sandspider

It is apparently now sorted! It's worked fine so far, but only had to start it warm once... 🤞 Apparently the issue was the timing on the diesel pump, and they've not charged me anything, despite it taking 5 hours or something to strip down and retime. As long as it now behaves, I'm reasonably happy! Not sure I'd go to the same garage again for a belt change though... Thanks for the help 👍

Well, back at the garage today, same garage that did the work. Went on the ramp at 9am, and the mechanic is still working on it. Fingers crossed he can fix it, and won't charge me the earth to do so - especially if he's just repairing mistakes he made the first time!

Thanks Jamie, I'll look into them.

I'm near Chepstow. So Bristol / Newport are all doable. Where do you recommend? Thanks.

Ha, I wasn't actually going to tell him he'd done it wrong, I was going to be more subtle! As it happens he's had an accident and broken himself, so he can't look at the car again until the 19th now anyway. Darn it. It no longer starts all the time from cold either ☹️ Thanks again Alasdair.

Thank you. Hopefully it's just that simple, and they don't charge me any more if they got it wrong the first time! I'll tell the mechanic he's done it wrong 😀 And the 4k was to possibly replace the whole camshaft, much engine dismantling required, not just to do the pulley...

It's hard to know for sure of course- I've only got the new garage's word for it. 🤷‍♂️ Thank you.

I had the belts done last time at a garage recommended from here (as far as I remember anyway), in Bath. According to my current garage they didn't do a great job - bolts missing from the waterpump, not tightened up etc. Hence a bolt getting into the cambelt recently. But it was 4 years since the belts were done by that garage, so might just be bad luck...

In the pic he showed me, about 5mm of the cog was worn, on the block side. But a good 3/4 of the width of tooth was still there. Hard to find a garage I can trust!

Thank you Alasdair, that's very helpful. Cog looks right, but I'll double check. Yeah, the 4k bill was to basically dismantle the engine to potentially replace the whole camshaft. Looks like that wouldn't be necessary as the cog comes separately, but I still can't see how a worn edge to it would affect timing. My suspicion is that the mechanic has got it slightly off.

Thanks Alasdair, that's helpful. I'll pass it on. Seems to be driving fine so far. And I've already driven it a few hundred miles since the belt was done!

Thanks. Back at the garage on the 13th, I'll get him to check everything again. I'll mention floating pulleys! Given that it seems to run fine should I not drive it in the meantime?

Hmm. The engine runs nice and smoothly when it's running. I believe the locking tool was new... But it does seem an odd coincidence...

Just to add, the check engine light has never come on. And the mechanic is sure he got the new timing belt on properly, all the pins lined up correctly, etc.

Hi all 2.0TDI Octavia scout, 2011. CFHC engine. About a month ago I got an odd whining noise while driving, increasing as revs did. I drove slowly home and it got a bit quieter. Got it to the garage, and they told me a bolt had fallen out of the water pump and got dragged around in the cambelt. Mechanic showed me a pic, and the timing cog on the end of the camshaft or crankshaft (whichever one is at the top of the engine!) had had one edge worn away - plenty of meat left on the cog though. Mechanic cleaned it all up, put new belt, rollers and idlers on, and it ran fine. However, when I tried to restart it while hot, it would immediately conk out, with a flashing coil light and the message "Engine fault. Garage". I put a fault code reader on it, and got "Bank 1: CMP sensor (G40) Engine speed sensor (G28): Incorrect correlation P0016" - but the car would always restart after a few minutes to cool down, or if I turn on or off the air con, open the bonnet etc. Once running it runs fine. Clearing the fault code makes no difference. Sometimes it conks out on starting (only when hot) but no fault code is found, and the "engine fault" message doesn't display. Back to the garage I went, and the mechanic ran his fault code reader over it, googled the fault code, and said it was probably down to the missing edge on the camshaft timing cog. He said a new one would probably be needed (6 hours labour or so), possibly even a new crankshaft or camshaft if the cog isn't available on its own. The latter would be around 4k total, so the car would be written off. Argh. I said isn't it more likely just to be one of the sensors having a hissy fit? he said probably not as they wouldn't have been disturbed by the cambelt replacement. We agreed that he'll have the car back and take the belt cover off again and see if there's anything obviously amiss or if he can adjust it slightly and make it happy. I'm inclined to ask him to clean or even replace the sensors (Crankshaft Position Sensor (CKP) or Camshaft Position Sensor (CMP)?) while he's in there, on the chance it'll save me another £400 bill, or possibly a 4k bill! I'd rather not scrap the car, it runs well when it's running, and is generally sound. 141k miles, though it has been a bit less reliable recently. Had it serviced 2 months ago, of course!! Anything else I could get him to check while he's there, hopefully easier and cheaper fixes? Thanks for any suggestions.