Is this garage having my pants down?

[Hendo90]

Hi all,
Just bought my first clio182 last week, so I'm new to the forum.

I bought the car without it ever having a cam belt change and at 59,000 miles I decided to get it booked in ASAP.

I put it in the garage on the 25th for what I was told was going to be a one day job. I was quoted £469 for the cambelt, auxiliary and water pump. The garage is supposedly a Renault specialist.

Anyway on the first day I was told the water pump they had was wrong so they had to keep it in over night, as getting the right one delayed them a few hours, fair enough.

Anyway today ive been waiting for the call to collect the car only to be told at half 3 that the car was now running like a bag of shite in his words and they needed to replace the dephaser pulley at an expense of £186 to me.

I want to know whether or not anyone else would go in and just hand the cash over for this, as the car was running absolutely fine before it went in and he never mentioned the pulley once before booking it in (which I thought was odd for a supposed Renault specialist)

Thoughts?

 

[imprezaworks]

Where you based? If the car was running fine before and not now it will either be sheer coincedence or they have messed up

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

They've balls'd the timing up

 

[Mavez]

So it was fine before you went in, they charged you £470 for a belt kit, water pump and aux belt kit, now it's running like crap and they want to charge you nearly 200£ to redo it with the dephaser. Probably not a "specialist"...

 

[imprezaworks]

If we knew the 'specialist' we would know straight away if they are taking the piss

 

[welshname]

Timing ballsed up IMO. A knackered dephaser doesn't suddenly make the car run s**t after a belt change. They have got something wrong.

 

[RichieJA]

So the dephaser broke while in their hands and you have to pay for it, sounds funny to me they prob arsed the timing,
They at least should fit it for free and its 90 for one so halfing the bill is the least they should do

 

[ADS_V6]

Who was it,doubt its any trader on here.You shouldn't be paying for their shitty work

 

[Hendo90]

The garage is Alpine automotive in Blaydon, Newcastle.

Apologies cos I know nothing about mechanics, but he started showing me a "proper renault tool" that locks the belts in place or something? He is now saying he's had to reset the position of the camshaft because the tool didn't fit (but it should) and when he's done that, the car now sounds like a bag of shite, therefore there must be something wrong with the dephaser.

 

[banther]

A few traders on here also do shoddy work. Paying for membership doesn't equal quality.
OP
Do dephasers really just go?! I always thought they went slowly. My dephaser was slowly failing for about 6 months lol.

Usual signs of one going is the noise - sounds like a tractor. This wouldnt cause rough idle surely? Does sound like they dont have the correct locking tools. A member with more knowledge can specify what they are - probably worth asking.

Edit: he's definitely got the wrong locking tools if it doesnt fit.

 

[182Trophy]

They are probably trying to pull your pants down. However, not having proof of a belt change, it would be wise to get the dephaser done anyway. At 655 they are around the full change mark. Slightly over I'm as the norm is £600ish.

 

[dangerous dave]

They should have done the dephaser anyway rather than risk another 5 years on it..

Sounds like they shafted the timing and they believe the dephaser is at fault...which i expect isn't the case and they'll balls the timing a second time and call you with news about bent valves..

 

[RichieJA]

There website claims they are a Renault specialist surely they can't claim that and not have the locking tools, ask them to waive the labour on the dephaser if it still runs like s**t after that then its up to them to fix it

 

[Hendo90]

I'm a bit worried about him having to reposition the camshaft in order to get the tool to fit. Why would it be out of place in the first place and running fine and now he's moved it, it's went to shite? Just doesn't seem right to me. He doesn't seem absolutely sure what the problem is here either, more of an - it isn't an electrical fault, there's no warning lights, so it must be the dephaser, surely someone who's done 100's of these before as he claims, should have noticed a problem with it as soon as he started working on it?

 

[Mavez]

Well when at TDC the camshaft bar tool should slot in with no problems. Probably didn't use the pulley locking tool when loosening and re-tightening the cam pulleys, thus knocking it out of position. Like people have said above he probably fooked up the timing and blamed it on the dephaser pulley for no good reason.

 

[Stay Puft]

Can't you drive for ages with a noisy dephaser? Im not a mechanic but didn't think it effected the idle if you had a noisy dephaser!

 

[imprezaworks]

You can. Dephaser a tend to get noisy when hot.

 

[imprezaworks]

http://www.cliosport.net/threads/dephaser-pulley-gone.474994/

 

[MarcB]

Try and ignore the wind in the first video.
I drove with my dephaser bully like this in the below video for around 4 months and it got worse (Louder)

 

[Craig]

Lol I drove mine for nearly a year before it was replaced. It sounded fooked

 

[Hendo90]

Been in to see the bloke again today and he claims that the camshaft tool wouldn't fit in when he started the work.
He's had to move the de phaser in order for the cambelt tool to fit in and lock after he replaced the belts.
He says its a sign the dephaser was on its way out, that camshaft tool would not fit in at the start.

