Octavia Cambelt issue

[Peter.C]

On my way home today, coming up to a roundabout, my 2.0 TDi diesel Octavia lost power then cut out. No warning lights on the dashboard. Obviously I tried to restart it a number of times, with no success. Fortunately was able to coast to a stop off the road. Tried a few more times to start it, but didn't sound good - noisy and engine not turning properly. Battery seemed fine as I still had lights,etc. Called out AA, who came quickly (first time used - recommended!). Tried starting it once more for him. He immediately diagnosed it as a slipping cambelt - pulling the cover away it was easy to see it had slack.

I had a suspicion it could be the cambelt, as coincidentally (or not) I had only had it changed (will say by who later) about 100 miles ago. Not happy.

Anyway, car is at the garage who fitted the cambelt now, waiting for me to speak to them in the morning. Main concern now is what damage may have been caused to the engine. Can it be checked by the garage? Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks.

Peter

[silver1011]

Welcome to Briskoda

It's a shame it's under these circumstances.

Sounds as though there will be engine damage, it's rare for a cambelt to fail and it not to cause consequential damage these days.

Turning the engine over won't have helped, but you weren't to know.

Was the cambelt change done at a main Skoda dealer or an independant? Either way there doesn't seem to be any option for the garage to dispute the fault lies with them.

Good luck in the morning, remember to keep your cool!

[booke23]

There will almost certainly have been valve/piston contact.

How many valves involved will only be revealed when they take it apart. But it's the garage's problem, as it is very hard to imagine the failure being caused by anything other than their failure to carry out the cam belt change correctly.

Edited 6 January, 2013 by booke23

[07 vRS Taxi]

Could be game over, Ive seen valves score cylinder walls and hammerd into the head and piston crowns. Good luck!

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

[Peter.C]

Thanks for the replies. It doesn't sound promising for my Octavia's engine :(

Went into the garage (it's a main dealer) first thing this morning and asked to speak to the Service Manager. They have a Team Leader rather than a manager, so spoke to her instead. I briefly explained the issue, and she immediately offered me a drink while she checked with the service department as to when they would be able to fit me in. She came back fairly quickly to take more details about the symptoms, and told me that they were fully booked but would try to look at the car as soon as possible to do some investigation. Since it was likely to be at least a few days, she offered me a loan car without any prompting from me.

So basically no resistance at all from them at this stage. Obviously they're not going to admit responsibility without first investigating, but I was told that the work was fully guaranteed so if the fault was down to them, they would put it right. Can't argue with that. Customer Service so far gets top marks. I'll reserve judgement on actual quality of work until I hear more about what went wrong!

I'll update when I have more news...

Oh, and for those who are interested, they have loaned me a Skoda Rapid sales demonstrator. Haven't had much of a chance to drive it yet, so may post some thoughts about it later.

[Phil-E]

Ouch.

Fingers crossed the damage was cause by them. Sounds like there will be no problems with them sorting it out and taking repsonsibility if it was.

Have fun in the rapid.

What engine has it got?

Phil

[Web Ferret]

Skoda dealer fitted cambelts have a 2 year warranty.

That's the reason a main steeler did mine, although at the offer price.

Contact Skoda UK just in case to advise them and start a dialogue.

Sounds like a techician messed up - But thats not your problem.

[Phil-E]

Could also have been a dodgy kit/belt/tensioner.

Didn't know they came with 2 year warranty. Dealer doing mine this week before picking it up.

Phil

[silver1011]

Just a word of warning, whilst things are looking rosy now, the minute you get any suspicion that they are attempting to wriggle out of paying then get your car out of there ASAP for independent investigation.

I'm sure all will be well, but we aren't talking hundreds of pounds here, we're talking thousands so keep your wits about you.

[Sugar]

My water pump paled in a month ago.it was replaced together with the cam belt under the 3 year warrenty that came with the vehicle when I bought it.i asked about the worked been gaurd teed but was informed that we do not give warrenty on top of warrenty.

Work was done by a skoda main dealer, first I gave heard about them giving a 2 year warrenty on this kind of work

[jgcsteve13]

day after buying 1.9 tdi had a cam belt tensioner shear off ay 70 mph at end of motorway .got towed by police to brent cross. turned over engine for rac man . ended up recovered to garage brought from . new tensioner , belt & drove for another 10 years (160000 miles ) with no problems . so hopefully you have the same luck.

[M12MKD]

I find it a worry that there are so many issues after a new cambelt being fitted. Its hard to find a good workmanship?

[andyoctavia]

I find it a worry that there are so many issues after a new cambelt being fitted. Its hard to find a good workmanship?

Yes, it certainly is - I used to be paranoid and cynical, but I have now developed a pyschotic tendancy which has a hair trigger!

[Peter.C]

Got a phone call from the garage today to explain what had happened. Apparently a stud holding a tensioner on broke, though they don't know why, apart from to say it's a steel stud going into an alloy head, so could heat up at different temperatures. Still shouldn't have failed, as obviously this is the design for all these engines! So could be a faulty part.

