2015 RRS 3.0 Diesel with 77,000 on the clock and the timing belt has snapped. I am told it is on the driver's side which is apparently easier to replace but still £1500-2000 and even then, chances are the engine is shot.

I'd rather not spend the money twice so I am thinking my best bet is to bight the bullet and replace the engine. My usual Indy aren't set up for this and searching the forum I see Oval Auto's mentioned. Anyone else I should call for a price?

Car might be an economic write-off given how values have suffered in recent times but I'd like to save it if possible. I am based in Cheshire but willing to transport the car.

Try MDRS at consett in County Durham. They are sorting these issues all of the time.

Thanks, I will give them a call.

RRSJRM wrote:

2015 RRS 3.0 Diesel with 77,000 on the clock and the timing belt has snapped. I am told it is on the driver's side which is apparently easier to replace but still £1500-2000 and even then, chances are the engine is shot.

Chances are I am getting belt and chain mixed up as though they are interchangable. Definitely sounds like the chain because that matches the description of only working half the engine. Apparently they can feel the passenger side still trying to suck in air, but nothing on the driver's side.

I'd like to save the car but I am skeptical of a refurbished engine and it's providence. Hence the request for recommendations here because there appears far too many people/garages selling engines far too cheaply when I Google.

I will relay what you have kindly told me to the Indy tomorrow and see what they would price if that is indeed the outcome. Only problem is, we won't know until we start.....

It's easy to check if the chain has failed on the drivers side bank, take the oil filler cap off and twist the filler neck (held into the cam cover on a bayonet type fixing, like a light bulb)and it will come out of the cam cover, you can then clearly see the chain and if it has snapped.

HTH

That sounds familiar. They did mention that it was 'good' it was this side because they could access/check via the oil cap which I don't think is possible on the passenger side.

I'm confident in their diagnosis (even if I messed up the explanation) it's the potential ramifications of the failure that seems less certain. In fairness, they haven't said the engine is shot just that fixing one thing may lead to another to another by which point it might be getting out of hand. In fairness to them, they are just managing expectations rather than making false promises to secure the work.

They seem to know what they are talking about, hopefully it'll be a set of cap bolts, a couple of cams and a chain assembly at worst.

I'd certainly stick with the original engine if you can as like you say the amount of refurbished engines on offer is ridiculous, most of them are not worth the effort or money. I recently rebuilt my L405 4.4 engine after a big failure and was still better off doing that then buying a piece of junk that someone 'says' is in perfect condition.

Fortunately my 3.0L L494 is still going strong with over 280k on it.

I've been doing some reading (which I acknowledge upfront may be doing more harm than good) but am I right in thinking that if the pistons have contacted the valves I'm in big trouble, but if not, I might get away with the fix you mention? In which case, is it possible to do some sort of pressure test before stripping the engine to see if the valves are intact?

Not quite correct, the valves will have hit the pistons without doubt as the engine is what's called an interference design, which means that the valves and pistons occupy the same space in the combustion chamber, but a different times, so a cambelt or chain failure will cause piston to valve contact.

In many engines this would bend the valves as the angle of the valve in relation to the piston promotes this, however in the 306DT (your engine) the valves are in a totally vertical alignment to the top of the piston, so when the piston hits the valve it pushes the valve closed, this basically overloads the cam caps (these hold the camshaft into the head) and the bolts shear to allow the whole cam to move upwards, this is why the cam lobes may have spun on the shaft (as they are only pressed on) and hence the camshafts will need to be replaced.

I had a 2.7 sport and this happened and I just put new cams in it and the chain and all was well with no need to remove the cylinder head.

Here's a pic of a 3.0L cylinder head where you can see the cam caps holding the cams in place, basically the 2 bolts on each cap break the heads off. You can also see the chain that connects the two cams together, this is what will have snapped.

Just pulled this pic off ebay, complete head as pictured - £170, always a route to go as a couple of genuine cams are going to cost you the best part of £1K.

2 RRS wrote:

They seem to know what they are talking about, hopefully it'll be a set of cap bolts, a couple of cams and a chain assembly at worst.

I'd certainly stick with the original engine if you can as like you say the amount of refurbished engines on offer is ridiculous, most of them are not worth the effort or money. I recently rebuilt my L405 4.4 engine after a big failure and was still better off doing that then buying a piece of junk that someone 'says' is in perfect condition.

Fortunately my 3.0L L494 is still going strong with over 280k on it.

Great info and knowledge from 2RRS - Good to know in case this ever happens - 280k! Wow - I always say servicing every 5k on these engines.

OP - I was going to say also check ebay if you can buy a decent 2nd head - should be a few and rebuild with new cams etc - should be £2.5k job - lots of dodgy rebuild engines on ebay now most you only get 3 month warranty.

Notyalc wrote:

Try MDRS at consett in County Durham. They are sorting these issues all of the time.

There’s Henshall Engineering in Macclesfield which is pretty close to you.

Thanks for the Henshall recommendation. They are about 5 miles from me and I didn't know they existed!

MDRS are off the list. That was a concerning thread and I appreciate the heads up. Even if a one-off it doesn't sound worth the risk when the car is hundreds of miles from home and I cannot easily address any issues that arise.

So based on my (limited) reading and (limited) understanding I'm going to proceed with the fix. The chain went while I was sat in traffic and the engine was shut off within seconds so I'm hoping any damage will be limited to the parts discussed.

We with regards the parts, I presume I should request a genuine JLR chain and tensioner but can I go down the OEM route for the other bits?

Yep, go with a genuine chain and tensioner assembly as they are not overly expensive, you may get away with one camshaft as the other one should still have been in time as it's driven by the cambelt.

Don't think it will be too bad in all honesty.