My car had made a funny noise and I took it to a mechanic to look at Timing belt and they told me it was fine. ~4weeks ago.

My timing belt broke yesterday and bent all my valves, valve covers etc. No one has looked at the pistons.

I drive an '04 Aveo with about 65k on it.

So I need it rebuilt or a new motor.

What kind of prices for each should I expect? I have been getting quotes all over the place and being a female I do not want them to take advantage of me.

the quotes are ranging from 1400-1900 to rebuild.

1/25/2008 12:36:16 PM

unless the pistons are damaged, then it should only need a head rebuild and a timing belt, and that price range sounds about right for that


and for future reference, you can't "check" a timing belt, you just replace it at the reccomended interval, even though it shouldn't have failed at 65K on a 3 year old car

if the pistons aren't damaged, it will need new valves, a head job, new top end gasket set, water pump, cam and crank seals, new timing belt, and water pump

in parts thats about $400-$600, and $1k labor isn't bad for all that, about 10-12 hours worth of work, not including machine shop time for the head





[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM. Reason : if the pistons are damaged, you're looking at well over $3k, depends on what the car is worth to you]

1/25/2008 12:39:25 PM

yah. 65K is not a lot.

whats up with the warrany? doesnt it come with like a 5 year?

1/25/2008 1:06:34 PM

Well I just called a shop that will put a new motor in for 800....where can I find out how much a motor runs?

It is looking like that will be cheaper.

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 1:30 PM. Reason : If the repair is much over 1500, I am junking it]

1/25/2008 1:29:08 PM

new motor will run you $3-4k if one is availible for your car aftermarket

1/25/2008 1:33:57 PM

wow, timing belt snapped after 65K miles? What's the car's recommended timing belt changing interval? I know it's 90K miles for Honda or something like that.

1/25/2008 2:57:30 PM

Quote :

"if the pistons aren't damaged, it will need new valves, a head job, new top end gasket set, water pump, cam and crank seals, new timing belt, and water pump"

cam seals should come with the head gasket set

you really dont *need* to replace the crank seal, but it is typically a good idea

and all of the valves wont need replaced, just the damaged ones. maybe new guides.. its hard to say really without actually having the engine apart, but i've seen a timing belt go and basically destroy the entire engine (bent 12 out of 20 the valves and left divots in the pistons, cylinder bore, and head)

were you driving it when the timing belt broke? the guy i mentioned above was accelerating onto the interstate and it stripped like 12" of the teeth off when he hit ~60mph

all you can really do to check the timing belt is to take a look at it and make sure it is in good condition. with some vehicles, the tensioner is the part that fails, and its nearly impossible to predict that kind of thing.

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 3:38 PM. Reason : ..]

1/25/2008 3:37:21 PM

I am guessing this is not covered under the powertrain warranty?

1/25/2008 4:37:42 PM

Apparently the timing belt change interval is 60,000 miles, which coincidentally is also when the powertrain warranty expires.

You have every reason to be pissed about this. I don't really know what to tell you though. I've never even seen an Aveo in a junkyard.

1/25/2008 4:39:55 PM

note to self, don't buy an aveo in the future.

1/25/2008 5:05:45 PM

I'd offer to help, but I don't want to get Daewoo on my hands.

1/25/2008 5:11:33 PM

^^you had to make a mental note???

I'd rather drive a pink del sol

1/25/2008 5:53:20 PM

belt broke when starting the car.....

The official estimate is 1450 for all valves, etc. and 525 more for the head.....

for a factory engine installed- 6100- I told him he could shove that because I didn't even pay that for my car when I bought it with 11k on it.


I found a place that I trust that would put a motor on for 800. I found a motor at a salvage yard for 750...has 25k on it.


Would you guys recommend that route?

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 6:36 PM. Reason : there is one on ebay for 650 and if I go to like 40k miles I can get one for 450-500.]

1/25/2008 6:35:24 PM

how do you know all of the valves are bent if the pistons haven't been looked at? that tells me the head hasn't even been pulled.

fwiw, premature timing belt failure is a somewhat common problem on them. iirc, there was a tsb issued a couple of years ago that discussed this and offered a free replacement belt if the car was under 60k miles. i don't know if it's still active or not though.

not that any of that is really applicable in your case though. while it is a low number compared to most vehicles, you've exceeded the reccomended replacement mileage.

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 6:57 PM. Reason : if you replace the motor, definitely replace the belt before it goes in...]

1/25/2008 6:56:02 PM

They did not pull off the head. They just saw lots of dmg and gave me the cost of dmg-head and dmg + head.


I was just thinking of replacing the motor instead of repairing it and wondered if ^^ were reasonable prices/options.

1/25/2008 6:59:45 PM

you need to go to another shop. they can't accurately speculate as to what's been damaged without pulling the head.

1/25/2008 7:03:15 PM

They said they will charge me 400 to pull it...is this typical?

1/25/2008 7:07:31 PM

I think that would lock you into using that shop to fix it, not technically, but you wouldn't want to mess with taking it anywhere else in pieces.

and it seems the general consensus here is that this shop you're dealing with sucks, so push it down the street to the next place.

1/25/2008 7:35:51 PM

178k miles on original belt and it wont let go

i hate this 70hp engine

why god

1/25/2008 8:29:23 PM

tow the car to carmax and sell it to them. either buy another car from them or take the $ and go buy another car.

1/25/2008 10:07:16 PM

3-4 people in here have asked about the warranty.

im guessing its over. but like smc said, you should get pissed over this.

nowadays this shouldnt be happening

1/26/2008 12:12:37 AM

The only reason I am still with the place, is that I called 12 mechanics yesterday and no one wants to rebuild it. I am thinking of selling it for like 2500-3000. Maybe I can get that.

KBB on a good-Fair car is 5200. See if I can borrow my parents spare car for a week or two and buy another one.

[Edited on January 26, 2008 at 12:32 PM. Reason : Warrenty expired in Nov. when I crosses 60K.]

1/26/2008 12:30:45 PM

I wouldn't rebuild it either if I owned a shop. What you CAN do is have them put a belt on it and run a compression test to see if it holds satisfactory compression on all cylinders. They don't have to reassemble it or anything, but it will take time and money to disassemble to get to where a belt can go on. And it will take the nonrefundable cost of the belt.

Simple enough to determine if anything is bent with a compression test. Pass=serviceable. Fail=bent valves.

FWIW...sometimes, if you DO replace valves and leave the pistons alone, your car may go to using more oil than it should because the ring lands might have suffered distortion when the valves met the piston crown. Even if there appears to be no catastrophic damage to the piston. I've seen it happen.

1/26/2008 2:18:46 PM