Hey all,

I have a 97 Protege with the 1.5 motor. The timing belt "slipped" and is off about 90 degrees. It happened going down the road at about 50 mph. Are these motors interference fit? Before I got it home to investigate, I cranked it over while broken down. The motor turned over with no obvious sounding valve smacking piston resistance. With the valve cover off, I see no obvious damage to the camshafts or valve train. Am I ok?

Thanks

 

uh oh. here it comes. you just asked one of the most controversial questions on these forums.

my $.02 is this; in my experience, i haven't known these motors to be interference motors. there are almost as many opinions as people on here, so let it begin.

 

Thanks for the reply. Tomorrow I'm going to reset the timing and try my luck. If it's damaged, off to the junk yard it goes.

 

Well, put me on the side that thinks these motors are non-interference. I reset the timing, and the car runs fine.