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Timing Belt Broke, No Warranty

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ArielHardiyanto

New member
Location
Oregon
Hi long time lurker and owner of a 2007 GTI. A little background info is that I am a senior in high school and received my GTI as a gift from my mother. Since my mother finances me, she brought the GTI to a mechanic she knew to get the timing belt changed. I already warned her of the repercussions. Well long story short, the timing belt broke yesterday, and my engines busted with no warranty. I feel helpess right now and I don't know what to do.
 
C

crono35

New member
Location
91006
Yep, sounds like it's time to have some words with that mechanic.

Since there was probably valve to piston contact, you'll most likely need to remove the head to see how many valves/pistons need replacing. It's a great time to learn how to do some of the work yourself, since you'll basically be doing an entire engine rebuild.

Trust me, you'll only get busier as you get older.
 
A

ArielHardiyanto

New member
Location
Oregon
crono35 said:
Yep, sounds like it's time to have some words with that mechanic.

Since there was probably valve to piston contact, you'll most likely need to remove the head to see how many valves/pistons need replacing. It's a great time to learn how to do some of the work yourself, since you'll basically be doing an entire engine rebuild.

Trust me, you'll only get busier as you get older.
Click to expand...

The dealership I brought it to says the engine's completely busted and that I need a new engine if I ever want to see it drive again. I love this car so much, Imm thinking of pursuing legal action.
 
J

Joshohol

Go Kart Champion
Location
Troy NY
First off... why would you warn your mother of the repercussions of changing the timing belt? If it had over 75k miles or just the fact its an 07 it needed to be changed.

When you had him do the belt did you have him just do the belt or did you spend 400 to 500 for the whole kit of parts that need to be changed as part of the timing belt service? I get a million customers a day that think its just as simple as slapping a belt on without the tensioners, idlers and waterpump etc.

Thats the only way its just going to snap is if something else inside was bad, unless he never changed it at all.

You cant sue someone for putting a part on without putting on all the other required parts that you fail to buy. Thats like suing someone for your serp belt breaking because you knew the idler was bad an didnt change it.

The motor can be rebuilt, mostly just the head if you wanna learn. Its actually a fairly simple engine.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 
avenali312

avenali312

Autocross Champion
Location
Mableton, GA
Car(s)
2015 GTI
^ This is a good point.

When I did mine, we ordered this kit (just as a frame of reference for what was involved, some of it may be overkill to some people though):

http://www.blauparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=GH21130-1-C

P.s. Back in the day the thermostat wasn't included in the kit, but they gave it to you as a "free gift." We didn't install it with the water pump, but rather waited until the thermostat failed.
 
A

ArielHardiyanto

New member
Location
Oregon
Joshohol said:
First off... why would you warn your mother of the repercussions of changing the timing belt? If it had over 75k miles or just the fact its an 07 it needed to be changed.

When you had him do the belt did you have him just do the belt or did you spend 400 to 500 for the whole kit of parts that need to be changed as part of the timing belt service? I get a million customers a day that think its just as simple as slapping a belt on without the tensioners, idlers and waterpump etc.

Thats the only way its just going to snap is if something else inside was bad, unless he never changed it at all.

You cant sue someone for putting a part on without putting on all the other required parts that you fail to buy. Thats like suing someone for your serp belt breaking because you knew the idler was bad an didnt change it.

The motor can be rebuilt, mostly just the head if you wanna learn. Its actually a fairly simple engine.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

First I was warning her of what would happen if the timing belt were to break. Secondly, we did drop about 450 on the whole kit, so we expected the issue to be dealt with.
 
N

Nitrorea

Ready to race!
Location
St. Louis
Did or does your mechanic offer a warranty period? Some places will offer their work for 30 days or something.

I think your best bet it to have dealer solve problem as to what happened. If they can prove your mechanic failed to fix it correctly then you have some leverage.
 
J

Joshohol

Go Kart Champion
Location
Troy NY
Never seen one snap from being installed improperly. Ive seen them break from the top or bottom end locking up, you could get a good idea of what happened by pulling that timing cover back and looking

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 
A

ArielHardiyanto

New member
Location
Oregon
Joshohol said:
Never seen one snap from being installed improperly. Ive seen them break from the top or bottom end locking up, you could get a good idea of what happened by pulling that timing cover back and looking

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I already did. The timing belt was rubbing up against the cover.
 
W

whoosh

New member
Location
wisconsin
What does the mechanic say? He should stand behind his work, if not bring an action against him in small claims court. (Not sure what your small claims max is in your state,hopefully enough to cover you loss).
 
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