Missing valve collet!

[stuarttunstall]

Here's a good one for you...

My Seat Ibiza, fitted with the 1.4 16v CGGB engine... full dealer service history, 3 years old in February, (so just out of warranty...Damn!) 59000 miles (as I do 100 miles a day in the old bus) and driven like a Grandad...

About 6 weeks ago I developed a tapping sound when the car had been left standing all day, or overnight, run it for around 2-3 mins and it was fine... hydraulic tappet? it ran great, no misfire, excessive fuel consumption or burn any oil...

Well, took it into my dealer on Tuesday, they heard the noise and started to investigate... removed rocker cover and inspected all the cams for wear, these were fine.... then they found that one half of the valve collet to No 1 cylinder had gone!! this had cause the valve to lift up slightly, but NOT come apart (amazing) .. they drained the oil and found bits of metal in the sump, but they did not look like the remains of a collet....

Have you ever heard of this before?

I am hoping that there is no further damage, I suspect that as it runs so well it will be OK, but I am no real expert only on the parts side.....

I have a fantastic relationship with my dealer, known the service manager for years and they always look after me.... He has said the worst it can be is a new engine but until they start to strip an area at a time and look for damage, and more important a valve collet running around the engine he will not know more... although his exact words were " as you are loyal to the brand, 6 in 14 years, always have dealer service/repairs, Seat will contribute in some way" "but he cannot say if it will be 30%, 50%, 75% or even 100%" as it's so close to running out of warranty...

Gutted... she is a good little car, runs well, but I have no idea how this could happen

Anyone else had this?

Stu

 

[JMWalton]

Interesting, I would have the head off and have a look inside the cylinders see what you can see.

is it the twincharged engine?

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[stuarttunstall]

Interesting, I would have the head off and have a look inside the cylinders see what you can see.

is it the twincharged engine?

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No, just a standard 1.4 16v Ibiza "Good Stuff".....

The dealers are going start looking next week for 1. any damage, and 2. the missing collet...

It ran fantastic, just had a ticking sound at start up if left standing... I suppose that was just the hydraulic lifter taking up the slack as the valve had lifted higher but stayed on one....

 

[JMWalton]

If it's not in the cylinders (highly doubt as it would have smashed your valve & piston to bits by now) and it wasn't in the sump I wouldn't worry about it , you were probably v lucky and it was ingested broke into a million bits and ejected through the exhaust (lucky you don't have a turbo!). I've seen it happen on bigger engines (im a marine engineer) but never on something this small. Ide say you'll be okay

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[stuarttunstall]

If it's not in the cylinders (highly doubt as it would have smashed your valve & piston to bits by now) and it wasn't in the sump I wouldn't worry about it , you were probably v lucky and it was ingested broke into a million bits and ejected through the exhaust (lucky you don't have a turbo!). I've seen it happen on bigger engines (im a marine engineer) but never on something this small. Ide say you'll be okay

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As I say, after the first 2-3 minutes it was all quite and ran nice, no burning oil, still doing 50MPG on the run to work... If I had just put up with the "ticking" I would have been none the wiser... then again, the remaining collet that was holding it all together could have gone at any time I suppose... then it would have been a different story

I wanted it checked out, doing 100 miles a day in the girl I needed it reliable...

At least the dealer are good to me, nice new Toledo to drive until thy look next week, and they are confident as it is just out of warranty, and I am a good customer of the dealer and the brand they (Seat) will help with the cost....

Talking of the Toledo... really impressed.... nice to drive, not to keen on all the hard plastic inside, but the fuel economy ... It is a 1.6TDi, did a 60 mile round trip yesterday at between 50-65MPH.... average MPG????? 72MPG.....

Think I may have one of these to replace the Ibiza when due...

 

[Biker]

If it's not in the cylinders

How could the collet get into the cylinder?

 

[RUM4MO]

How could the collet get into the cylinder?

Exactly - if it had got into the combustion area of the engine it would have been in a trillion parts prior to dropping in there. It should have got washed down a bit, maybe, or still hiding in the top of the cam chest in a few pieces - are they sure that that is not what they found in the sump as it might have been "modified" on its way down!

I once found a lump of "metal" while doing the tappets in a MK1 Escort, crapped myself and took the head off only to find that it was only a rock hard bit of broken valve guide oil seal! Ah well at least that engine got its decoke - usual engine "periodic service" for cars of that time!!

Next panic ensuring question, "is this a batch of duff parts" - or is there an issue with the top seat of that spring?

 

[JMWalton]

all I'm saying is it was early .

I'm now going to hide to the op there is literally no way on earth it could end up in the intake / combustion chamber or exhaust.

What the **** was I thinking :screwy::what:



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[Biker]

all I'm saying is it was early .

I'm now going to hide to the op there is literally no way on earth it could end up in the intake / combustion chamber or exhaust.

What the **** was I thinking :screwy::what:



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We all have off days mate