Cambelt Snapped after only 2K

[Boat_face]

All

Bear with me on this one as I'm about to write a fair bit of details. Hopefully someone out there can give me some advice to put right my situation.

Yesterday morning my cambelt snapped on my 1995 Audi 80 1.9TDI (estate). I was doing roughly 60mph on the dual carridge way when the oil light came on and the engine cut out. No nasty noises just a cut out. I rolled into the hard shoulder. The RAC lifter the belt cover and there it was - shredded.

What really grates me is that I'm a stickler for service intervals and I had the belt changed less than 2K ago I've got the paper work from the garage that did the job in Dec last year. I can also back up my mileage from my MOT certificates which show I haven't done more than 2K. What is also making mew quite angry is that after the belt had been changed the car wasn't right. There was a noise that sounded like a dynamo was winding up when I drove and acelerated. I took the car back - explained the noise- and was told that the bearing on the tensioner had gone and was replaced. Whether this was cobblers or not the noise was gone and the car seemed right.

Now I'm not going to blame the garage just yet. Maybe it was a faulty belt, maybe there was something else in the engine that went wrong? What I need to do is find out why it went and then take things from there (please advise me though). If it's the garages fault then I'd like them to pay for repairs if not then I'll be paying for it myself.

I'm thinking that if the cambelt failure is a fault of the garages poor workmanship, and I take my car straight there, then there's a chance they'll not admit to the bad workmanship and have every opportunity to remove any evidence of it. Perhaps they won't but I'm not going to give them the chance. Maybe, I should go to a garage that I know to be reputable and get them to do an assessment of what went wrong. If this shows it was bad luck then I just have to get on with things. If it shows it to be incorrectly fitted then I have something to try and back up my argument that the garage should put it all right at no charge to me.

If anyone can give me some guidance and advice on what to do I'd be really grateful. I'm narked, to say the least, that this has happened. I've always maintained my car - a lot of it myself - and I've always made sure that things have been done on time and this basically makes me feel like I've been royally done over

Many thanks in advance

[zollaf]

very unfortunate indeed. what make was the belt that was fitted ?

[STEWY L]

you are not being fair to the garage that fitted it,in my opinion.
they should have the first look at it.
if you trusted them to fit it in the first place,then you should trust them to
put it right.
my view anyway,
regards,
stewy.

[Boat_face]

Zollaf - I've not had a chance to check the make of belt. I'll do this when I have a chance on Monday. Along with taking some photos to record the situation.

Stewy - I take your point but I don't trust the garage. I stopped using them after they fitted the cambelt. I was sufficiently unimpressed with this service and reliability not to go back again. I honestly don't trust garage I'm afraid and use elsewhere now. Do you think I should give them the chance to put it right though? If so can you give me some advice on how best to go about this? As I said above I'm keeping an open mind it could be something other than poor workmanship and I'm happy to accept that cars do go wrong and things break. However, I'd like a bit of advice to make sure that if it is poor workmanship they don't cover their tracks and give me the brush off.

Cheers

[zollaf]

you really do need to contact the garage concerned in the first instance. its only fair. the reason i ask about the make of belt fitted is that certain manufactures have a technical department who can look at warranty claims. the reason for a belt failing can be hard to detect in certain circumstances, unless there is something obvious such as a seized tensioner or guide pulley, or worn bearing allowing the belt to run off into the cover and wear out. you need to have the car inspected to determine the cause of failure. if nothing is obvious and suspicion points to a manufacturing defect, then contact the relevant company. they will probably send an engineer out to inspect the damage. they can tell from how the belt has broken, exactly what caused it. now the repair isnt going to be cheap as valves will be bent, meaning the head has to be removed, so its going to be hard to get anyone to take the blame and pay.

[moose-P]

Phone the garage who did the work first thing monday morning, explain what's happened, and see what they say - give them the opportunity to step up to the plate first

If they try and put you off from the outset, you know you'e going to have to get rough ...... soeak to citizens advice - I'm sure there's proper "custom & practice" over this sort of thing. ikewise you mention the RAC - they offer a free technical and legal help service to members, perhaps try them

Either way, call the garage first and see what they say - you may be pleasantly surprised. The big issue will be that it is questionable as to whether a car the age of yours is "economically viable" to repair

[Boat_face]

Checked belt. Any manufacturers markings have been erased. The belt has been badly worn. In fact so bad it's half the width it used to be. Spoke to garage this morning. Offered to look at car (possibly at charge - but to be confirmed) and to identify what the cause might be and to take it from there. The concluding comment was that 'if' there was a problem with the way it had been fitted it would have been immediately apparent from the outset and the car wouldn't have run as well as it did until the belt broke. Maybe, maybe not, I'm not a mechanic and I don't know enough to comment on this.

Indeed, there's no way this is going to be a cheap repair and its quite likely that the costs will out weigh the value of the car. Real shame if I do have to part with the car because in every other respect it's a reliable, if a little ageing vehicle.

We'll see what surfaces in the next few days after the cars been given an inspection.

Cheers all for your comments and thoughts.

[zollaf]

if the belt is worn to half its width, then it has been rubbing on something, probably the cover. this would more than likely be due to a worn bearing allowing the belt to run off the pulleys, or a foreign object within the case. was a complete kit fitted or just a new belt ? i think that a manufacturing defect can be ruled out. can you check the tensioner and guides for any play, and a photo of the belt would be useful.
regarding a fitting fault being immediately apparent, if a tensioner bolt is overtightened, it can snap a while down the line. thinking of it, check the guide pulley right at the top as well.

[1551]

I presume this is the 1z engine the reason the cam belt has worn away as you look at the main tensioner it has a lip to the front and rear the cam belt should run central the cause for the belt to run off centre is [ incorrect tensioner fitted ] not running true with the belt causing the belt to ride over the front lip on the main tensioner or the pitch of the diesel pump has been altered at the time the belt was fitted or even loose bolts on the diesel pump also VAG do a modified mounting for this problem if all else fails for the diesel pump to the engine block hope this helps with your problem. kevin 1551

[Boat_face]

Kevin it is the 1Z engine. Going back to my first post I mentioned that when the belt was first fitted it made a dynamo noise. Perhaps this is consistent with what you're saying about incorrect tensioner being fitted.

The paper work for the job reads:

Supply & fit new cambelt kit.

Cambelt Kit -------- £48.02
Idler Bearing ------ £26.78
Labour -------------- £150.00

Car off to garage this morning. I've asked for all parts to be retained and to call me to come over and see what damage has been done and where the fault is.

Will see what gives.

Thanks for comments thus far.

Some pictures of my cambelt: