timing belt parts not moving Vauxhall zafira, petrol

Rambosmum

Today I got my timing belt changed as per the guidelines. Car is a petrol vauxhall zafira, 1.6. It's never been the nippiest machine, I figured biggish car, smallish engine - having mainly had 1 litre run arounds I've never really noticed difference. Afterwards, mechanic asked how long the car had been sluggish for, I told him it's always been like that and he told me it was likely to be a bit worse now - the timing belt had been changed but the two bits it goes round, don't move. He said he had never seen it before and didn't know how to fix it - he's been a mechanic for ages (he's late 50s, been a mechanic since school), and is was a bit stumped as to what the problem was. He is going to talk to a vauxhall guy he knows and get back to me. 

As he rightly said, the car is even more sluggish now. Anyone any ideas what he meant? From what he  described it sounds like a camshaft or crankshaft wasn't moving and the belt was being dragged over it, but he used a word beginning with V, vanicol or something. He did say it was a shame as the car was in good condition for its age other than that, but he feels it won't be an easy (or cheap) fix. 

Help please!

facade

He probably means the dephaser pulley is seized, which is unusual, as they normally break up inside and the engine sounds like a diesel.  It is the sprocket/cog that the belt goes round, the sprocket part can be moved to rotate the cam shaft relative to the pulley, which improves performance.

I don't know what he means though, I wouldn't expect it to move with the engine stopped- it is the turning back and forwards that causes the knocking when the internals break..

A new one is under £100

Rambosmum

Thanks, that sounds more positive than he did!

facade

Is the yellow check engine light on when it is running?

I'd expect it to be if the cam can't be controlled by that pulley, and the engine might go into a limp-home mode, which would be low power.

clive0510

did you have just the belt changed , or did you have a complete timing belt kit?. who ordered the parts? who ever is doing the job should know what to order.

AdrianC

Variable valve timing.

As the revs increase, there's a widget in the cam sprocket that changes the timing slightly. That'll be seized, so that the cam timing isn't being changed. Yes, there should be a fault code - and the engine management light. It's typically caused by neglected maintenance, sludging due to lack of oil changes. If the actuator can't be freed and cleaned, then it's going to have to be replaced.

If either crank or cam weren't turning at all, then the engine wouldn't run.

Rambosmum

Ok, great this is all sounding positive, sort of!

It wasn't in limp home mode yesterday but it was this morning. Yes, the check engine light is on - it has been for a couple of weeks, which is one of the reasons it went in the garage.

It's been pretty well maintained, we change the oil yearly (last november and then again yesterday) and it was serviced about 18 months ago before yesterday - it was delayed due to covid, we barely used the car in lockdown - just to and from the kids school (keyworker childcare).

Rambosmum

So it is back in the garage and they are keeping it until it is fixed. Unfortunately that means using ubers to get to and from work and the kids to and from school (not walking distance and no direct bus route) until it is fixed. Bit of a pain but hopefully won't be to long. 

Flight3287462

Hiring a car would probably be cheaper.