Cam belt

droopsnoot

tberry6686 wrote: »

The head of the bolt is only there to supply a place to fit a spanner/wrench to for tightening/loosening and to stop the bolt going to deep. The threaded portion is the part that tightens.

That's a bit of a generalisation. In this case, the thread is tightened against the base of the head of the bolt - that is, the tension in the bolt is generated by the head being against the pulley surface at one end, and the thread gripping at the other. That's tightened to a specific torque which ensures that based on the material the bolt is made from, sufficient tension will keep the part in place.


If this bolt was replaced by one that didn't have a head (i.e. had a hex hole in the end, like a large grub screw) it wouldn't do the job, so in this case the head is more than a means for turning the bolt.

Marktheshark

[simon] wrote: »

Hi all thank you for your advise.

I must stress that as i write this my engine is not written off to my knowledge. However it does need repair from the damaged caused by the garrage.

I have an update today.

I have been on the phone with the garrage this morning.

I have not blamed anyone for the situation. However the garrage did say to me for the seccond time now that the damage caused is not their fault and it is the manufactures fault for putting the bolt in too tightly when they made the car. I will however ask for this in writing and seek advise should i start to feel uneasy.

The garrage said they have 2 options for me.

1 they get a speciallist to visit the garrage and drill the crank shaft, this again is 50/50 and may or may not be a sucess. This is the cheapest option and they option they want to take first.

If the above is a fail then option 2

2 take the car away to have the engine taken out and new crank shaft. This will cost me 1 grand on top of all other work snd servicing.

If option 1 fails and i have to pay for option 2 i will be asking for a writtern report / blame of the manufacture and seek advise.

I am making huge losses at the monent to my income and expencise, the garrage recomend i hire a car but again that will cost me even more money!

I think you are following the red herring, not out fault Gov, blame the manufacturer.
They have damaged your engine and are trying to blame everyone but themselves.
Those are the facts, put the shaggy dog story to one side about how it happened, this is going to cost you thousands to put right someone else's error.

I bet they can not believe you are going to take it on the chin.
As for exploring the "excuse" as to why they wrecked the engine, that is not your problem.

I would advise you seek some legal advice on a civil claim against the garage, if they feel someone else not us Gov is to blame, they will have to counter claim it.

Retrogamer

To be honest OP you can take Mark's advise and gamble via the small claims but given the account so far, i don't fare your chances. It is a gamble and depends on the judges decision in the end.

I would say though i'd be cautious when taking someone's advise on determining when a mechanic has been negligent when they have demonstrated very limited knowledge on mechanics / engineering.

macman

if you are self employed then the cost of a temporary hire car will be a legitimate business expense, so quite why you are saying you 'can't work' is beyond me.

colino

OP, can you clarify what model the car is and if it really was the crank pulley bolt they broke? On a Mondeo, like most cars, a real garage would gun the pulley bolt off. No need to dissipate unnecessary heat (through the fragile crank pulley!) and rarely a problem. If they are now saying the head of the crank pulley bolt has snapped off, they can make sure the engine is still timed up, lever the pulley off, extract the remainder of the bolt and complete the job. One new bolt +one new crank pulley, no dramas.

dannyrst

Basically you need the car back, take it to a specialist and ask:

"If this went to any other garage, would it have resulted in the same issue?"

If not, then the garage is at fault for negligence. If yes, then you need to explore whether you can prove that the bolt was put on too tight and therefore was a fault in manufacture and, if you have the money/time, pursue Ford.

Marktheshark

He can not clarify anything Colino thats the issue, we only have the "tale" the garage have given them.
Personally, if they have shafted up such a simple job, I would get the car straight out of there before they get something else wrong.
Take it to another garage, get the damage rectified and Sue the other garage for the damage they caused.

For all we know, they could be having him over, would not be the first time a garage has pulled such a stunt would it.

EdGasket

[simon] wrote: »

1 they get a speciallist to visit the garrage and drill the crank shaft, this again is 50/50 and may or may not be a sucess. This is the cheapest option and they option they want to take first.

Ah I was right then; crankshaft pulley bolt. Ford torque them up and then specify a further 90 degrees twist. I tried to do a Focus once but couldn't shift the bolt.

Once the torque is off the bolt though, it might be possible to simply twist the remaining bolt out; tap it round with a centre punch, or drill most of it out and retap. If all that fails you can still drill and tap to the next size of bolt or even fit a helicoil or timesert but saving the original thread in the crankshaft is best if at all possible.

arcon5

colino wrote: »

OP, can you clarify what model the car is and if it really was the crank pulley bolt they broke? On a Mondeo, like most cars, a real garage would gun the pulley bolt off. No need to dissipate unnecessary heat (through the fragile crank pulley!) and rarely a problem. If they are now saying the head of the crank pulley bolt has snapped off, they can make sure the engine is still timed up, lever the pulley off, extract the remainder of the bolt and complete the job. One new bolt +one new crank pulley, no dramas.

You clearly don't or have never worked in a garage, since some bolts even the best of guns won't shift. Crank bolts being one of them! I've seen some of the worst have a breaker bar then a scaffolding pole over the top of it just to crack it off!

droopsnoot

EdGasket wrote: »

Once the torque is off the bolt though, it might be possible to simply twist the remaining bolt out; tap it round with a centre punch, or drill most of it out and retap.

If it's stuck in tight enough that the bolt head broke off rather than undiong, I suspect that this is unlikely to work. Unless they did something silly like trying to tighten it by mistake.