95 Elantra - Timing Chain Broke - how much can I expect to pay for repair?

Hi all,

The timing chain on my girlfriends 95 (96 maybe?) elantra broke and I
was wondering what the ballpark area to get it replaced/repaired would
cost, including labor.

I was quoted 700 dollars which seems ridiculously high.

Many thanks all for help,

-Umbrae

 

Not at all ridiculously high. That car uses a timing belt, not a timing
chain, which is why it broke. They are supposed to be changed every 60,000
miles. How many miles on the car?

When a car with an interference engine breaks a timing belt bad things
happen. Valves and pistons come together in ways they were never designed
to. They don't withstand that encounter well. It is most likely that the
valve train on your girlfriend's car was damaged by the belt breaking. I
would not be surprised to see a final bill significantly higher than what
you're looking at now.

 

It's very rare for this car to strip or break a belt and not require at
least replacing the valves. In the worst cases, whole engines were
required.

 

I see.

Well, not exactly what I was hoping for, but many thanks for giving me
a clear answer. Hard to find these days.

Thanks again, to both of you.

 

It's not very rare to strip or break a belt on this cars, but very rare to
get a reasonable repair quote.
Regarding belt or chain- some Hyundai in house developed engines have both
(weird design), timing belt driving only the exhaust valves and a chain,
connecting exhaust and inlet camshaft and driving the inlet valves. A broken
chain will only stop the inlet valves which in some cases can be repaired by
DIY expert. Repair shops will never re-pair such jobs and will only replace
components and charge accordingly.
A broken timing belt will stop inlet and exhaust valves and repair costs
will be that much higher.

pege

 

It's not any more common to break a timing belt on this car than any
other 4 cyl with a timing belt. Considering that belts are common on
4 cyl engines and the maintenance cycle has been well known for over
30 years I don't see what you are complaining about.

 

You really shouldn't post things that you haven't a clue about. You may
actually cause someone to run a belt to failure and then need a fairly
extensive engine overhaul rather than a simple belt replacement. On
interference engines, running a belt to failure is a really dumb idea.

Matt

 

If this is one of the 1.8 Mitsubishi dohc engines, it's common for the
timing belt to strip even prior to the maintenance interval. I've
replaced stripped timing belts on these prior to the car reaching 25k
(almost always with cylinder head work, too).

 

Rare to get a reasonable repair quote? What's reasonable? What's the price
of a head? Or a valve train, even? A broken timing belt on an interference
engine is usually a pretty major event. It should cost $200 to fix it?