[Bowdie]

Today I was driving along the motorway and everything seemed fine, but I got to my exit (which has a sharp bend) and slowed right down, as I got round the bend I noticed that the car was still slowing down despite me holding a steady throttle and coasted to a stop. There was a funny noise as it stopped (can't really explain it) but I think it may have been the timing belt[V][:O]

My car was quite rattly this morning and I now think this may have been the water pump which has gone on to fail and untension the timing belt - does this seem right[?]

Fortunately this happened around the corner from my dads work so the car is now locked in his car park waiting to be collected tomorrow.

If it is the timing belt, what kind of cost am I looking at to have the head stripped and rebuilt[?]

Thanks and sorry for waffling on!

 

[turbo_gti]

Yeah mine was the same. Shouldnt need a engine re-build if it costed to a stop, as mine didnt.

It cost me ?200 from a local garage for new water pump and belt.

How many miles done ?

 

[shtu]

Which engine?

 

[Bowdie]

It's an AGU with 110,000 miles - full vw service history and timing belt changed at 80k

Turbo Gti - sounds like you where lucky with yours, I have seen stories on the net of this costing in excess of ?2k to repair - bent valves, knackered valve guides, etc.

I priced the valves and they alone would cost ?250 + VAT!

Head is being removed on Thursday to assess the damage, if the cost is around the ?2k mark, it seems like the ideal opportunity to drop a TT 225 motor in[]

 

[D17ONA]

Ouch sorry to hear that Iain, hopefully cause you stopped fairly quickly you've not damaged all 20V [B)]

But if they are all damaged then, yeah you probably will be cheaper to drop in a new engine.

 

[Bowdie]

Donna, I spoke to one of your mates at Bedrock today about it - really helpful, gave me lots of hints and tips on what to check when the head is off and things to replace even though I mentioned it was initially going to a different garage to get the head stripped, didn't once say "better bring it in here for us to look at".

Big thumbs up for them[]

Also discussed the possibility of replacement engines and the work involved and again they were very informative - please pass on my thanks again[^]

 

[D17ONA]

Quote: posted by Bowdie on 31/01/2005 18:41:48

Donna, I spoke to one of your mates at Bedrock today about it - really helpful, gave me lots of hints and tips on what to check when the head is off and things to replace even though I mentioned it was initially going to a different garage to get the head stripped, didn't once say "better bring it in here for us to look at".

Big thumbs up for them[]

Also discussed the possibility of replacement engines and the work involved and again they were very informative - please pass on my thanks again[^]

Will do Iain, both Bax and John are really informative, if you don't understand they'll explain it really easy for you.

Fingers crossed its not too bad

I'll pass on the Thanks []

 

[shtu]

2k would cover a main dealer repair, I would say.

You have probably got a couple of bent exhaust valves, and the guides for those valves will probably be damaged too. It's unlikely to need a full set - most of the valves will have been closed, and the cams have stopped turning if the belt breaks.

If you were doing it yourself, maybe ?2-300 on parts, gasket set, oil and filter, etc.

Machining - varies a lot, but a head skim and some new guides ahouldn't be too much - last time I had a full set of guides fitted it was ?150, though that was a while back.

 

[Bowdie]

Thanks for the info Shtu, I'll find out in the next couple of days what the extent of damage is - fingers crossed it will be closer to the ?500 mark

 

[ollie]

did you get your tensioner done with the timing belt? i`ve had me waterpump done so should that irradicate the chance of this happening (providing it was the waterpump).

good luck mate and keep us informed to the outcome!!

 

[Malky]

so do you know what's happen yet then???

Has the timing belt snapped???

 

[Bowdie]

Should find out how bad it is tomorrow, although the guy seemed quite positive that it might not be as bad as I think.

I was quite chuffed when I got towed through the gate to see a ferrari 355, 996 carrera 4s, 944 turbo, M5, another 996, jag xk8 and another beemer - the guys are used to dealing with exotic cars[][)][]

They have worked on a number of TT's and seemed familiar with the 1.8T.

The guy was just rebuilding an engine which had bent 28 out of the 32 valves[:O]

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.............

 

[ollie]

good luck mate, keep us informed.

 

[Bowdie]

Got the call today that it was the belt that failed, will find out tomorrow how many valves have bent.

On the plus side, my dads old V6 shogun was in the same garage last year for quite a bit of work (bought it with a gas conversion and had all kinds of problems) both heads were stripped and rebuilt with new valves (24nr) and hydraulic tappets (which also required re-machining) etc and the total bill for that was less than ?800 so hopefully mine will be less than that[]

 

[Malky]

Get onto VW mate,

If the belt was changed at 80K only 30K ago, it should break again!!

CHeck to make sure they invoiced you fro the tensioner, as that's the most likely cause!!

Worth also check the rest of the pulleys and replacing them if they are suspect! I think the idler pulley is the one to check.

 

[Bowdie]

The problem is that I bought the car at 87k miles and did a lot of chasing round to track it's history. The garage that used to service it sent me a copy of the invoice for the 80k service which included a timing belt and tensioner (I took the invoice to my local dealer who confirmed that the timing belt was on the invoice) Do you think I have a case for going back to VW? I can't see I have much come back on them.......

Spoke to the garage today and they have done a compression check - no compression in any of the cylinders which means at least one bent valve per cylinder []

 

[Malky]

You need to get to the bottom of why it failed!!!

If it's due to the belt or tensioner then VW should be laible.

Just a thought...

Good luck!!

 

[shtu]

Speaking from personal experience here, just because a VW dealer shows a part on the invoice, and charges for it, doesn't mean it was ever fitted!

After a VW top end rebuild on mine (belt related too), it died just over a year later. Upon stripping it myself, oh my how surprising, all the intermediate rollers that were charged for were well screwed. No way they'd been fitted only a year before...

Bad luck, sounds like quite a few valves have taken a knock. Don't panic yet though, valves are only a few ? each, it's the labour that makes a job like this expensive.

 

[ollie]

shtu, how much was your vw head rebuild?

 

[shtu]

About ?2400 all in, included a replacement head at over ?600. Thank you warranty, no thanks workmanship.