Earlier this morning I was just finishing my weetabix when the front door bell rang. It was one of the neighbours from the flats across the road. "Sorry to bother you but could you maybe tell me what might be wrong with my car, it won't go and it sounds different.
I like helping neighbours and especially when it's to do with cars so I had my thick fleece on and was out the door before Mrs J got a chance to fuss over the coldness of the day. Ok, give it a go and let's see what's what. She got into the drivers seat and twisted the key. The engine turns over "enthusiastically" but it's immediately obvious that there's no compression - sounds like an engine being turned over with the plugs out, but without the "chuffing" noises - Whoa! stop right now! My best guess would be a broken timing belt. This is the wee 1.4 16 valve engine which actually has 2 belts, one runs from the crankshaft to the cam sprocket and the other is a very short belt which links the two cams. It has a plastic top belt cover retained by clips so, although not an engine I've worked on, it should be easy enough to remove the top cover and have a look. However it's now raining and Mrs J is worried about me getting cold and wet so it'll have to wait. In the meantime I've told her to give AVW, or local VAG indy specialist a ring when they reopen - probably on Tuesday as Monday is a Scottish holiday. She bought this car ('14 plate Ibiza Toca) just before I bought mine so she's owned it for five years now. It has 54,000 miles on the clock with no indication in the service book of a cam belt ever having been done and she tells me she hasn't had anything except services done by the wee workshop 1/2 mile down the road (who specialize in very cheap tyres and MOTs.)
As with most of our neighbours, she is a very nice person and I feel very sorry for her facing what I'm sure will be a very substantial repair cost. If it was the height of summer I would quite enjoy looking into repairing this for her myself, but in the middle of a cold and wet Scottish winter, working outside on my driveway? just not an option I'm afraid.
I like helping neighbours and especially when it's to do with cars so I had my thick fleece on and was out the door before Mrs J got a chance to fuss over the coldness of the day. Ok, give it a go and let's see what's what. She got into the drivers seat and twisted the key. The engine turns over "enthusiastically" but it's immediately obvious that there's no compression - sounds like an engine being turned over with the plugs out, but without the "chuffing" noises - Whoa! stop right now! My best guess would be a broken timing belt. This is the wee 1.4 16 valve engine which actually has 2 belts, one runs from the crankshaft to the cam sprocket and the other is a very short belt which links the two cams. It has a plastic top belt cover retained by clips so, although not an engine I've worked on, it should be easy enough to remove the top cover and have a look. However it's now raining and Mrs J is worried about me getting cold and wet so it'll have to wait. In the meantime I've told her to give AVW, or local VAG indy specialist a ring when they reopen - probably on Tuesday as Monday is a Scottish holiday. She bought this car ('14 plate Ibiza Toca) just before I bought mine so she's owned it for five years now. It has 54,000 miles on the clock with no indication in the service book of a cam belt ever having been done and she tells me she hasn't had anything except services done by the wee workshop 1/2 mile down the road (who specialize in very cheap tyres and MOTs.)
As with most of our neighbours, she is a very nice person and I feel very sorry for her facing what I'm sure will be a very substantial repair cost. If it was the height of summer I would quite enjoy looking into repairing this for her myself, but in the middle of a cold and wet Scottish winter, working outside on my driveway? just not an option I'm afraid.