1.3 broken timing chain

[JOETHEMECK]

hi,i hear all the problems with broken timing chains on the 1.3 multijet engines.i look after four of them 06 doblo,s .well i have just had my first broken timing belt and the only unusual thing about it is it had gone 4000 mile over its usual oil change.i was told that it stopped at a junction and when it went to go on the engine just stopped......anyway after checking the engine over when i got it back from the garage it had been taken into by the rac who said it needed another engine,as did the garage where it was... i insisted i wanted it back to me..after recovering the doblo van it cost just a timing chain kit and two valve rockers to repair,+ i fitted a new water pump at the same time.moral-check your engine properly before fitting another. wish i had all the replaced engines that had been [destroyed] by a broken timing chain.hope this helps some unlucky 1.3 multijet owners.

 

[The Beard]

I had mine replaced the other week on my Panda MJ at 82,000 miles. I thought it was on its way out when I could hear it chattering at low revs at low speeds, for instance at 18-20 mph in 3rd, which is around 1,000 revs.

It might have been doing it at higher speeds as well but I presume that if it was, the ambient noise would have drowned it out.

When I first bought it new and I heard it had a timing chain instead of a belt, I thought it would last the life of the engine and might just need an adjuster or two being changed, but if the life of a camchain is 80,000 miles and a belt is 40,000 it seems changing a belt twice might be a better option, especially as the first (rough) estimate I got for the job was £900. It turned out that the whole job: Timing chain, water pump, fan belt, service and EGR valve ended up costing me that amount.