VVT Failure...

[MazdaSpeedster]

Well Hello Everyone,
I am sad to report that my VVT actuator has failed and I am pretty sure that my engine is fucked. It is an '06 Speed6 with 182,000 on the clock so it has been a pretty good run. I was driving down the road the other night at about 40mph and the car just lost all power. The tach jumped around for second or two and then the car died. I tried to start it back up but it has no compression. It also threw a P0340 code. I had it towed to my mechanic and he took the attached pictures. At this point, I really don't think that I should throw a bunch of money at the car as I am pretty sure that the pistons had an up close and personal meeting with the valves. My question is, has anyone experienced this and been lucky enough to revive the car by just installing a new VVT kit and had no other internal engine damage as a result of the initial VVT failure? If not, I have the following options:

A. Keep the car and part it out
B. Junk it
C. Purchase a VVT kit, install it and hope that there is not more internal engine damage

Based on the pictures and my explanation of what happened, what do you guys think?

[sheston]

Can't your mechanic take a look at the piston tops with a scope and see if it looks damaged?

I'm not an expert, but the pictures looks like damage from chain stretch or tensioners. You might just need to overhaul the timing parts, ie. VVT, chain, guides, etc

[cardoc4u]

verify the vvt solenoid is bad before you replace it, that code could be set from the worn timing chain and guides

[5doorsoffury]

Either it is just a bad vvt and you spend 1000$ on a vvt job. But this is on a motor with not much time left before it needs a rebuild(180k is super high milage for a turbo motor) or spend 4-5 k and put a fresh motor in there and enjoy the car for a long time. No matter what you are in for a chunk of change.

[ToyBeaux]

It might be worth your time to do a leak down test on it now, there is a chance it can be saved. It wont have compression if the timing slipped but you can roll the crank 90 degrees past TDC, break the cam bolts loose, and manually close the valves by rotating the cams for the leak down. I've had a few engines come in like that and were fine after a timing job, relatively speaking for a high mileage engine

[meicalnissyen]

Pretty damn good post

Originally Posted by ToyBeaux It might be worth your time to do a leak down test on it now, there is a chance it can be saved. It wont have compression if the timing slipped but you can roll the crank 90 degrees past TDC, break the cam bolts loose, and manually close the valves by rotating the cams for the leak down. I've had a few engines come in like that and were fine after a timing job, relatively speaking for a high mileage engine

[joshuajcrouch]

I'm curious, did you have any fair warning before this happened? Did you have any chain noise at start up?

[Cdnspeed6]

you might be ok still, at worst you'll have a few bent valves. do a compression check first obviously.

[Project_dog]

This happen to me. Borescope and try to see if the valves hit the pistons. do a compression test. if they are good, you can always remove the cylinder head and see how much damage to the piston, you can replace the pistons, get the cylinder head rebuilt.

[cjbevington]

Depending on how curious you are, you could also check valve lash. If you bent a valve, it would become shorter. As a result, your lash would become very large. Obviously, a bore scope would tell you all this too but if you don't have one and you want to know soon that should do the trick!

[inixratedini]

OK in the same boat here. I have a 07 MS3 @ 50K miles it failed while i was driving @ 30mph. I recently bough this car.
I'm about to pull the trigger on the edge auto sport timing kit. I"m just curious if i should purchase the vvt solenoid also. The oil was a bit a on the dirty side.

[Nickhxc4life]

I just did the VVT repair myself. Started getting chatter at idle and at startup. have 200k on the motor. Those marks on the inside are from the chain slapping because the vvt had failed. There is a sensor on the vvt and chances are when it went your ecu caught it before it got to bad and threw your car in limp mode which would explain your sudden loss of power. I'd say check out your valves with a boroscope and if they're ok I would pony up and get the VVT job done. I wouldn't call the motor a total loss just because of those marks. If you get the VVT job done those marks won't affect the functionality of any parts.