Polo 1.2 - timing chain replaced to then be told the car can’t be fixed (engine block cracked)

Amy2312

I’m not even sure if he’s 100% certain there is a hole. When I asked if he saw the hole when he took the head off he said

“You can’t see them you need to get engine out and send the block to a special machine , but this is expensive“

But like I said I don’t really know what I’m talking about it all just feels odd to me.

Amy2312

The same mechanic serviced the car literally 2 days before and I drove it home on the Saturday after the service and it was fine then. But I didn’t drive it again until Monday and that’s when it went wrong. And I noticed a big mark on my drive that looks like oil or something? Do you think any of this is connected or I’m just being paranoid?

ratrace

Amy2312 wrote: »

I’m not even sure if he’s 100% certain there is a hole. When I asked if he saw the hole when he took the head off he said

“You can’t see them you need to get engine out and send the block to a special machine , but this is expensive“

But like I said I don’t really know what I’m talking about it all just feels odd to me.

Hes right to a degree, like i say if it is at the back of the engine block it would be very diffcult to see thats if it is a hole, but it maybe a crack, without actually taking the engine out and inspecting it its anybodys word really and it will cost to take it out

ratrace

Amy2312 wrote: »

The same mechanic serviced the car literally 2 days before and I drove it home on the Saturday after the service and it was fine then. But I didn’t drive it again until Monday and that’s when it went wrong. And I noticed a big mark on my drive that looks like oil or something? Do you think any of this is connected or I’m just being paranoid?

I dont think it would be related unless somthing was left lose such as the sum nut which caused oil to leak out but to be fair it would have to be a lot of oil to leak out to cause the engine to run dry and damage the chain, also if that was the case then before a lot of oil leaked out you would have had your oil light come on first

so i think we can rule out the service causing the problem,the mark on the drive could just be oil that was spilt on engine when it was being filled up and just made its way down on the floor

what do you think your car is worth and have you decided what you are going to do with it


the 1.2 engines are known to snap chains to be fair, like i say i had a skoda with a similar 1.2 engine and the chain was noisy on that but it never went luckily

sevenhills

Amy2312 wrote: »

The same mechanic serviced the car literally 2 days before and I drove it home on the Saturday after the service and it was fine then. But I didn’t drive it again until Monday and that’s when it went wrong. And I noticed a big mark on my drive that looks like oil or something? Do you think any of this is connected or I’m just being paranoid?

I would be a little suspiscous, but not easy to tell, either way.

Amy2312

Fair enough. Thanks for your help. Not so sure what to do yet. He said he was going to take another look at it today but hasn’t got in touch so I’m assuming nothing has changed. I would have said it was worth 3000/3500 before this happened so not so sure now!!

ratrace

Amy2312 wrote: »

Fair enough. Thanks for your help. Not so sure what to do yet. He said he was going to take another look at it today but hasn’t got in touch so I’m assuming nothing has changed. I would have said it was worth 3000/3500 before this happened so not so sure now!!

Your welcome good luck hopefully you get it sorted

sean2014polo

my 2014 polo's timing chain failed at 47k!!

Amy2312

Hello again!! Just an update (this is still ongoing).

He managed to get it running again after a couple of weeks. My receipt states that the work done was: head gasket, head skimmed, valves, lifters, drive belt tensioner, oil and filter, timing chain kit.

I paid him 750, he had it for 2 weeks.

Since I got it back it was running quite rough when stationary / waiting at junctions. This usually gets better when it warms up a bit. But it occasionally misfires and judders quite aggressively.

I took it back to the garage where I had the work done and he kept it for 4 days (as I was away on holiday) and did nothing to it - he said it was fine and normal.

I took it to another garage for a diagnosis and they did compression tests and said it sounds like the valves? He did tests from cold and hot and they were:
Cylinder 1 - 160/145
Cylinder 2- 150/130
Cylinder 3- 160/125

He advised that I go back to where I had the work done because I had a 5000 mile warranty and he was responsible for sorting it out.

So I went back to him and he said the compression was fine and the other guy was wrong to say it was the valves. He changed the throttle body and I got it back last night.

This morning it was no different to before. It wouldn’t start on the first try and when it did start it was rough when idle.

I’ve just text him to tell him and he’s now said he has ordered a coolant temperature sensor and will come and change that for me.

He’s told me that I can go to the other garage and they can change the valves and if that’s the problem then he will pay for it but if not it’s my problem basically.

I’m reluctant to do that because he won’t pay out and my warranty is with him. He should be fixing it but we’re just going around in circles!!

Any advice??

Thanks in advance!

System

ratrace wrote: »

looking at values your car is worth about £3,500 ish, im not sure it would be worth putting in a used engine as the cost to buy then labour would be around £1,500 ish depending on how much the engine can be bought for

You're wrong I'm afraid. It is always cheaper to fix than replace. Selling their car as is on Ebay and then buying a replacement will cost them a lot more in losses and additional money they need to find to buy another than the £1000 or so it would cost to source a decent used engine and have it fitted.

OP: Looking at those compression test results they're low, especially cylinder 2 which is on the borderline of being too low. That would result in the type of running you're experiencing at the moment. They should be at least around 170 mark as a general rule.