new dephazer and belt..new noises and car is fubard

[morephun]

Hi guys my name is doug..I know I own a megane 2 52plate 1.6, but im getting nowhere on the megane forum as it seems dead lol. hope to get help here as I know the clio k4m engine is the same.....so here goes..

right first off my dephazer pully was causing non start and rattle when started(the car had a timing belt kit fitted 2 months ago), so I bought a gen Renault dephazer pulley off ebay received it and tootled off to a local indy the next day at 9.00am.
got a phone call off the garage at 3.30pm saying they had replaced the pulley and timing belt, got there for the guy to tell me a bolt somewhere on the timing belt had snapped undoing it and he had replaced it. so paid the garage and went on my way,started car and it sounded like it took an long time to start and on my way only to hear as I could describe a vibration noise from the engine under load/foot off the accelerator or when changing gear! so after 5 mins turned around and took it back to the garage. The garage said it was "nothing to do with them as the noise was already there and I probably wouldn't of heard it with the dephazer squealing"?it never squealed it just gave me the poor start and rattle on initial start. this engine ran sweet as a nut apart from this.
I needed to get home so I took the car away, the noise really peed me off so took it back the next day around 12ish and told the guy to fix it, obv new years eve/day garage was closed. so I rang the garage at 10.00am today for them to tell me they took it apart and the timing was spot on and even wanted me to go and have a look while it was apart to show me it was in time. so I got over there today it was back together so I decided to see if all was well, 2 mins down the road the noise became form a vibration to a loud knocking the car is ill and totally undrivable, mpg has dropped to 20.1 and sure I could smell fuel. turned the car around and dropped the car off and they are still saying nothing to do with them.

could I have got a duff dephazer?
have the garage done something and wont tell me?
the guy rang a Renault tech and supposedly it could be the dephazer solenoid......HELP PLZ GUYS!!!I would tear my hair out if I had any!

 

[MicKPM]

It won't be a duff dephaser it'll be down to the people that have done the job wrong.

Where are you based? www.diamondmotors.co.uk

 

[morephun]

thanks for your reply,im in consett m8 quite a few miles away...do you think they have botched the timing? I really feel sick at the moment..thanks

 

[Simon_16v]

I'd get in touch with DTM cars and let them have a look at it, they are around Durham way

 

[MicKPM]

thanks for your reply,im in consett m8 quite a few miles away...do you think they have botched the timing? I really feel sick at the moment..thanks

It's taking forever to start and it's making noises... I'd say there's a good chance of it yes

 

[Djw John]

Not being funny but all 3 of my 02/52 plate k4m meganes didn't have a dephaser or vvc (obviously!)

Does sound like a timing issue.

 

[morephun]

I'd get in touch with DTM cars and let them have a look at it, they are around Durham way

thanks m8 will ring them tomorrow.

It's taking forever to start and it's making noises... I'd say there's a good chance of it yes

so I suppose the loud knocking has totally trashed the engine now :dead:

thanks for the replys guys I have never delt with a garage like this one before don't know what to do next if it is trashed.

 

[Djw John]

Just re read it. Sorry mine were older shapes ones.

Is it still running on all 4 cylinders?

Andy at dtm is the best place for you to go, closest renault specialist for you.

 

[morephun]

Not being funny but all 3 of my 02/52 plate k4m meganes didn't have a dephaser or vvc (obviously!)

Does sound like a timing issue.

nah, deffo has m8 done a lot of research before I bought it. the car fires first time now but struggles...thanks

 

[MicKPM]

so I suppose the loud knocking has totally trashed the engine now :dead:

thanks for the replys guys I have never delt with a garage like this one before don't know what to do next if it is trashed.

Not necessarily no but ideally it needs pulling down and inspecting by someone that knows what they're on with on this platform. Until you know what the actual situation is you will just worry yourself in to an early grave (or in to scrapping a perfectly good car).

Give Andy a call first and let him see what's what.

Mick

 

[Coops Mk1]

worry yourself in to an early grave (or in to scrapping a perfectly good car)

that's pretty much Clio ownership in nutshell right there

and perhaps megane as well it seems

 

[MicKPM]

The Megane II is a great car IMO but when they go wrong they can cost more than a Clio II is worth.

