I bought a 2004 Audi a year ago. recently the floor flooded and I had taken it to the shop. I then was told the engine ceased, due to the timing belt... does anyone know if this could be possible?? I dont know much about cars, but have concerns as the engine died in shop. Thank you,
I'm not at all sure why you thought an electronics group was a good place to ask this question; however...
You were probably told that the engine SEIZED (not "ceased") due to a broken timing belt. True "seizure," at least as I would use the term, isn't very likely to happen as a direct result of the timing belt breaking, but that certainly is NOT a good thing to happen to most engines. The norm today is the "interference" engine, meaning that there is less-than-zero clearance between where the piston is at the top of its stroke, and where the valves are when fully open - in other words, everything depends on the valve timing being correct, such that the valves will NOT be in the way when the piston comes to top-of-stroke. A broken timing belt pretty much ensures that this timing is WAY wrong, and you wind up with the valves and pistons coming into contact...forcefully, and with generally disastrous results.
If this died in the shop, though, the shop may or may not be responsible for it. I'm not clear on what you mean when you say the "floor flooded" - are you talking about an actual flood in which the engine was underwater (and likely took water in)?
If the car has been submerged and water got into the engine, this can directly result in camshaft seizing up and snapping the timing belt/chain. Most modern engines have plain aluminium camshaft bearings (no shells of any kind!) and are extremely fussy about adequate lubrication with good condition - uncontaminated oil!!!
Sure, but again that would be a case of a broken belt/chain (I believe the Audi 3.0 engine uses a belt, but I'm far from certain on that) caused BY the seizure, not the other way around.
A broken timing belt can cause bent valves, valve-guides, piston damage, and possibly a warped head (OTOH some engines are immune to this catastrophy by design).
The usual cause of an engine seizing is a lubrication failure. (no oil, pump failure etc...)
Given the age of the vehicle (or lack thereof) i'd be suspicious of those claims.
Investigate if if this is a common fault with that model of audi, possibly contacting a different audi specialist for advice.
investigate the service interval for the timing belt (they should be replaced after some number of miles) and seeing if your engine was correctly maintained would also be useful.
It seems from what the OP said, that the damage occurred while the car was at the shop and the OP only has the shop owners word for what happened, the only way to sort out what happened first is to strip it down and examine the trail of destruction!
"In there" being actually IN the engine? If not, then this is a lot different situation than what Ian and I have been speculating about. Normally, water coming up to the floorboard level would not be a serious problem for the engine - it's when it gets IN,usually via the same path the air takes, i.e., through the air intake, filter, and into the carburetor (on this car, you don't have a carburetor as such, you have fuel injection - but it's the same basic path for the air), that you have problem. Getting any real amount of water into the cylinders is a Really Bad Thing, for the reasons that Ian originally mentioned, and very likely will cause the engine to seize IF someone tries to start/run it in that condition. And THAT would very likely break the timing chain/belt, although that would likely only be one on a long list of important/expensive bits that would be damaged. If the water didn't actually get into the engine, though, but instead just came up around the bottom a little, then the breakage of the timing belt/chain is more likely an unrelated occurence.
In any case, though, it sounds like there are multiple things seriously wrong, and I wish you the best of luck re the warranty coverage on this.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.