High Street Mechanics Bricked My Car

jgradisher

Apologies for the long blog post

(tl/dr: cam belt change has bricked my car and mechanics are denying it has anything to do with the cam belt change)

Took the car (Discovery 3) to a High Street mechanic for service and MOT back in July: amongst a few other things, they suggested getting timing belt changed (last time was about 6 years ago so it was due soon anyway).

So I thought, it's a make that's been around for a while now, and whilst it's tricky, it shouldn't be beyond the ken of the mechanics there, and I have other basic suspension work that needs done, and why not, as they are just around the corner, no faffing about with dropoffs and pickups, etc.

Car was running pretty well when I dropped it off; no lights, great pickup, no smoke.

They changed the belt then did the suspension work over the space of two/three days. Then they took if for a ride to report back that there was no power getting to the engine. And that there was an EGR fault. I explained the EGRs had been blanked off anyway. So they tried a different belt (this time an OEM belt!?! ).

Still no joy. They spent two days trying to diagnose the issue, then gave up

Initial vibes from the manager was that it was nowt to do with them. However, the mechanic was more conceding that it was running when it came in, it's not running now, and they would pay for a car rental for my wife in the meantime until they get it fixed (at their expense if it is down to them). And they would take it to the dealers to get diagnosed on their dime.

Two weeks since bringing it in, it is now sitting at a dealers having had diagnostics (as all the indies around were booked up for over a month).

The dealers said there is a fault showing for a sticky turbo actuator, which is potentially the cause for lack of power, and they found a few other issues that would be down to previous work of said high street mechanics.

However the dealer is quoting 5k to replace the turbo, and would not confirm or deny that it could be down to an improperly fitted timing belt either the first time or the second time (even though I have seen people talk about similar situations for various makes of car on different forums). I suppose it's down to honour amongst thieves, and that the High Street shop was the one paying for the diagnosis.

The High Street shop is now saying the turbo issue is nothing to do with them, it just happened to go at the time they had the car and it always happens immediately (not gradually as I have seen most people describe their turbo issues). 

The car is going to go back from the dealers to the High Street mechanics on Monday.

We are going to engage an independent inspector to have a look, but I have a couple of questions:

1. Are there any references that I can point to where a bad timing belt installation can cause a turbo issue? I've seen anecdotes and the AA technical help line and a friend of our daughter's who is an F1 mechanic said it's possible.
2. Is there anything else we should be doing to remedy the situation?

I just want my car to work again and not have to pay out for work that was caused by negligence.

Mildly_Miffed

jgradisher said:

1. Are there any references that I can point to where a bad timing belt installation can cause a turbo issue? I've seen anecdotes and the AA technical help line and a friend of our daughter's who is an F1 mechanic said it's possible.

I really can't see how it could.

The more likely cause is that on a Disco3 TDV6, changing the cambelt is a LOT easier with the body off. It's possible without, but probably takes longer.



It's not a big scary thing to anybody used to these cars - they're designed for it for bigger maintenance jobs.

But there's an awful lot of things to disconnect which can then get broken or knocked or not reconnected properly.

A "sticky actuator", though? Unlikely. It sounds as if that really is a turbo-age thing and unfortunate coincidence of timing.

Main dealer prices are always ludicrously expensive, though - there's no way a half-way competent indie would charge anything CLOSE to £5k for a turbo swap.

LightFlare

jgradisher said:

Apologies for the long blog post

(tl/dr: cam belt change has bricked my car and mechanics are denying it has anything to do with the cam belt change)

Took the car (Discovery 3) to a High Street mechanic for service and MOT back in July: amongst a few other things, they suggested getting timing belt changed (last time was about 6 years ago so it was due soon anyway).

So I thought, it's a make that's been around for a while now, and whilst it's tricky, it shouldn't be beyond the ken of the mechanics there, and I have other basic suspension work that needs done, and why not, as they are just around the corner, no faffing about with dropoffs and pickups, etc.

Car was running pretty well when I dropped it off; no lights, great pickup, no smoke.

They changed the belt then did the suspension work over the space of two/three days. Then they took if for a ride to report back that there was no power getting to the engine. And that there was an EGR fault. I explained the EGRs had been blanked off anyway. 

Could this be the root cause of the problem if you hadnt made them aware of this up front ?

jgradisher

LightFlare said:

jgradisher said:

Apologies for the long blog post

(tl/dr: cam belt change has bricked my car and mechanics are denying it has anything to do with the cam belt change)

Took the car (Discovery 3) to a High Street mechanic for service and MOT back in July: amongst a few other things, they suggested getting timing belt changed (last time was about 6 years ago so it was due soon anyway).

So I thought, it's a make that's been around for a while now, and whilst it's tricky, it shouldn't be beyond the ken of the mechanics there, and I have other basic suspension work that needs done, and why not, as they are just around the corner, no faffing about with dropoffs and pickups, etc.

Car was running pretty well when I dropped it off; no lights, great pickup, no smoke.

They changed the belt then did the suspension work over the space of two/three days. Then they took if for a ride to report back that there was no power getting to the engine. And that there was an EGR fault. I explained the EGRs had been blanked off anyway. 

Could this be the root cause of the problem if you hadnt made them aware of this up front ?

No, I've had the cam belt changed before and this wasn't an issue.

jgradisher

Mildly_Miffed said:

jgradisher said:

1. Are there any references that I can point to where a bad timing belt installation can cause a turbo issue? I've seen anecdotes and the AA technical help line and a friend of our daughter's who is an F1 mechanic said it's possible.

I really can't see how it could.

The more likely cause is that on a Disco3 TDV6, changing the cambelt is a LOT easier with the body off. It's possible without, but probably takes longer.



It's not a big scary thing to anybody used to these cars - they're designed for it for bigger maintenance jobs.

But there's an awful lot of things to disconnect which can then get broken or knocked or not reconnected properly.

A "sticky actuator", though? Unlikely. It sounds as if that really is a turbo-age thing and unfortunate coincidence of timing.

Main dealer prices are always ludicrously expensive, though - there's no way a half-way competent indie would charge anything CLOSE to £5k for a turbo swap.

Agreed. I have seen some indies charge about £2k for the turbo replacement.

I even understand there is a pretty simple DIY fix for unsticking a sticky actuator. And one story I saw said that there had been oil pressure issues due to pipes not reconnecting properly which can have an impact on the turbo.

jgradisher

@Mildly_Miffed

On the actuator thing, though, is it something that would come up spontaneously, or would it be something that would have been showing signs (e.g., black smoke, whining noise, etc) before it happened? I've seen it said that incorrect timing (or incorrect reconnections) can cause knock-on issues. Plus the fact they didn't use an OEM belt in the first place.

born_again

I'm curious by just what a "High Street Mechanic" is?

jgradisher

born_again said:

I'm curious by just what a "High Street Mechanic" is?

Begins with an H. But I am reserving official calumny until this all settles

Ibrahim5

They are idiots of the highest order. Never, ever take your car there.

Baldytyke88

jgradisher said:

The dealers said there is a fault showing for a sticky turbo actuator

I suppose it's down to honour amongst thieves, and that the High Street shop was the one paying for the diagnosis.
The High Street shop is now saying the turbo issue is nothing to do with them

Surely the dealer will not really want to support an independent garage, speak to the dealer.

But a vehicle can go faulty at any time, you need to find a link and be able to prove it.

Mildly_Miffed

jgradisher said:

born_again said:

I'm curious by just what a "High Street Mechanic" is?

Begins with an H. But I am reserving official calumny until this all settles

You took it to a bicycle shop?