>THe subject says it all- what are the potential consequences of a busted
>timing belt in a diesel I4 engine? Are the valves interfering?  If so,
>what is the availability of a new or re-man'ed head? Would one expect to
>be able to rebuild a head if the valves got smacked?

Diesels have very little piston/head clearance. If your cambelt breaks you
will at least bend all valves, split the valveseals/guides and probably
damage the cam, pistons, rods, big-end shells and possibly crakk... those
pistons & valves will hit HARD.

We have had the bad fortune to have belts break on 2 Toyota diesels; each
time the camshaft broke in 2 places.

Andrew Grebneff
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Phone: 0064 (3) 473-8863
Fax: 0064 (3) 479-7527
165 Evans St, Dunedin, New Zealand
Fossil preparator, shell collector, Macintosh and VW & Toyota van nut
1984 Volkswagen Type 25 Caravelle GL (to be fitted with Subaru EG33 engine etc)
1986 CE80 Toyota Corolla DX diesel 1.8 sedan
1989 CE96 Toyota Corolla DX diesel 1.8 van
1989 CT170 Toyota Corona Select 2.0 diesel sedan
1992 CXR10G Toyota Estima Lucida 2.2 turbodiesel (=narrow-bodied Previa)