hey guys heres my story im gonna try to keep it short. the other day i turned my car on with a terrible sound from under the hood. it barely had any power after first gear and i was like wtf. i go look at the engine and the valve cover is cracked in two places right where it is covering the timing belt and cam gears. there was also a dent in the same area that looked like something hit the valve cover from the inside pretty hard. so i took the cover off and somehow one of the bolts that was holding the plastic trim around the timing belt in place fell out and was resting right in between the two cam gears without touching anything, just resting there. then i noticed that when the car was running the plastic black trim was actually pulled inwards towards the moving gears and it was destroyed and some parts were lodged in between. so i cut them out with some pliers and a heat gun so there was nothing in the way of the moving gears. the dent on the valve cover was from the bolt that came loose and was carried by the timing belt to the top and banged on the cover. so then i put everything back together making sure the timing belt moved freely. turned the car on and the same terrible noise, but now with the plastic around the timing belt off, i could see the belt spinning and flapping really violently left and right. the engine ran ok and then i took it for a spin and the same power loss and weird noise. i changed the belt the water pump and the tensioner a year ago btw. anyone please help cuz im afraid that the belt is gonna snap if i keep driving it.
the belt flaps a bit. however it’s hard to say if yours is correct without seeing it. any way i would definitely change the timing belt since chances are it’s damaged and probably skipped a tooth or two causing your lost of power. if your the one that changed it one year ago i suggest going to get it done at a garage this time around unless you want to risk your engine once again unless you can prove that it was a mechanical fault and not an installation fault.
If the timing cover bolt fell out, I’m wondering how well the tensioner bolt was torqued.