[Gad]

Pulled into a petrol station the other night to fill up my tigra,everything was fine and i did'nt have any worries about the thing!
Then when i went to start it up and drive off it would'nt!
It would try to turn over but nothing would happen,I thought the battery or starter had gone!
So tried bump starting it up and down the road,same thing happened-almost turned over but jst did'nt-also ended up with what seemed like a couple of backfires!
Next i called out the AA,guy done the usual tests and stuff and then told me that the sensor for the timing belt had gone and i needed a new one!
Fine i thought so had the tigra took to my local garage!
Now here is the thing i want to know! The garage rang me up and said that it was the timing belt that had gone and that it would'nt be worth the money me having it all redone!

Who was right-the AA man or the local garage??

did try to find the fault code that the AA gave me but the garage managed to lose the form

 

[Lee]

If the timing belt has gone chances are you'll need a full top end rebuild. Best way to check is to have a look at it. You need the plastic cambelt case off and inspect the timing belt, if it's snapped or really worn then the garage will be telling you the truth.
It's also useful to get a second opinion from another garage, but don't tell them the suspected problem.

If worst comes to worst you can easily source a replacement x14xe engine off ebay or similar. Maybe even upgrade to the x16xe.

There will also be people on here who would advise a top end rebuild but my personal preference and opinion is that it isn't worth the hassle (but I'm lazy).

 

[Clutch]

Hmmm id do what lee says and try another garage, you obviously post on here because you believe its a bit suspicous, the AA bloke isnt an dumb arse and could probably tell if the belt has gone, its no that hard to tell if your top end has been smashed to bits! and for the garage to lose the form, seems a bit dodgy to me, to be safe try another garage as well.

 

[Deathscythe]

aye i agree with lee and clutch, that garage does seem a bit cowboy-ish to me.
if it were me, i'd be pulling the engine covers off on my drive just to make sure, some vauxhall engines 'free-wheel' when the cambelt snaps, which limits the amount of damage that can occur when it does go, but it's still best to pull the head off and check.

 

[Gad]

The timing belt was fine,Seen it when the AA guy had the cover off and was trying to give the sensor a clean,plus i also took the cover off to see if i could get the sensor off myself and jst replace it!
It looked fine to me and this was before i had it towed round to the garage!

Another interesting point is that the head had went not that long ago and was fixed by the said garage who had the head skimmed and that and also insited on fitting a new timing belt kit!! thats was about 600 miles ago!


As for getting it sorted,it has only made me sure that im going for an XE swap,but would like to know if there is anyway i could get it running as it would save me a lot of hassle towards the XE swap!

 

[Lee]

I would seriously suggest taking it to another garage and getting another opinion on it. The garage you currently use sound like they're ripping you off.

 

[mark330d]

yup, sounds like there taking you for a ride, im assuming its the crank sensor thats gone, If it is i may have one i can sell you.

 

[Gad]

Good stuff,Only thing is though that i had a bit of bother trying to get the old sensor off!
Got all of the Torx bolts off of the timing belt cover and the front one holding the sensor in place but the back one i jst could'nt get!!

 

[vaux27]

if the belt has only done 600 miles & was fotted by them then you should be able to claim the expenses back for rebuilding the engine under the garuntee