Help, problems with mechanic!

Chell_b

He claiming he never started the engine.
He told my bf he took the rocker cover off once he heard the ping to check what it was, which turned out to be the valve going.
my poor car!
Is there anyway of proving he did this damage?

s_b

its gone ping because he didnt time it up correctly and when he tried to start it he did the valves
pretty poor show that he wont admit his error
you will probably need to take him to court

in_the_Cotswolds

The cam belt was fitted incorrectly. When fitting a cambelt you line up the timing marks first, take the old belt off DO NOT TURN THE ENGINE AT ALL fit the new belt, tension it correctly and turn it over by hand and recheck the timing marks.

You can bend valves by turning the engine over by hand. Weak valve springs does not mean valves will touch the pistons, if they are broken they might.

TrickyWicky

Chell_b wrote: »

He claiming he never started the engine.

B*ll*cks. He's tried to start it alright. There is no other way he would know about a defective valve otherwise. If your car was working fine before he's touched it and its now got damaged valves after he's changed the timing belt then he has got the timing wrong. As said above I suspect he's out of his depth with your car and / or didn't even have the correct timing tool.

Chell_b wrote: »

He told my bf he took the rocker cover off once he heard the ping to check what it was, which turned out to be the valve going.

Absolute tripe. He's screwed it up and taken off the cover to see how bad it was. He had no other reason to take off the cover.

Is there anyway of proving he did this damage?

Well its your word against his that it was running fine before he tinkered with it. I suggest you get your boyfriend to speak with him seeing as he's the one who recommended him to you because otherwise he could just walk away and leave your car dead (though not in his interests really so he probably won't).

The only way you can prove it is if you have any documents, recorded phone calls, phone logs etc otherwise you're pretty stuffed. You could take a small claim out against him but even then he could turn around and say it was a snapped belt you asked him to fix.

You need to think over your options now but taking off the rocker cover has only confirmed his guilt in my eyes. There was no need to remove that at all and certainly not something you do without speaking to the cars owner first as you need a new rocker gasket. Of course new gasket means more money so he should of checked with you first before doing that.

Jingle bodge, jingle bodge, bodge it all the way...

forgotmyname

If you can push the valves down with your fingers then something is not right.

You need a 3rd party that knows about those engines to have a proper look not a guess from what you
have told them or its usually....

A proper look and test.

TrickyWicky

forgotmyname wrote: »

If you can push the valves down with your fingers then something is not right

Yeah but after taking off the cover, taking the head away for testing and 'finding' a total of 4 valves are duff who knows what he's done to the head to make it look genuine and he's not to blame for a mistimed engine.

RichGold

What seems to have happened is that your mechanic had refitted the new belt but the cogs he fitted the belt to were not at the correct position therefore putting the engines timing out. The belt controls the opening an closing of the 2 valves at the top of the picture, one inlet and one exhaust. As you can see the protrude into the cylinder when they are open, which is only when the piston is away from them. If either of these valves opened while the piston was at the top of its stroke then the piston would collide with the valve causing damage. This cannot happen unless the car has been started, and is usually happens when a cambelt snaps, hence the need to change them competently at the correct intervals.
Hope that's explained it.

colino

Your in a tricky position as he sounds like a bar room bluffer who is way out of his depth. Even a barely competent mechanic would have turned the engine over a couple of times (before starting it!) after changing a cam belt to check the timing still lined up. Waiting until it goes "ping" and then denying responsibility would suggest to me he operates from a mobile number and your not going to see him for dust.
If your bf really knows him some assertive pressure needs to be put on him now to fess up and pay (up front) for someone else to repair/replace your engine, I doubt if the courts will be much good for this man of straw.

ROY47

he's scr.w.d. up big time but won't admit it end of story ,valves just don't go ping !!

especially just before you change the cambelt

sounds like he was "moonlighting" e.g. cash in hand no receipt guv ?

TrickyWicky

Another animation of an engine and how the cambelt does its magic (sorry couldn't find a bigger one):


As you can see, if mistimed it will do some damage.

More info here: http://www.samarins.com/glossary/timing_belt.html