Now it seems the dephaser is now knackered since he's moved it.

Surely if the camshaft tool wouldn't fit before he started the job and it's true about the dephaser being the problem for this he would have told me that the dephaser could need replacing before he started.

The car was running perfectly when it went in the garage.

Does anyone know if what he's saying sounds genuine, or he's broke the dephaser while working on it and he's making me pay for another?

 

[Adam G]

He hasn't timed it up correctly.

 

[banther]

Mate - if the dephaser was ok when you went in and now its broken - he broke it & fucked the timing. You shouldn't have to pay for the dephaser and he needs to sort out the timing. Dont settle for usual mechanic teeth sucking b****cks.

 

[imprezaworks]

Try and stay calm, no point mouthing off, not saying you will btw

See if you can resolve it between you, if not calmy say you will seek proffesional advice on what to do next.

 

[Hendo90]

Ive already phoned trading standards and basically it looks quite a bit of hassle. He says he's only charging me for the dephaser £186 and not the labour, and it needed doing anyway because it was on its way out, the evidence for this he says is because the camshaft tool wouldn't fit at the start. He says normally when he resets the dephaser for the tool to lock the camshaft at the end, 9 times out of10 it works, but this time it hasn't worked.
There was no noise from the dephaser when the car went in and now he's saying the tool wouldn't fit in at the start, is this even a genuine problem that a failing dephaser causes?

 

[imprezaworks]

Not that ive heard tbh.

 

[Inequality Street]

Ive already phoned trading standards and basically it looks quite a bit of hassle. He says he's only charging me for the dephaser £186 and not the labour, and it needed doing anyway because it was on its way out, the evidence for this he says is because the camshaft tool wouldn't fit at the start. He says normally when he resets the dephaser for the tool to lock the camshaft at the end, 9 times out of10 it works, but this time it hasn't worked.
There was no noise from the dephaser when the car went in and now he's saying the tool wouldn't fit in at the start, is this even a genuine problem that a failing dephaser causes?

http://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/product/renault-clio-172-clio-182-dephaser-pulley/

A new dephaser is £94.00.

Pants = Down.

 

[Mavez]

The dephaser pulley costs about £95. If the cams didn't line up at the start then the timing was off to begin with, so heavens knows what he's done to make it worse.

 

[Hendo90]

I'm thinking I should just tell him to do it, I want my car and if the dephaser is knackered its going to cost me more than what I'm having to pay now for someone else to do it. despite my suspicions he's broke the part when doing the job

 

[Inequality Street]

In fact, you can almost buy the Cambelt, Dephaser Pulley and Water Pump for that money!

http://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk...-cam-belt-kit-dephaser-pulley-water-pump-kit/

 

[masekwm]

The locking tool didn't fit at the start as the timing was out, if the tool doesn't fit after changing the belt then the timing is still out.

 

[treemanx]

I would tell him you'll buy the dephaser yourself for £90 and he can fit it for free as offered. You should have replaced it anyway really, so it's no real loss. That's if you trust them to do the job.

 

[Martin_172]

the dephaser being nackered shouldn't knock the timing out, if you tell him to change the dephaser your timings still going to be out as he's ballsed it up..

a fucked dephaser will be noisy but the car will still run spot on.

 

[Hendo90]

The tool wouldn't fit in before they started the job and the car was running perfectly, the tool now fits in, the job is complete and its running like a bag of shite

 

[Hendo90]

Surely if the timing was actually out before I took it in there would have been some tell tale signs

 

[treemanx]

Performance and economy would be down if timing was out.

 

[Stay Puft]

If you haven't driven one with perfect timing, you may have thought how it was was normal??

 

[Inequality Street]

If you haven't driven one with perfect timing, you may have thought how it was was normal??

This. My 182, I knew it was a little rough, but after getting the belts done, I realised HOW rough it actually was.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

@Scrooge has done a few of these, he'll confirm its probably not the dephaser at faukt. I'll 99% say its mechanic error

 

[Scrooge]

@Scrooge has done a few of these, he'll confirm its probably not the dephaser at faukt. I'll 99% say its mechanic error

It doesn't have to be out by much to run like a pig, the dephaser will not make it run rough. It will just make it sound awful.

Having said that you should really be changing the dephaser but they should've recommended that. I bet they've just realised its a pig of a job and want to get as much money out of you as possible.

Have you seen or heard the car since they apparently did the work?

This. My 182, I knew it was a little rough, but after getting the belts done, I realised HOW rough it actually was.

Yep there was quite the difference with yours!