Faulty car repair- mechanics with an opinion?

pitkin2020

Afternoon all need a little advice regarding some work we have had done to a citroen berlingo (2000 1.9D).

The car had a slight oil leak which seemed to be coming from around the rocker cover. The oil seemed to only be dripping from the engine bay leaving a nice little pool on the floor daily.

Anyway we had a mechanic look at it and he agreed it was coming from the rocker cover and we agreed to have it fixed. At the same time we asked for a full service and for the cambelt to be done on it.

All the work was done but afterwards the car was really sluggish, it wasn't powerful before but now it was totally gutless and even pushing it you can't get it over 50mph. Looked under the bonnet to see the oil has been sprayed now all over the manifold and the underside of the bonnet and has sprayed over the brake reservoir etc. There is a lot of oil as its even pooled around the filler gap and in parts of the manifold. The oil leak was never like this prior to be "fixed".

Anyway we have called the mechanic out who didn't really have a great deal to say and tried to say its now the lower rocker cover gasket (he replaced top rocker cover gasket). I don't agree as you can clearly see the gasket that has been replaced isn't even all the way around the rocker cover, its bulging out by upto 10 mm in some places and it looks like the oil has sprayed out from this.

My main concern is though that the timing is now out on the car after the cambelt change due to the very sluggish nature it now has and maybe that has caused the rocker cover gasket to blow, or could it simply be a badly fitted gasket? Would the timing being out cause the gasket to blow and spay oil or is that not possible?

Any insights would be much appreciated.

s_b

sounds like hes made a hash of the timing and of the gasket to be honest

has he left a breather pipe off too?
sorry not much help i would get the opinion of another person who knows their way around this engine

mikey72

Gasket sounds wrong, just badly fitted and with won't affect the cam belt. That sounds like it's one tooth out, and is another fault. Both jobs need re-doing.

captainawsome

^^^what they said. Timings probably out, trouble is, do you want this monkey doing it again? If he accepts it was him at all! You may now need to pay someone else to do a decent job of it.

pitkin2020

I did suspect the timing is out due to the sluggish-ness (is that a word?) of the car since having it done, 50mph is pushing it now. Fair do's it wasn't fast before but 10 times worse now.

I can't see any loose pipes at all.

If the timing was out though apart from the poor performance it could easily blow that gasket out from the rocker cover I presume and thats why its spraying oil around the engine bay now?

Both jobs deffo need redoing but are waiting to see what he has to say in the morning. I am guessing from his response today though he will be confident its not the timing which is why I wanted some opinions from others so I can atleast say why we think its the timing and not just a poorly fitted gasket.

Thanks everyone you've been really helpful

mikey72

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I did suspect the timing is out due to the sluggish-ness (is that a word?) of the car since having it done, 50mph is pushing it now. Fair do's it wasn't fast before but 10 times worse now.

I can't see any loose pipes at all.

If the timing was out though apart from the poor performance it could easily blow that gasket out from the rocker cover I presume and thats why its spraying oil around the engine bay now?

Both jobs deffo need redoing but are waiting to see what he has to say in the morning. I am guessing from his response today though he will be confident its not the timing which is why I wanted some opinions from others so I can atleast say why we think its the timing and not just a poorly fitted gasket.

Thanks everyone you've been really helpful

Unrelated. If the engine managed to over pressure, it'll blow the dipstick out first, if all the breathers are blocked. The only way the gasket can be bulging out is if it fell out when he fitted it, or if he overtightened the cover and squeezed it out. It won't affect performance. (Until all the oil leaks out, then it'll be bad) He can prove the belt is correct, by removing the cover, lining up the pulleys, and showing you the marks. If they line up, you can apologise, and pay him for his time, but I would say you're on a safe bet. Loss of power is a classic sign of a tooth out. (There could be something else that has happened on the service, but it's hard to guess what, but even so, it was working before, and it's not now. I'd be checking the belt first if it was me though)

pitkin2020

mikey72 wrote: »

Unrelated. If the engine managed to over pressure, it'll blow the dipstick out first, if all the breathers are blocked. The only way the gasket can be bulging out is if it fell out when he fitted it, or if he overtightened the cover and squeezed it out. It won't affect performance. (Until all the oil leaks out, then it'll be bad) He can prove the belt is correct, by removing the cover, lining up the pulleys, and showing you the marks. If they line up, you can apologise, and pay him for his time, but I would say you're on a safe bet. Loss of power is a classic sign of a tooth out. (There could be something else that has happened on the service, but it's hard to guess what, but even so, it was working before, and it's not now. I'd be checking the belt first if it was me though)

The pulleys will deffo have the marks on?? Thats great advice I can make him remove the cover tomorrow to check it.

So the gasket is deffo unrelated then and must have just been fitted badly.

Superb thanks again

Joe_Horner

Cam timing won't blow the rocker cover gasket out but, if it's really that much oil being thrown around, the fault gasket could just about cause the sluggishness.

Depending where it's spraying and where the air intake is, the poor thing is likely to be breathing a big dose of oil droplets (and possibly burnt oil off the exhaust) which is going to clog the aircleaner and confuse the hell out of the engine management!

captainawsome

Make sure he locks the crank in position too. He can align the pully to the camshaft all day but who knows where the crank is in relation. Would be a good way for him to 'fob you off' claiming its all ok. Just something to be aware of.

pitkin2020

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Cam timing won't blow the rocker cover gasket out but, if it's really that much oil being thrown around, the fault gasket could just about cause the sluggishness.

Depending where it's spraying and where the air intake is, the poor thing is likely to be breathing a big dose of oil droplets (and possibly burnt oil off the exhaust) which is going to clog the aircleaner and confuse the hell out of the engine management!

lol engine management...its a 2000 berlingo its basic to say the least lol. The oil is no where no near the airtake thankfully as thats all near the front right and all the all is being sprayed rear left.

We only used it for 2 mornings so not a great deal of mileage and the oil was down to half way on the dipstick so I would say a fair bit has pumped out.

pitkin2020

captainawsome wrote: »

Make sure he locks the crank in position too. He can align the pully to the camshaft all day but who knows where the crank is in relation. Would be a good way for him to 'fob you off' claiming its all ok. Just something to be aware of.

that would be with the belt off though I guess?