possible damaged valve by so called mechanic

[rluke]

Hi. I had my 2.5 turbo diesel t4 at the mechanics yesterday to replace the timing belt. He is supposed to be a european specialist including vw. When I first went back to pick the car up he couldnt start it. He tried three or four times before it started and then it blew smoke everywhere. I told him it wasnt right as it starts first go every go. He said he will have to hang on to it to recheck the timing. I went back today to pick it up and I am not happy. He said the timing was out. The car is lacking a bit of power compared to what it was and it has a metallic tapping sound that was not there before. I have taken it to another vw guy and they say its possible that he damaged a valve by running it with the timing out. Wont know for sure until it is pulled apart. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem and what my legal rights are. I have been back to explain what we think could be the problem but he is not interested. He tells me he will see me in court. It was a heated discussion as I am potentially up for thousands and now I dont want to drive the van as I dont like driving a car thats not right. I am in geelong victoria and I have contacted the VACC, just waiting to hear back. Thanks for any info, Rob.

[jets]

There are two belts on that engine. The main one on the front drives the camshaft from the crankshaft. The second is at the rear, above the gearbox that drives the fuel pump from the other end of the camshaft. Do you know if he changed both or just the front one? If the front one is out it is possible for the pistons to touch/hit the valves.The fuel pump timing is critical on these engines & unless it is set by Vag Com it is very unlikely to be right. It looks like the relationship with the first mechanic is poor so I would suggest to take the van to someone that can plug in vag Com & check that the timing is now correct. Maybe someone on this forum with Vag Com could visit you & check your timing.
I cannot suggest what the tapping noise is or what your legal rights are. A friend, who is a mechanic in Sydney told me that whenever there is a dispute that the motoring organisations tend to support the garage rather than the owner. I hope this isn't so in your case.

[rluke]

I presumed he was doing both belts. But he only did the cam belt. After the fact I hear this guy has a reputation. I just don't understand how they can give a car back to you that is clearly not right and worse than when you took it in and then turn around and treat you like an idiot. I know how my car performs and for him to tell me I don't know what Im talking about is a bit on the nose. On the invoice they made a note saying that the car was hard to start and was possibly a coolant temp sensor. The car was never hard to start and obviously they have been trying to start it several times after they did the work and also driven it when it did start. He did it in front of me when I was there to pick it up. I have the car booked on a truck to go to a vw shop in Melbourne to check it out. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a decent vw mechanic here(especially the dealers from what I hear). I cant see how the motoring organisation can support mechanics that are clearly not up to the job.

[Transporter]

The mechanic maybe made a mistake and did a bad job on your T4, however and don't get me wrong I'm not jumping to anybody's defence,
but I've read your second post from 2/12/2012 and you've already had some tapping noise from the engine when you bought the vehicle and in the first post in this thread you said the noise wasn't there. just bought T4 2.5TDi and have questions, new member as well

...are we talking about the same noise?

[rluke]

No its not