Hi everyone.
I own a 56 plate Altea Tdi FR. It has done 180,000 miles. (Original clutch!)
Anyhow, I had the cambelt changed 300 miles ago, mainly because I was going on a long trip and wanted security.
I had the whole kit put on plus oil and filter and water pump and thermostat.
20 miles into my trip and the engine banged and cut out (80mph ish).
AA turned up and saw that the cambelt had come off.
It looked at first that the tensioner pulley had failed as it was at an angle, visibly.
Got towed back and left the car at the garage which did the work and I hired a car for my holiday trip.
I got a call from the garage this morning who said that the engine is scrap.
He says the cause wasn't a pulley failure but that it was a bolt which had sheared off flush with the block (I think it was on the tensioner) which allowed the belt to come adrift.
Now then, the mechanic is a lovely bloke but he has said it was bad luck on both our parts, which it was, but I'm finding that a little hard to swallow.
In my mind, if the work hadn't been done and the bolt left in place then the fault wouldn't have happened.
Surely, if the part which failed had been taken out and fastened back in, which it had, isn't there a good chance that the bolt had been weakened when removing or over tightened, allowing it to fail under tension?
Please guys, can anyone give an opinion as to where I stand on this?
As it stands now, I have a knackered engine and a garage which says it's just bad luck and inferred it isn't worth repairing.
I could really do with some sense right now.
Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I own a 56 plate Altea Tdi FR. It has done 180,000 miles. (Original clutch!)
Anyhow, I had the cambelt changed 300 miles ago, mainly because I was going on a long trip and wanted security.
I had the whole kit put on plus oil and filter and water pump and thermostat.
20 miles into my trip and the engine banged and cut out (80mph ish).
AA turned up and saw that the cambelt had come off.
It looked at first that the tensioner pulley had failed as it was at an angle, visibly.
Got towed back and left the car at the garage which did the work and I hired a car for my holiday trip.
I got a call from the garage this morning who said that the engine is scrap.
He says the cause wasn't a pulley failure but that it was a bolt which had sheared off flush with the block (I think it was on the tensioner) which allowed the belt to come adrift.
Now then, the mechanic is a lovely bloke but he has said it was bad luck on both our parts, which it was, but I'm finding that a little hard to swallow.
In my mind, if the work hadn't been done and the bolt left in place then the fault wouldn't have happened.
Surely, if the part which failed had been taken out and fastened back in, which it had, isn't there a good chance that the bolt had been weakened when removing or over tightened, allowing it to fail under tension?
Please guys, can anyone give an opinion as to where I stand on this?
As it stands now, I have a knackered engine and a garage which says it's just bad luck and inferred it isn't worth repairing.
I could really do with some sense right now.
Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk