Timing belt failure, does it kill the motor on a Miata?

Anyone had one fail to know for sure? Some motors just stop until you put a
new one on, where others have the pistons meet the valves, snapping then off
dropping the mushroom bits into the combustion chamber and destroying the
entire motor in a series of nasty load clunking noises.

Mal Osborne wrote:
> Anyone had one fail to know for sure? Some motors just stop until you put a
> new one on, where others have the pistons meet the valves, snapping then off
> dropping the mushroom bits into the combustion chamber and destroying the
> entire motor in a series of nasty load clunking noises.


From miata.net,

"The Miata engine is a non-interference engine, meaning that the pistons
will not crash into the valves."

http://miata.net/garage/timingbelt.html

I haven't had one break on a miata, but I know a couple of people who
have and they had it replaced with no problem.

pat

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 10:45:42 +0000, pws wrote:

> Mal Osborne wrote:
>> Anyone had one fail to know for sure? Some motors just stop until you put a
>> new one on, where others have the pistons meet the valves, snapping then off
>> dropping the mushroom bits into the combustion chamber and destroying the
>> entire motor in a series of nasty load clunking noises.
>
>
> From miata.net,
>
> "The Miata engine is a non-interference engine, meaning that the pistons
> will not crash into the valves."
>
> http://miata.net/garage/timingbelt.html
>
> I haven't had one break on a miata, but I know a couple of people who
> have and they had it replaced with no problem.
>
> pat

My 92 survived. The timing belt did not break but the damper came loose,
allowing the crank to spin free without the valve train working.
Everything seems OK, engine runs fine now. I will know in a couple of
thousand miles if it survived the ham handed,idiot mechanic that my son
took the car to. (long story!)

By the way, has ANYONE had an engine damper/pulley fail on a 92 or newer
engine? I would really like to know....

Thanks