i have a 96 tracker with the 16 valve, got stuck in water almost to the door handles and finally got snagged out. it wouldn't start so i left it sit over night to dry out. put a fresh battery in cause i think the alternator belt was slipping causing the batt not to charge, anyhow.......i was thirty minutes into the drive back home and the engine died. i found out the timing belt was broken. i took the head off and none of the valves seem to be bent, however when i tried starting the engine before i tore it apart at made all kinds of racket! sounded like someone hammering on the flywheel???didn't sound internal really. my question is; is there any way i could have "lucked out" and possibly not have any bent valves? the pistons showed no obvious signs of hitting valves also. and why do the pistons have valve reliefs but yet in an interference engine the valves hitting the pistons are a given when the belt does break???

oh, and the thing seemed like a real turd halfway home, i wonder if the belt had jumped a tooth when it got wet? i'm really glad the thing started at all! to have my head remanned will cost $125 for labor and $8 to $10 a valve depending on the damage. not too bad considering a salvage yard want $100 for a head with the same amount of miles (140k)

You should be thankful that they were in there, I have heard of them being ok with low rpm breaks, I would think that the reliefs were just part of the over enginering most of the enginers put into most products, american stuff is worst being they make everything twice as thick as it should be, it could be they are for over reving or for a sticky or cold valve, volkswagon made engines internaly diffrent for extreme cold weather places were they were sold,so ya never know.

used heads here sell for 350.00 ex.

what would you consider low rpms?? less than 2k? my dad told me to place the head upsidedown on a bench and pour kerosen in the combustion chambers and see if it leaks through the valves (not that this is a sure fire way of saying everything is still ok, but it would tell me if any valves should deff be replaced)

You may have bent a valve but you can't see it. Did you take the cam out and pull the valves when you had the head off? Or did ya just look and think "Hey I never bent one." When you put it back together again did you install the timing belt properly by lining the marks up right and checking the dizzy to see if it's pointing in the right direction? Or if you filled the engine full of water and "hydraulic" a piston maybe you have a bent connecting rod.
16v engines are interference fit and will bend a valve and once bent even at low rpm they will stick in a valve guide. So maybe when ya put it back together you did even more damage.
Next time you break a timing belt do a compression test before you tear it apart. Compression test each cylinder and make sure all plugs are removed.
This will tell you if you bent a valve as you will have no compression in that certian cylinder.
I bet ya have a bent one even though it did no damage to the top of the piston.

Posted on: Today at 08:53:59 pmPosted by: redwagon33 
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what would you consider low rpms?? less than 2k? my dad told me to place the head upsidedown on a bench and pour kerosen in the combustion chambers and see if it leaks through the valves (not that this is a sure fire way of saying everything is still ok, but it would tell me if any valves should deff be replaced)

This is also a great idea to try when the head is off but I would use gas or varsol as it is a thinner viscosity. It can also tell you if the valve or valve seats are pounded in as well.
Kelly

You might want to check your reference again, but I'm pretty sure the 16 valve engine is NOT and interference design.

Turn the engine over and check how far up each piston comes. Its possible that you may have bent a rod or two.
Most engines have valve reliefs. The inlet valve opens btdc and the exhaust valve closes atdc so at TDC on the non-compression stroke both valves will be open a small amount.

You might want to check your reference again, but I'm pretty sure the 16 valve engine is NOT and interference design.

X2
I'm pretty sure the FSM for 8v and 16v state the engine are non-interference.

i appreciate everyones help the engine is still apart. i did think about a compression test but it was one of them deals "i got tools and know howto use em'" the auto parts store assured me that the engine was in fact an interference engine. and i know just cause you can't see damage doesn't mean it's not there. thousandths of an inch make a difference, and i wasn't gifted with a bionic eye haha. and the engine ran "ok" until the belt broke, i think a hunk of dried up mud got between one of the cogs and belt and stretched it to it's breaking point

You might want to check your reference again, but I'm pretty sure the 16 valve engine is NOT and interference design.

X3*

*I have read through discussions about 16V engines being interference engines......the conclusion in the discussion was......trackick 16Vs are not interference engines......the 16Vs used in cars like the swift are interference engines.