panic over :) cam belt not gone on my e30 325

+1; make sure you get the right head; it should be an '885' casting. Before you buy anything, take the head off first to see if there is any damage i.e. piston/valve ahem, interfacing, just in case it isn't what you think it is.

Depending on the mileage etc it might not be worth the expense of rebuilding it properly - it's not too much of a job to see if the belt has broken or skipped on these anyway though which is good.

I think it's worth keeping, it's only done 89000, it should have a good 100k more left in it (hopefully)

cool, i'm gonna try and get it to my mechanic tomorrow, so depending on whats up with it, I may give you a PM

my levels of paranoia and defeatism have dropped, so could it possibly be the fuel pump ?

I think I have a spare somewhere too

Not got a compression tester?

good call

it's still going as far as I know never did need to swap the alternator either, still got it, if you ever need one

If it happened at low speed you might have got away with just one or two bent valves.

If you look through the oil filler can you see the camshaft or the rockers? If so get someone to turn it over while you look to see if they are moving. If you can't see, take a sparkplug out, put your thumb lightly over the hole and turn it over - the pressure should alternately push and pull your thumb off and into the hole.

I was thinking that, surely at the least you'd hear the valves clattering the pistons as it span over, or it would lock solid.