Hi

Happy New Year to you all!

I have just had the cam belt changed (5 years was up but not the mileage) and the garage checked it over, tickover spot on and felt more responsive.

Driving on the motorway however, 5th gear accelerating from 70mph (3.5k revs) the dreaded Engine Fail warning light came on and started beeping.

Obviously this scared me half to death but I called the garage (had it done 200 miles away) and they are adamant they checked everything.

I managed to do another 190 miles and used it yesterday (without errors as not at that speed) and tickover etc is fine.

The garage will take a look at it but I have a couple of questions :-

1. will it do any damage to drive around for 6 weeks even though tickover is fine and isnt misfiring etc.
2. if timing is slightly out, what does it entail to fix it - can it still be done? What would they adjust?

Thanks for your help with this, there are many other cambelt issues and some relating to the 4k revs so it is definitely the cause I believe.

Thanks again

Paul

If you've got the slightest suspicion the valve timing is out don't use it - I ended up putting 13 valves in mine and they ain't cheap. Really it needs checking properly with locking pins, the cams and crank need to be locked in place then the cam pulleys slackened to allow the slack to be taken up by the tensioner. Most garages just tippex mark the pulleys but the timing can end up 1/2 a tooth or so out using this method.

I'd stop using it as mentioned above!

You don't mention which engine it is.

Wow! We agree on something for once.

Hi

Thanks for your replies, apologies it is the 1.6 54 plate (52k on clock).

I will go to the Fiat garage near me tomorrow to see how much would charge for checking cam belt.

Just a quick piece of advice, to check the cam belt to ensure timing is correct is this a big job?

Thanks again

Paul

yes because you need to install the timing tools however did you change the pulley and water pump, any wear in these could show up especially under load. Are you sure it doesn't happen in 5th gear accelerating from 30-35mph? coils are very common on these as the dealership will not be able to test it from 70 accelerating.

It's a couple of hours work. T14086, I assume you mean the water pump could affect the cam belt however they are driven by the auxillary belt on the 1.6. I can't see a dealer being willing to just check the timing but it's worth a try.

Water pump is on the aux belt as mentioned, and the 1.6 has had many timing belt changes ending with dash light after the tippex method. This can actually make both cam axles getting one tooth out each. A simple coil check is to drive in 30-40 mph in 5th and accelerate hard (flat / downhill). A little hesitation (or small "cough") there and I'd suspect a coil. This will show up on a diagnostic.

Hi

Thanks for all your responses, I am going to get the garage to take another look at it.

It also seems to using more petrol which is a concern, could this be connected to the cambelt change?

Thanks again

Hi

Had the cambelt rechecked and has been aligned, we plugged in the diagnostics tool as well and it says ignition fault on 2 and flickered on 3.

Hopefully this solves the additional issues with petrol consumption etc.

I am going to order from Shop4Parts, the best site?

Thanks again for your help.

PAULH said:

I am going to order from Shop4Parts, the best site?

Thanks again for your help.

Click to expand...

Your going to order what

Hi

Apologies, going to order coils from Shop4Parts.

Thanks

PAULH said:

Hi

Apologies, going to order coils from Shop4Parts.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Why? Has retiming it not fixed the issued

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Why? Has retiming it not fixed the issued

Click to expand...

The fault code read ignition error 2 so was recommended to get new coils, could it be anything else?

Thanks

so many 1.6's have this problem when the belt has been done the old school method of TDC, but the 1.6's have to be spot on, did you garage use locking tools?

PAULH said:

The fault code read ignition error 2 so was recommended to get new coils, could it be anything else?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Is this still happening now that the belt issue has been sorted though

Hi

Yes, I saw them do it this time and they used the cam lock (he showed me that the cams were aligned).

I will need to take the trusty Stilo up to the required speed to see if it happens again, I will do it this weekend and report back.

Always worth having a couple of coils spare anyway .

Thanks again for your help and will report back over the weekend.

Cheers