Bad news is that there is some internal damage - bent rods and some other damage. The garage is sending the head away to be checked before continuing with the repair, so at least a few more days before everything is sorted.

Good news is that the garage is sorting it all out under the guarantee. Had absolutely no resistance from them at all. They've looked at it quickly, even though they've probably got a full diary. They called me with the update, and said they'll call me again when they have more info. In the meantime, I get to keep the Rapid until my car is fully repaired.

As I said before, I can't fault their customer service so far! Main dealers do cost a bit more to get work done, but if this their response when something goes wrong, then perhaps that bit extra is worth paying for the peace of mind.

[moley]

Apparently a stud holding a tensioner on broke, though they don't know why, apart from to say it's a steel stud going into an alloy head, so could heat up at different temperatures. Still shouldn't have failed, as obviously this is the design for all these engines! So could be a faulty part.

I seem to recall someone on here had a similar problem with this broken stud after a cambelt change. I think the issue might have been that whatever was screwed onto the stud had been overtightened.

[booke23]

Excellent service so far from the dealer.

Unusual that the tensioner stud should break. The tensioner, tensioner stud and bolt are all actually replaced as part of the cambelt change so they will all have been brand new.

Must be a manufacturing defect with the stud or a heavy handed installation of the stud.

[silver1011]

Although the studs come with the kit I wonder how many actually get fitted?

My money is that there are cambelts fitted everyday re-using the old stretch bolts.

[booke23]

It does make you wonder.

You'd fully expect a dealer to use all the bits in the kit.....especially as they fully guarantee the work for a relatively long time. But who knows.

I'm quite sure there are plenty of independents who literally only change the belt and nothing else.

[Phil-E]

Probably more likelt to be part failure. Surely no mechanic would not bother to fit the part if it came in the kit and they're doing the work anyway!?

At least they are treating you well and got you sorted with a courtesy car straight away etc.

How's the Rapid? You like?

Phil

[Peter.C]

I guess I'm prepared to give the benefit of the doubt and go with a faulty part - no reason to believe anything else, especially given how the dealer is responding.

Rapid is OK, but wouldn't buy one. It's a 1.6 TDi, with a number of extras (being a sales demonstrator). I like the styling, but the interior is disappointing. My 2005 Octavia is a nicer place to be. I've started a thread in the Rapid forum with my thoughts to avoid this thread going too off-topic.

[Peter.C]

Finally got the car back yesterday! Took a bit of extra time, as some parts they ordered came in wrong. Nice to have something with a bit of comfort and power again (and heated seats!) - the Rapid they gave me had to be swapped for a Fabia Greenline Estate as the Sales department needed the Rapid back for test drives.

They've basically rebuilt the top of the engine. The service advisor was unable to tell me exactly what they'd done - she said I would need to speak to the technician (who'd gone home by then). It's got a new cambelt kit though, and had an oil and filter change.

Seems OK. Time will tell I guess. I will probably do about 400 miles this coming week, so should be a reasonable test. Will obviously keep an eye on fuel consumption, oil level,and water level to make sure. I scanned it with VCDS today and an electrical fault has been recorded on 3 of the glow plug circuits. Presumably they would have scanned it themselves, so these have possibly occurred since I picked it up. I've reset the faults and will check it again soon to see if they reoccur.

As I've said earlier, I cannot fault this Main Dealer's customer service. Absolutely no resistance from them, regular updates, and a courtesy car the whole time. They are Bristo's in Ipswich (Woodbridge Road).

[Grizzle]

Probably slightly different as mine being petrol but my mechanic told me to take it easy for the first few hundred miles after a new clambelt,tensioner and waterpump replacement.

[FriendlyFire]

My water pump paled in a month ago.it was replaced together with the cam belt under the 3 year warrenty that came with the vehicle when I bought it.i asked about the worked been gaurd teed but was informed that we do not give warrenty on top of warrenty.

Work was done by a skoda main dealer, first I gave heard about them giving a 2 year warrenty on this kind of work

If you have a three year warranty and a part is replaced half way the warranty remains three years. If you pay for a repair, the VAG quote a two year warranty on the parts and the repair. It's one of the hooks they use to persuade owners to stick with dealers for parts and service.

One side effect of this is that should you have a repair done under warranty and you make a financial contribution, however small, to the repair the you get an extent ion of two years to the warranty to that repair.

For similar reasons I try to pay for stuff with a credit card to implicate the bank in responsibility for the purchase.

[Peter.C]

Unfortunately I am getting the opportunity to experience Bristo's customer service once again...

The car is leaking oil. The puddle of oil on my garage floor was the give-away. Obviously I am not happy!

The garage arranged for it to be taken to them on a breakdown truck to avoid any potential damage from running the engine, though I have done quite a few miles in the past few days, so I hope the oil level has not been too low the whole time.

They've identified that it's coming from behind the cam cover somewhere, so surprise, surprise they're going to need more time to strip things down to find out what's wrong. So my car is going to be there for an unknown length of time again. Courtesy car (a Twingo!) is coming tomorrow, though will be swapped for an Octavia on Monday.

[Swinny46]

Peter sorry to see you have no problems, keep us posted