Hi, Driving back on the motorway my engine started to rattle and then suddenly there was bang and it failed. I coasted to a halt and waited for RAC recovery.

After getting the car home I stripped the front end down and found that the cam belt was all okay, but the balance shaft / oil pump chain had broken up. I’ve replaced the balance shaft assembly and using a repair kit the chain and other sprockets.

Having reassembled the engine with new cam belt and tensioner, when I started the car the engine rattled very loudly, more that the normal diesel sounds you might expect.

I stripped the front end down again and checked things only to find that all had been assembled correctly. Having put things back together once again (more new oil etc.) it still ran with as much noise as before. The engine runs smoothly (no apparent misfiring) with the rattle proportionate to engine speed. The only other slight symptom is what appears to be a small blowing from the air inlet side.

I’ll try and upload a video clip when I’ve edited it to below 10MB.

Any help /  advice would be much appreciated.

Hi, I had a similar issue with my 1.4 Greenline many years ago, whilst still in warranty. 

The chain that drives the oil pump had apparently wrapped its self around the pump and oil starvation ensued. 

Skoda UK give the dealership the go-ahead and a complete new engine was fitted.This was at approximately 50,000 miles and 2.5 years old!

Hi, the car has similarly completed just under 50,000 miles (odometer and reflected by mot history) and apart from this little problem is in pretty good condition after 10 years. Probably a bit late for a warranty job now, although this seems to be a design weakness of this engine?

Still trying to edit a video down to less than 10MB.

 

Yes, I very much doubt they will do anything. Might make a goodwill gesture of reducing overall price of replacement but not likely. If you are the first owner and had it serviced annually, that might help. The guy in the dealership recommend they only got around ten or so warrantied engine changes a year due to failure of this sort of thing.

 

I see you are in Surry... Where was your car sourced and when? I wondered if it came from the same production batch as mine as that might suggest faults in the quality or parts used. 

Mine is a 1.4 diesel from late 09. Its only a shame you tackled the job first as this may, again, go against any goodwill!

Edited 5 September, 20187 yr by mrgf