Engine just completely stopped out of the blue :s

[katg]

Was about 20 meters from our top gate at home and the car (1.5 dci) made a couple crunch noises and cut out, grinding to a stop (thought it was stalled, but wouldn't start again)
Opened the bonnet and there was a small amount of smoke and electrical burning smell.

We pushed it back to the yard, and it left small amounts of oil where ever it stopped for a bit, which appears to be dripping over the drivers side wishbone. Oil is the same color as the engine oil, but dipstick is still reading half way between max and min. There hasn't been 5l of oil left anywhere either.

Only thing I found a bad reading for is the coolant is on/just below min.

Has anyone got any ideas, will be getting it to the garage when they open tomorrow, I'm just very worried at what it could be.

I'm guessing best result would be that it's an automatic cut out if it detects anything is wrong, and it's just the oil dripping from the seal on to the belt making it slip messing up the timings

 

[Dave..]

Sounds fatal. Oil doesn't piss out unless theres a hole somewhere.

 

[gti6steve]

sounds expensive lucky you was close to home get some pics up of the oil leak

 

[MicKPM]

The K9K is a pretty resilient engine but silly little things can make them come to a grinding halt however the oil leaking is a little worrying so deffo needs to go to a workshop ASAP.

Don't attempt to restart the vehicle and get it towed for inspection.

 

[katg]

Thanks guys, been out all day and I didn't get any pictures before I left and now it's all dark.

I've been out and looked at the pot we put under the leak and there is no more than 50ml there.
Will get it to a garage in the morning not sure I want to tow it, free wheeling down the hill was scary enough, didn't realise how much I rely on the power assisted steering and breaking! Not sure what garage yet either, I'm at my parents, so never been to a garage with it here before. I'll probs go down to the guy that does the farm 4x4s and tractors though

Seeing as the leak has now stopped, i've got my fingers crossed that it's just a sump seal gone and when it got hot it opened up, and now it's cooled the seal has gone back down, so a new seal will sort it out, but guess I'd better not get my hopes up until I find out from the garage.

 

[katg]

sh*t, got a mechanic to look at it and he says it's the cambelt, and I'm looking at £1k for it to be repaired.

Anyone know where I stand with the company who replaced it 16months ago, I just rang them up and they said to basically go away as they will only cover it for 12months. Feel this is odd, as the part is 72k miles on the service schedule.

 

[R-Sport.]

12 month parts warranty - you have no come back there-

speak to a local specialist- carlton cars are near you

Steve

 

[MicKPM]

That really is a shitter but technically you are screwed... though a cambelt should last a lot longer than 12 months and its not a nice way to treat customers either!

Ask the garage for a breakdown of the estimate as £1k sounds a touch much to me and it would be handy to see exactly what they're quoting for. Have they said what damage, other than bent valves, has been done?

Mick

 

[katg]

Yea, I'll get a proper estimation. This was just a rough guide given by the local chap who does the farm work. He's busy after the bank holiday weekend so his coming back to collect it on Thursday and then will have a proper look.

Thanks for the suggestion Steve, but i'm stuck in Cornwall at my parents. Does anyone know a specialist in Cornwall? else I'll probs end up letting the usual farm guy do it, not sure if it'd be better to find someone else though.

Also he was suggesting sending it off to be rebuilt and stuff, but I've noticed the local breakers have a dci80 in currently, if the engine isn't damaged in that would it be any good, or would a rebuild be better? I'm not sure on these sort of things.
That might bring another problem in though, as would the insurance count it as an engine conversion, as it'd be marked as a 80 although it's the same K9K, anyone have any knowledge on this?

 

[MicKPM]

Engine swaps all greatly depend on the damage done; unless it's totally catastrophic damage making it un-economical to repair as I always prefer to rebuild rather than replace but that's an area for your man to asses and advise you on really. Either way, the new lump will need loads swapping over and you'd be very silly not to carryout a timing belt and waterpump replacement and possibly a clutch swap to.

The only differences on the various K9K variants fitted to the Clio II/III are the fuel pumps (there are a few differnt types) and minaly its injectors. You WILL HAVE to move some parts such as brackets, possibly fuel pump and your injectors over to the doner engine as the spray patterns are coded to the ECM for each specific cylinder. Your insurance company shouldn't have to be informed of any engine change as you're not doing anything illegal with a "Like for Like" change but you should inform the DVLA of the change by means of updating the V5c section regarding the new engine number.

Mick

 

[katg]

Ah thanks for all the help. Will get this one rebuilt, at least I know I've looked after it and it was running smooth before, wouldn't want to put a knackered engine in her.

I'd thought about asking them to replace the water pump, but hadn't thought about the clutch so will ask them to do that whilst the lump is out.

Can't wait for it all to be done, will be interesting to see how it goes once done

 

[katg]

Should have her back next week think my mum or brother will be driving her before me though :-(

The guy who's done it has kept the original parts for me though, as the belt had been changed, but the tensioners hadn't. So I'm hoping I might be able to claim some of the costs back seeing as I have an invoice that I paid for the whole kit, and the garage put down labor for the whole kit, but evidently they didn't actually do it :-(

 

[Martin_172]

trading standards!

 

[Gouldy]

What a joke, as if they charged you for a full kit and just fit a belt. Did the garage tell you this when you paid ?

If they did then why did you pay ?

If they did a third of the work they should get paid a third of their price.

 

[katg]

Thanks martin, I'm going to be on to them as soon as I can (somewhere between finishing my degree work, moving house, sending wedding invites and traveling back down to pick her up! It's going to be a hard week)

What a joke, as if they charged you for a full kit and just fit a belt. Did the garage tell you this when you paid ?

If they did then why did you pay ?

If they did a third of the work they should get paid a third of their price.

No I wasn't told, the garage has been a pain since I got it from them. When I bought her, I noticed it was just over 72k and hence the belt should have been done. So queried it, and was told they wouldn't sell it unless out had, else the warranty would be void. Once I'd got her I checked the book and it wasn't stamped so contacted them and first they said it was over 72k so the previous owner must have changed it without getting the book stamped, but I said I needed proof to believe it. So after alot of hassle, including them agreeing that if the belt broke and it hadn't been changed my warranty would be void they then turned around and said it was my responsibility to do, even though they had said it would have been been done before I bought it. eventually, because there was 4 of us that remembered him saying that, they said they'd do the labor free if I bought the part, which is down on my invoice as buying the kit, and they have put their free labor as replacing the timing kit. So I agreed as I needed the car back on the road.
seems they failed at doing this thought.
Funnily when I rang them to check the warranty and say it'd broken and once they looked up my name and confirmed that they wouldn't cover any of the costs they wanted to know where it was and very insistent they were leaving right then to come and collect it, but
A) they are never touching here again
B) I bet if they'd done it I'd have never found out that it wasn't done right first time.


Also just to check once the engines rebuilt should I run it in or anything, as picking it up and going straight on the motorway for a few hundred miles back home, would it be better to take a slower route?

 

[MicKPM]

Once the top end has been rebuilt, belt runs replaced and timing setup you won't need to "run in" the engine no... I'm not saying nail it but use it as you would normally.

Mick