Engine died. Seized.

[alexm]

Earlier this week i had a new anncillary belt kit put on my car. Yesterday i was driving along and my engine started sounding really rough. It almost sounded like a tractor! Clanging and rattling when i was idle.
i then pulled off and the engine sounded as it normally does, but as i slowed down, the rough noise came back and then the car cut off. i tried turning it over, but there was nothing. it didnt even make a noise, just nothing happened. it just seems like its seized.

now, would this have anything to do with the garage putting on a new anncillary kit on, maybe they did something with the cambelt by accident? or maybe its something totally unrelated?

any 1 have any ideas? im absolutely gutted and worrying that im gunna be with out a car.

 

[ashy_gtt]

Can you turn the engine over by hand? i.e. a spanner on the bottom pulley?

 

[alexm]

the car is at the garage now, they r gunna have a proper look at it on monday. he said to me that he couldnt turn it over forwards, or backwards. i take it he means he tried manually.

 

[Sean6545]

The aux belt may of come off and wrapped its self around the crank and locked it up possibly.

Or as you said, it could be completly nothing to do with the belt change.

 

[alexm]

he said he looked externally at the engine n belts etc and thought it looked fine. so he thinks he'll have to take the head off on monday and look internally :|

 

[ChrisD172]

Must be some come back from the garage who haven't fitted it properly?

 

[alexm]

well thats what i am hoping. im praying its something that they have done. it seems a bit of a coincidence that this has happened just 3 days after they have "fixed" the car.

 

[alexm]

any1 else have any ideas?

 

[SBV116]

could be a belt off, you will have to wait and see!

 

[dunlop]

sounds fubared.

new engine. mine siezed but unsiezed itself after an hour or so, but then again i knew it was fubared from the little end bearing rattling itself to pieces

 

[Josh@Renparts]

did they change the oil on it at the time?

 

[alexm]

im not sure. i dont think they did. well they never said they changed the oil on the invoice.

 

[fossie]

Was gonna say, have they put enough oil in it, if they changed it that is?

 

[SBV116]

its a huge coincidense (sp) if it has seized, more than likely the rattling wass the valves / pistons meeting as the belt slipped / come off do we not think?

 

[rapid86]

my money would be on them fitting the alternator belt incorrectly or not tensioning it correctly. Shreadding the belt doing the timing

 

[alexm]

if it is anything to do with them, im worried that they arnt going to admit fault and correct their wrong doing. im just gunna hav to w8 and c what they come up with i guess.

 

[Jamesstone]

Surely you havent gone back to them for the inspection? they could make up any shite to blag you off mate, does sound like a poor effort at fitting the new aux belt

 

[alexm]

the owner is a friend of my step dad so i like to think i could trust them. but u never know

 

[Jamesstone]

When a £1,000-£1,500 is on the table you'll be surprised how quickly some one can change, hopefully the guys not a complete tosser if it was the aux failure

 

[rich-6]

When a £1,000-£1,500 is on the table you'll be surprised how quickly some one can change, hopefully the guys not a complete tosser if it was the aux failure

Exactly i'd be getting an independamt inspection, He may say its something else when its the work hes carried out which caused the prob, In this day and age you have to realise not everyone is who they seem

 

[alexm]

aye yer some good points. ill wait and see what he says about it and go from there.

it seems most people think its more than likely something to do with the belt change that they did

 

[caister]

If they have never done one before and didn't know what they were doing then yes its probably something they have done. Possibly used the wrong belt routing?

Saying that its not exactly difficult to do I did mine myself but then Ive got the manual for the clio engine so unless your a complete tool you can't really go wrong.

 

[alexm]

ok so the garage rang me back today and said he is 99% sure iv "dropped a valve and damaged the piston" or something along those lines. he said it could cost £300-£400 just to strip the engine and find out for sure what the problem is and what caused it.

if it is what he said, what it be more viable to let them recondition it, or would it make sense to look out for a new engine and just get them to put a new 1 in? baring in mind u dont know wot sort of state a refurbed engine would be in any ways.

does any 1 know how much roughly it would cost to refurb the engine etc if that was the case? obviously u guys dont know the exact damage caused, but just rough guestimates would help for now.

uber gutted.

Thanks, Alex.

 

[172cupwizard]

Did you look at the belt after it had happened? sounds suspect.

 

[SBV116]

I smell a rat to be honest.

 

[dunlop]

So do i.

Dropped valves a good way of covering up shoddy work.

 

[alexm]

just looking at the belts when it happened, they seemed fine and in place. no damage to them really.

my sted dad seems to really vouche for him sayin he deffo wouldnt be pulling a fast 1... so i dunno.

 

[alexm]

my step dad seems the think the work that they did, the aux belt, is a completely diff part of the engine and theres no chance it could be related... is this right?

 

[172cupwizard]

May be the dephaser

 

[172cupwizard]

If the aux belt snapped due to bad workmanship that would fook it up if bits of the belt got on cambelt.

 

[caister]

Translatting what they have told you:

Sorry mate but we didn't have bloody clue what we were doing when we changed your aux belt but we gave it a go anyway as we needed the money. As we didn't know what we were doing the belt has snapped/come off and has got wrapped up in the cambelt which has then snapped, damaged valves and probably a piston or two.

Luckily you brought the car straight back to us so now we can diagnose it as a different fault which sounds like it isn't related to the work we have done and then charge you for the pleasure of getting it fixed.

 

[SBV116]

They didnt undo the crank pulley or anything silly?

 

[rapid86]

"dropped a valve and damaged the piston"

shoddy. Valves dont just drop and they dont damage the pistons on them, not unless you were doing about 70 when it went. I would put it in somewhere else and get an independent inspection

 

[Alastair.]

Translatting what they have told you:

Sorry mate but we didn't have bloody clue what we were doing when we changed your aux belt but we gave it a go anyway as we needed the money. As we didn't know what we were doing the belt has snapped/come off and has got wrapped up in the cambelt which has then snapped, damaged valves and probably a piston or two.

Luckily you brought the car straight back to us so now we can diagnose it as a different fault which sounds like it isn't related to the work we have done and then charge you for the pleasure of getting it fixed.

FLOL, best translation ever.

every garage will pull a fast one, they wouldnt want to spend money on something they did wrong if they can get round it which it sounds like they have.

sorry to hear mate

 

[alexm]

surely an independant inspection would mean getting it towed somewhere else and getting them to strip the engine down? which would still cost hundreds.

 

[rapid86]

surely an independant inspection would mean getting it towed somewhere else and getting them to strip the engine down? which would still cost hundreds.

True... Either way your still going to pay hundreds. Its just way to fishy for my liking, and with it back in there garage its way to easy to cover up. Sorry to hear mate just trying to pluck some idea's out of my head to try help you out :S

 

[alexm]

yer cheers for all ur help. it is just way too much of a coincidence for this to happen 3 days after coming out of the garage.

if i get an independant person to look at it and he finds the fault. how will i know if its something that the other garage has done tho. and how will i prove it.
its easy to point the finger at them, its another thing proving it was their dodgy work and then getting them to cough up for it.

 

[rapid86]

well if it was them, then the alternator belt will be shreaded or partially shreaded and wrapped around the crank pulley. thats really about it if that is all they have done. Did they do any other work?


I think the AA do mobile inspections

 

[alexm]

it was just the aux belt kit. he said they checked the cambelt but said it was in good condition and ndidnt need replacing. can u c the aux belt thru the engine bay then? cus when it happened i looked at the belts on the left of the engine bay and they were still on the pulllys etc. didnt look damaged to me.

 

[ashy_gtt]

Hey I understand what everyone on here is saying but it would of been really easy to see if the aux belt had come off and taken the cam belt with it! plus you would be looking at more than £300.00 to repair! My aux belt came off my engine on the track and I got about 1/4 of a mile before the expansion bottle blew its cap, it didn't interfere with the cam belt at all!!

Its too easy to jump on the blame the garage band waggon!! Any mechanic worth his salt knows how to fit an aux belt.

What were the symptons when the car conked out?