover off the side and check the oil pump to see if it seized up.
 

rmontalvo23

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Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
I didn't put this belt on myself. I had another forum member assembly this motor. I'll have to check with him to see how he set the tension. I'm pretty sure we had a new tensioner put in.
 

rmontalvo23

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Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
I was going about 70 mph when the engine cut out so I'm pretty sure those valves are bend. After I pulled over I tried to start the car and the engine just spun free with no compression.
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Belts are ruined with oil or water or antifreeze on them, so check for leaks in the belt cover. Other than that you could have a snapped balance shaft belt get stuck in there, but you said you don't have any so that isn't possible.
 

dsm10o0

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Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
680
Location
San Jose CA
I was the one who put rebuilt the motor, the timing was set dead on with new tensioner and pulleys. There weren't any leaks on the car when i finished it in january. Car ran good but its weird it happened suddenly out of no where /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 
Last edited:

rdomeck

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Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
620
Location
Indianapolis, In.
I have heard of the wrong bolts being used in the oil pan that are too long. The will rub the outside of the belt and put grooves in. Over a short period of time it cuts though the belt! When I read about it I did check my fresh build and luckily I didn't have that problem, but you might!
 

DynastyLCD

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Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
761
Location
Harwinton, CT
Quoting rdomeck:
I have heard of the wrong bolts being used in the oil pan that are too long. The will rub the outside of the belt and put grooves in. Over a short period of time it cuts though the belt! When I read about it I did check my fresh build and luckily I didn't have that problem, but you might!



+2, my first initial thought as well, however i don't see the telltale groove on any other part of the belt.
 

Terry Posten

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Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
Sure looks like something seized by the way belt is ripped. Are the camshafts able to spin? Did a timing bearing seize?

Sucks to see.
 

rmontalvo23

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Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Quoting Terry Posten:
Sure looks like something seized by the way belt is ripped. Are the camshafts able to spin? Did a timing bearing seize?

Sucks to see.



If I turn the key the engine spins just fine but of course with zero compression. So the cams are moving around just fine in the head. No knocking noises or anything like that from the top of the motor.
 

rmontalvo23

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Quoting dsm10o0:
I was the one who put rebuilt the motor, the timing was set dead on with new tensioner and pulleys. There weren't any leaks on the car when i finished it in january. Car ran good but its weird it happened suddenly out of no where /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif



The car was running amazing the entire time after the rebuild. Even when the belt snapped I was running fine and then all of a sudden with no noises or knocking sounds the engine just shut off. At first I thought maybe the injectors cut out. I coasted for about a mile as I tried to go from the fast lane to the right shoulder. It's really odd, if something would have locked up I think I would feel the engine jerk, but I had the car in 5th most of the way as I coasted to a stop.

Saturday the head will come off and I will take pictures and post here as I try to find the problem. Appreciate everyone's input here, I will check all of the things you guys are mentioning.
 

rmontalvo23

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
94
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Quoting boosted_85:
Are all cam caps in the correct order? are the cam caps the original caps for the head



The head was sent to the machine shop for a complete overhaul. I am assuming that they would have put it all back together correctly but will double check.
 

rdomeck

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Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
620
Location
Indianapolis, In.
Quoting rmontalvo23:
Quoting Terry Posten:
Sure looks like something seized by the way belt is ripped. Are the camshafts able to spin? Did a timing bearing seize?

Sucks to see.



If I turn the key the engine spins just fine but of course with zero compression. So the cams are moving around just fine in the head. No knocking noises or anything like that from the top of the motor.



You would not hear anything from the top of the motor..........As it's currently not spinning!!!!
 

MitsuDriver274

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Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
319
Location
Bellingham, WA
+1 on a seized cam, im interested to see what the problem is.
 

Terry Posten

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Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
The belt turns the cams. As soon as the belt broke, the cams could no longer spin.

If a cam (by the looks of where the belt is broke, the intake cam) seized, the belt would either snap like you see it or shread all the grooves off the under-side if the belt.

If I was a betting man, I think a camshaft (probably the intake) seized causing a very sudden stop of the belt, that resulted in the crankshaft gear pulling the belt to shreads.

You would not feel anything but a sudden engine shut down. And you most likely would not hear any noises before, during, or afterward.

If a camshaft siezed, find out why? Assembly error, botched line bore job, oiling issue, etc...

You say the machine shop rebuilt the head, but did they also install the cams, rockers, and gears and you just plopped the head onto the block and bolted it down? Or did you assemble the cams into the cam journels and assemble it from there?
 

mitsuturbo

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
3,544
Location
Near Seattle, Washington
Please tell me you didn't use some oil pump other than OEM. Especially topline or something similar.

I've seen this happen more than once with other than OEM oil pumps. Looked almost exactly like this, too.
 

dsm10o0

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Jun 16, 2010
Messages
680
Location
San Jose CA
Quoting Terry Posten:
You say the machine shop rebuilt the head, but did they also install the cams, rockers, and gears and you just plopped the head onto the block and bolted it down? Or did you assemble the cams into the cam journels and assemble it from there?



the head was sent out to have new valve seals put in. I told the machine shop to not fully assemble the head so I can easily put in new 3g lifters. All cam caps are in the right order and torqued to spec.
 
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