 

[morephun]

that's the thing the car is/was good now its borked..really do appreciate your help guys, had more relpys in a few mins than I have had on the megane forums over a few days haha.:star:

 

[MicKPM]

The Megane forum is pretty good but not many users as most generic "help" thrrads tend to get posted on RenaultForums these days.

If it were me looking at this job the first thing I'd do is expose he timing set points and see what the situation is there. Then I'd compression test it and if any damage has been done I'd be back at the garage asking for you money back and the cost of repair.

Please tell me they have given you a receipt that states what work have have done and for how much?

 

[morephun]

yes m8 got a receipt forall the work. I thought the garage would be good being an aston martin specialist and part of the good garage scheme..oh well, I should've just put up with the poor starting.

 

[Scott S]

What's the name of the garage? Might be worth posting so people know if they should avoid (assuming they have done something wrong). edit... Just read the above....Aston Workshop? Does Bob still own/run that?

try http://www.cliosport.net/forum/member.php?94208-DTM-Cars-Ltd or http://www.cliosport.net/forum/member.php?46885-Kris-Dark for someone local(ish), Kris also told me about someone in Sunderland that might be able to help, don't know the username.

 

[Alastair.]

The k4m dephaser pulley will only rattle on cold start. Other symptoms are poor starting/stalling, timing knocked out etc. I reckon they haven't timed it up properly and as for the squealing they may have tensioned the tensioner the wrong way (ive seen it done)

Oh yea and once the dephaser has been replaced it should have an injection reprogram (What Renault state)

 

[morephun]

don't worry if I can get all this shizzle sorted and find out they borked my engine, ill make sure the whole world finds out lol

 

[Alastair.]

Maybe just bite the bullet and take it to Renault for a 1hour diag which is normally £72 (that's what we charge) and you will have an answer at the end. Written diagnostics from a main dealer stating what the problem/problems are is is your best bet.

 

[morephun]

thing is trying to get it to anywhere m8 im really scared to drive, it its still at the garage..had stress headaches all day

 

[Alastair.]

thing is trying to get it to anywhere m8 im really scared to drive, it its still at the garage..had stress headaches all day

How much have you spent if you dont mind me asking? Renault would have been just over £500 for a Cambelt kit, aux belt kit and dephaser pulley including injection reprog and resetting all parameters.

 

[morephun]

The timing belt kit was done 2 months ago no new dephazer fitted. the dephazer went 1 month ago so I bought a gen Renault dephazer from ebay £110 and got the garage to fit it for £160 inc a new belt. Renault was my next port of call for ecu update but that's now out the window. thanks

 

[morephun]

Got a call of the garage at 6pm today..they want me to go over tomorrow to see the locking tools on the timing to show me that all ok with it? a bit late I think! was told by the mechanic sounds like the top end has gone and told me if I were to take it anywhere else to get checked out I wouldn't have a leg to stand on if there is internal damage. anyone any ideas on what im supposed to do now(never been in a situation like this before)honestly this car ran sweet as a nut beforehand. thanks guys

 

[MicKPM]

Well firstly that's not true... They also know this. If you take the car for an independent inspection (at your cost) and it is proven that the belt job has been incorrectly performed and is in fact the most likely cause of top end damage it is they who find themselves in an actionable position without a leg to stand on.

By law they have supplied and fitted parts which they have given you a receipt for so have to give a standard 12 months warranty on both parts and labour (this is why I flat out will not fit parts I have not supplied unless it's something like brake discs or springs).

The problem is you don't have a car and it will most likely have valve damage in some form so who is going to pay? Legally (and if it was one of my cars) I would want to see it to assess that it was my fault and if so would put it right at zero cost to the customer but this place is already sounding like the kind of establishment that will try and bullshit a seperate/new fault that has caused the issue which conveniently indemnify's them.

 

[Bluebeard]

Op, listen to mick. The man talks sense.

The garage are chatting nonsense.

