Ritz

Customer comes in with an A4 w/AEB engine for a timing belt change. I put it into service position and pop the covers. The last person to do the TB decided that the roller was OPTIONAL and left it off. You could tell it was intentional as they used a grinder to grind down the raised area of the tensioner where the roller bolted on...to prevent the timing belt from rubbing on that spot. It had still managed to shave about 80% of the belt down on the inner half of the belt (but didn't go all the way through). I figure it was JUST about to break when he happened to bring it in while he was on vacation. I gave him the tensioner back, took a few photos, and recommended he visit the service manager at the dealer that did the original change (a prominent dealer in lower CT). Not sure if he ever did though...

Cheers,

Ritz

Indeed. See my pics from another 1.8T that lost a belt at idle.

6ULDV8

The customer had a timing belt go on a BMW some years back so he got an education back then. The car quit in a similar manner so he put 2 and 2 together. I told the guy that he would have to authorize at least 2 hours of labor to do some diagnosis and that if it was the belt that gave way the original repair shop might not cover that. He said no problem and told me to do whatever I needed to do and he would pay me. In cases like this you only do as much diagnosis as you can without really tearing it apart. You have to give the other shop the courtesy of not digging their hole any deeper. Nobody wants a botched job coming back to them with boxes of pieces. We found the belt off and the destroyed parts and told the customer he needed to call the dealership and see how they wanted to handle it. As I suspected and I would do the same, they are sending a rollback to retrieve the car. As for offering why the job went south, I dont offer anymore than I need to. In this case I told the customer the bolt broke. He asked how that might happen and I explained without actually saying the tech was a heavey handed clod. Its an unspoken thing between shops that they never speak ill of each other. You dont need that kind of bad blood. The customer asked me how he should approach the dealer. I told him to tell them the car jumped time because the TB tensioner bolt was sheared off. I warned him that they might take the position that the bolt was defective to start with and put up a fight, but to start with a simple explanation and not go in with guns blazing. As it turns out the dealership seems willing to cover it all.

2.7Twin

:-)

jbchinoca

Would a new motor be a possibility? Valve's, pistons, yikes!

A6Gary

Oh, the agony! Another reason for DIY to perform the service.

absolutcq20v

..paying particular attention to the fracture's texture.

One possability is that the tensioner was removed to do the belt, then hammered on (read: over-torqued) with an air gun.

Keep all these photos and parts for the customers insurance adjuster to come out...it will help the adjuster subrogate against the indie shop.

Yesterday a 2.7 was murdered, today another one is a victim of manslaughter.

4Driver4

"In this case the dealer who did the work is sending a rollback and seems very willing to cover all costs of repair for the customer."

4Driver4

Here is a case of someone who paid the big bucks for perceived better service at the dealership. At best they were unlucky, at worst this is careless and shoddy work.

Audeye A6

Sadly, the belt broke and the valves did some wonderful damage to the pistons. They denied they had done it wrong and gave my some BS about a defective belt... long story short, I got screwed and had to repair out of pocket.


I feel his pain!!!