Early timing belt failures

[Dagwoodtsrw]

I have a 2004 Chevy Aveo (a.k.a. Pontiac Rave in Canada and Daewoo Kalos everywhere else) with a timing belt that failed at 62K miles. Even though the recommended replacement interval is 60k, the belt should not have failed at 62k. I understand this is a 'fleet' issue with the 'Daewoorolets' as well as pre-buyout Daewoo Lanos and other 1.6L cars. Does anybody know of a backdoor silent recall over this? Any GM contact names or phone numbers would be a great big help...

In the mean time, the engine was damaged when the pistons made contact with and bent the intake valves. It would have been a very expensive repair to clean up the head, replace the valves, and polish the piston tops but I got lucky. I found this place on the internet that sells parts from GM's new cars that were damaged in transit from the factory. These cars could not be sold as new so they were written off against insurance and sold for scrap. I got a complete long block with manifolds for $700 with only 62 miles (that's pretty much brand spankin' new). They didn't have one but four of them! I could not believe it! Any other salvage yard would want $2500 for a long block with under 20k miles let alone 60! Better yet, they have pretty much any GM part as close to new as possible without being called new. I won't say who these guys are unless the moderator says ok (free advertising policies being what they are). Either way, it was an incredible find on a major auction site *wink*wink*. The engine arrives tomorrow by truck and I will let you know if I really got the deal I think/hope I got.

I plan to rebuild the original engine to 'bionic bunny' status by upgrading all the internals and force feeding the little darling with a turbo kit; We'll see how far this 1.6L will go...

[JohnTheMan]

WOW, sorry about your engine and I havnt heard of any silent recalls, but what website sells those parts??!?!?! im sure a ton of people want to know!!!!!

goodluck fixing her back up.

[Dagwoodtsrw]

Yeah, I'm sorry too. It sucks to pay new car money only to pay big repair bills just after the warranty ends. This is no way to win customers from the new No. 1 (Toyota). If you really must know, ok. I am happy to share! The place this engine came from is Nordstrom's Automotive Inc. (http://www.nordstromsauto.com/) in Garretson, SD. Not all their engines are promised to come this way but this one came with all manifolds, sensors, wiring harness, vacuum hoses, brackets, pulleys, throttle body, beauty covers, and even the clutch! They even sent the engine mount bolts! I don't have to transfer any parts from my old engine, just accessories! Most used engines I have seen have come in with serious 'battle scars' from where the scrap yard stooge slashed and hacked the engine out of the engine bay. Not this one; it was a job done by a true professional; clean, precise, and complete. I may have had a bad luck incident but the engine find was really good luck. I can not begin to tell you what great service these guys offer! They were also quick to point out that they had other parts from that car from which the engine came so if I wanted the odometer (gauge cluster) so I could track the true engine mileage, or the tranny, or whatever, I could get it and save on shipping. Amazing... there are good people out there!

Even though I got all that 'extra' stuff on the engine, they only warranted the engine, not the clutch or other freebies. So use them at your own risk.

Currently, the engine is in it's new home and running needing only some clean up of connections and putting things in their proper place. The ultra low mileage (only 62!) means I have to treat it like new. It has sat a while so at a minimum, new spark plugs, oil/filter change, fresh coolant, new thermostat, air filter, and gas filter. Should be done before the weekend...

Next come the hi-performance version of the ECOTEC 1.6L - I will let you know the plans as they spill out of my noggin.

[jeremy96gase]

Hope you get your Car back up and running soon :)

Neat site! It's a lot prettier than www.car-part.com
But it doesn't work with Mozilla Firefox :p

Dagwood, You have a PM

[Dagwoodtsrw]

Latest Update: research showed a technical service bulletin number 3936 (NTHSA no. 10020573) dated October 3, 2006 addressed “early timing belt failures before 60000 miles”. This document is not on any service manual disc at the dealerships; it appears to be a source of internal grief for GM. They were more than curious to find out how I got it. I did a Google search on Aveo early timing belt failure" and up it popped. GM is taking my situation under consideration and have the repair receipts in hand. They may pay for the repair but I am not counting on it. If they don't, it is time to get nasty. I will likely look to legal action...