Just because they are an Aston Martin specialist, doesn't mean they know everything. Far from it.

 

[WilkyWay]

Well firstly that's not true... They also know this. If you take the car for an independent inspection (at your cost) and it is proven that the belt job has been incorrectly performed and is in fact the most likely cause of top end damage it is they who find themselves in an actionable position without a leg to stand on.

By law they have supplied and fitted parts which they have given you a receipt for so have to give a standard 12 months warranty on both parts and labour (this is why I flat out will not fit parts I have not supplied unless it's something like brake discs or springs).

The problem is you don't have a car and it will most likely have valve damage in some form so who is going to pay? Legally (and if it was one of my cars) I would want to see it to assess that it was my fault and if so would put it right at zero cost to the customer but this place is already sounding like the kind of establishment that will try and bulls**t a seperate/new fault that has caused the issue which conveniently indemnify's them.

Wise words!

Also going down to their garage for them to show you that the timing is right, that's only going to prove that the timing is right now. It could have very easily been corrected if it has jumped.

See Andy as lots of people have said. Just yesterday he helped me reset my timing after it did exactly the same as you're describing, except mine did it when I hit the limiter when we were mapping it. Ooops! Luckily no damage though.

 

[MicKPM]

We've got a 1.6 16v coming in on Thursday for what we call a "health check" because of a similar situation. This is a service I offer where by a customer brings a car to me and without saying anything about the car or any issues it has we pull it to pieces:

Visual on tyres, brakes, exhausts, mounts and engine.

Mechanical check of engine including timing check, compression test, oil pressure measured.

Electrical check of all systems and an exhaust gas analysis session.

 

[morephun]

What's the name of the garage? Might be worth posting so people know if they should avoid (assuming they have done something wrong). edit... Just read the above....Aston Workshop? Does Bob still own/run that?

the garage was aston parts and performance consett m8...just googled and aston workshops is a different place

 

[morephun]

thanks guys for the help so far even though I don't own a clio you guys are spot on! will keep this thread updated as best I can, just incase someone else has similar problems.

 

[MicKPM]

If I were in your situation I'd advise you speak to the garage. Don't be nasty, don't get drawn in to arguments or allow them to use technical words that you don't understand. Just stick to the facts and relay them clearly:-

1 - the car drove in fine with the exception of a faulty dephaser pulley.

2 - you authorised them to replace this along with the timing belt.

3 - immediately after the work was done and the vehicle was returned you bought to their attention that it wasn't driving right, it was a battle to start and there was a new noise present that wasn't there before.

4 - since this the top end has supposedly "failed" (there assesment) so you would like the following:

A - Either they admit that their workmanship was sub standard which has lead to the cause of said failure and that they will pay to rectify the fault in full or

B - they put in writing what has, in their professional opinion happened and why they are not at fault, for you to then produce to an Independent party for an unbiased second appraisal.

Personally I acknowledge that I haven't seen the vehicle but I'd put even money on the timing belt replacement being done wrong which has caused the failure and they know a 3rd party will identify this which is why they're taking the intimidation approach.

 

[Andyrg@ ClioTurbo]

Ive spoke to this chap tonight, always sad, and i was cheaper than them in the first place! but hey its a little late now.

I am going to have a look at this for the gent next week as its at the garage locked away.

Thanks for the Recommendations lads

Andy


Dtm

 

[morephun]

Thanks for the call Andy, much appreciated.

 

[morephun]

** UPDATE ** Car is now sorted, took it to another garage to check the timing. He said the timing was out by a couple of teeth on the exhaust side? Thanks for all the help guys. Happy days!!:rasp:

 

[Xanda73]

Glad you got this sorted mate. Misses took her Megane k4m to a local garage who said they could do the belt no problems. Three attempts and a court case later, the Birchdown lads did it properly.

How many people have done this and not known I wonder? Sold/scrapped cars because 'it's not running right'.

 

[Chi]

Great news

 

[Andyrg@ ClioTurbo]

fantastic news,

 

[MicKPM]

This is why cheapest isn't always best. Was this subject of a thread over on RenaultForums to as there was someone posting with a very similar experience?