Clio 2 E7J sudden stall, cranks, but won't start.

[Mozguide]

Greetings all.

Please to be a part of this forum.

Firstly, details of my Renault Clio Mk2 1.4 8V petrol E7J engine:

Year model: 2000

Milage: 80 000mi / 130 000km.

Last timing belt, tensioner and water pump replacement 7000mi / 20 000km ago.

Problem: Engine had been running very well, just a few mild backfires at slow speeds when foot off accelerator pedal.

While driving at about 15mph / 20kph she suddenly stalled. The engine cranked as normal, but would not fire at all.

I have been searching through the various posts relevant to my problem and have found plenty of hugely informative and useful info.

I have been servicing and repairing my own vehicles for many decades now, but this problem not only am I stumped, but my local garage couldn’t unravel the issue except to say perhaps the timing belt was at fault, and passed my Clio back to me.

My Clio saga so far:

The afternoon before the sudden stall and cranking without starting, I had taken her to a reputable locksmith to have the key remote repaired. The immobilizer had already been repaired by the same shop.

All good and I drove home without any issues. The following morning she started first turn and ran normally until the stall. Towed back to the locksmith who gave a thorough check and pronounced it was not an immobilizer issue and suggested a service shop / auto electrician to take her to. This place told me they had ruled out a fuel or electrical problem and suggested the timing belt and valve damage might be the cause.

On cranking there is now a popping noise from the exhaust, and I was told this is usually a valve issue caused by a broken or slipped timing belt. They don’t work on such issues, so I had the Clio towed home.

At home I removed and cleaned the TDC / camshaft sensor. It was a bit oily and had metal filing burrs on it. Put back the sensor, but she still cranked without starting. I have ordered a new TDC sensor, but it has not arrived yet.

I took off the top timing belt cover and all appeared normal. The belt is still in great shape and the tension (90 degs twist) was good.

Once I had removed the lower timing cover and the bottom alternator belt pully, I checked the tensioner and water pump, and all looked fine. However, it seemed to me that, with the crank and cam timing marks lined up with what I figured out (using this forum and various other sources) the correct marks on the block are, the timing belt was one tooth out of alignment.

I say it “seemed” the belt had slipped as I had replaced it myself and I think I did a proper job as she ran perfectly for 20 000km AND the belt was still properly tensioned with no tensioner or water pump damage.

So, I made sure the crank gear was lined with the timing mark, loosened the tensioner, removed the belt and tried to line up the camshaft gear timing mark.

With the timing belt off, I could not line the camshaft timing marks. When turning the camshaft sprocket, it jams when the timing marks are almost lined up.

So, to my questions:

• Is it likely that the original sudden stall, then cranking but not firing is probably due to the timing belt slipping one tooth?
• Why can I not turn the camshaft sprocket to line up the timing marks once the timing belt is off?
• Is the camshaft sprocket jamming near the timing marks a sign of valve damage?

Depending on the responses to the above, could the sudden stall be due to something else other than timing belt slipping or bad TDC sensor. Perhaps the fuel pump suddenly packed in?

Apologies for the long winded description, but I am hoping that it pre-empted many questions.