What happens to a 2001 Kia optima if the timing belt breaks?

you throw the car away and get a new one since it was only like 2 grand brand new, or you invest in a real car(something not made in korea)

On some cars the piston can hit the valves if the timing belt beaks. I'm not sure off hand if the kia optima is that way, but I'd guess it is, and if so, it's highly likely that you have bent or broken valves. If you have bent or broken valves from that happening, you're looking at a repair in the thousands of dollars.

And in response to the comment about korean cars, this was caused by a lack of maintenance. The same thing would have happened to a similarly designed japanese or american car. Timing belts are made of rubber and they don't last forever, no matter where they were made.

Here we go.

First off you can call a dealership and ask then if your engine is an interference type that does infact bend valves when the timing belts slip or break. Only the interference type engins bend the valves.

An interference engine is one that when the belt breaks it allows the cam and crankshaft assembly to spin out of time and allowing the pistons to come up and hit the intake valves bending them beyond repair. Sometimes these type engine can even damage the pistons an or crack the heads.

A non interference engine can break a timing belt and othing happens except that the engine stops running and will not re start.

Any how a dealership service dept. should be able to tell you which engine you have. If they can`t then call a couple more shops you will evnetually finf one that knows. You may also be able to find it on the internet.

Hope this helps and good luck

2001 Kia Optima

the kia has what is called an interference engine so when the timing belt breaks it will bend the valves, and maybe even destroy a piston or so. I do not think the timing belt is visible so you may want another valuation before you junk it.

kia does run an interference engine so you may be looking at a few bent valves on that one,you,ll have to get a shop to check it out first and let you know if it has any damage to it,there's a good chance it did damage a few valves and if it did the head will have to be removed from and the valves repaired,first have it checked then you,ll know for sure what its going to need,good luck

Timing belts are deep into the engine which causes them to inflict lots of damage to parts around them when they break. This will take a $250 bill to repalce it up to a lot more to repair the damgae it caused. Good Luck.

to my knowledge all engines protect themselves in case of a timing belt breaking i would be very surprised to find any car mad in the last 10 to 15 years that isn't setup that way so you should be fine.

your walking to find new car

kias suck