Technical 47000 miles and pistons have smashed a footabll sized hole through the engine

[doblodisaster]

Hi Please bear with me as I am a new poster. I have a Fiat doblo JTD 6 years old, 47000 miles. It had a new cam belt and a service. I was driving at speed on the M4o when it had a catastrophic engine failure. Very luckily I managed to get onto the hard shoulder. It was recovered and it has a smashed engine. I have been advised that it should be written off as the damage is so great not only is there a football sized hole blown through the engine block all the ancilliary bits and pieces have been bent twisted etc too. It has all new tyres as well and i just spent 500 quid on service and the cam belt replacement last week before the failure.

i am not at all sure where i go from here. Should i contact fiat?

Surely this shouldn't have happened. It was very scary.

I hope this post is OK..thank you for any advice..I really can't afford to scrap this car without some sort of asking questions

 

[Niall_G]

Soory to hear of your problem.

I suspect you'll get nowhere with fiat but try them.

Obviously repairing you existing engine isn't realy an option. A new engine would be very costly so second hand would be the way to go. There are on-line car breakers where you can log what you need, they then circulate your request around many other breakers who contact you if they have what you need.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[bandido41]

:yeahthat: a second hand engine shouldnt cost you more thana couple of hundred pounds, if your head and turbo is still fine and your head are still ok then i have a couple of 1.9 blocks with pistons and crank e.t.c at home from a car i am scrapping that you can have for nothing (depending on where you are based as i am in london.)

 

[doblodisaster]

thank you

I am in warwickshire but the car was recovered to a garage in Twickenham.

I don't know what if any of the parts under the bonnet are recoverable...my mechanical knowledge is not great but better than most women possibly. They were going to have another look to see if they could analyse whether it was an error on the part of the garage but that is nigh on impossible I think. I am really uncertain what to do. It is the April 2002 Doblo JTD ELX. It has new brakes and tyres too...I have just spent some money on it..it has never had any problems before.

When I was given the bad news suggesting I write it off I was in tears so not concentrating to the max. It had a new cam belt kit. I thought it was making an unfamiliar tinkling noise I could hear at idling and low speeds. I took it back to the garage where they apparently adjucted the belt and did a major service. I then drove 100 miles before it had the catastrophic fsilure just made a jolt and a grinding noise and that was it. No warning lights or anything.

 

[bandido41]

Definitely sounds like it was the garages fault that did the cam belt that have done something wrong especially since you had to go back after they repaired it before it broke. I dont think you should write it off if you have spent that money on it, get a replacement engine and keep driving it.

 

[doblodisaster]

I am going to try and find a secondhand engine i think. The garage which has it now are going to look at it again to see if they can be more certain exactly what caused it. Of course it is not exactly high on their priority list.

I have registered on a breaker website. How easy it is to find an engine that is safe and good for one of these I don't know.

 

[bandido41]

They are usually pretty good and most come with a 3 month warranty and some come with a six month warranty, i dont know who you tried but here are 2 links i usually deal with.

www.247spares.co.uk
www.Find-A-Part.com

 

[doblodisaster]

thank you the one I put it on was called breakeryard.com

I have put it on one of yours too

I have had a quote back for an engine which has done 39k and it is 850 quid with a 6 month warranty so not cheap...i have no idea how much a new one is

 

[Ulpian]

If it was done by a dealer it would have come with a year's warranty wouldn't it?

Sounds like faulty replacement to me. I would ask for the garage to reimburse you. Possibly get an independent assessment of the cause of the damage and take it further.

 

[bandido41]

a new one would probbably be about 3000 ponds if not more and as Ulpian says, get an independent assesment and take it further.

 

[doblodisaster]

the cam belt hasn't snapped...so as i understand it something could be not correctly adjusted to make the pistons take an excess load or something

the garage which has it now is having a further look but because the engine is seized etc it is difficult for them to look at the timing (??)

I am thinking maybe they didn't diagnose the sound I heard but altered the tension on the cam belt but didn't identify/correct whatever was wrong

rather depressing as I had the cam belt done to prevent all this

I have looked up some prices the car itself would be worth at most 3.5 k probably less which is why they said not worth repairing

I have had another offer of an engine at £1057 with just a 60 day warranty so that makes the first one look better.....of course labour and etc is going to cost it will be quite a few hours work I'm sure

 

[bandido41]

I think will be a days work if its a like for like swap but i would suggest getting a different garage to do the work this time and also due to the fact that it is very unlikely you get a service schedule with the replacement engine i would suggest getting the cam belt changed

 

[Hellcat]

If a cam belt has slipped you could have broken a valve head off causing the major damage you describe. Engine failure within 100 miles of a major service is quite a coincidence. I've had the effect of an insuficiently tightened cambelt tensioner only show up after 1year and a couple thousand miles.

edit: Just seen your update... Sounds like cambelt tension rather than snappage.

 

[doblodisaster]

thank you

apparently it is the pistons which have smashed into the engine to make th ehole at least i think so

the service manager where it is now said he had never seen anything like it and he is no youth

if i get the work done I will get it done at the garage it is in in Twickenham

I wouldn't go back to the other garage

this was the first time I had taken to a different garage previously it has been serviced at the fiat dealer i bought it from...I am kicking myself for taking it somewhere else now maybe the fiat one would have spotted a problem

 

[RichDoblo120]

From the sound of it I would be 99% certain it's the fault of the garage that replaced and adjusted the belt.
Don't go spending any money until this is sorted as I reckon the garage wil be liable to at very least replace the engine or even replace the car as it's such an expensive repair.
I think an independent asessment is needed.
Are you with the AA or RAC? They might have a look at it for you and tell you what caused the timing to slip.

 

[Niall_G]

Spotted this on ebay - might be worth investigating....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2001-FIAT-MULTIPLA-1-9-JTD-110-ENGINE-74K-GOOD-RUNNER_W0QQitemZ270248023750QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270248023750&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[doblodisaster]

thank you...I need to find out if that is the same engine...I am guessing it would be

I am speaking to the garage where it is again shortly

annoyingly the vehicle is in london as I have had an offer from a garage where my son in law has just been taken on as an apprentice to put an engine in cheaply for about a 100 quid

i imagine paying to bring it to warwickshire wopuld be expensive..I shall have to check out vehicle recovery

I am feeling that proving the repair garage was at fault would be hard and expensive

 

[doblodisaster]

just to update i am having it fixed with a second hand engine that has done 27k miles and it is going to cost me just over 2k for 15 hours labour nd parts and consumables etc

i am not at all sure i will want to drive it after but there doesn't seem to be an alterntive

i very much doubt i shall succeed in getting anything back from the garage i believe made the fatal mistake/s

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

From the sound of it I would be 99% certain it's the fault of the garage that replaced and adjusted the belt.
Don't go spending any money until this is sorted as I reckon the garage wil be liable to at very least replace the engine or even replace the car as it's such an expensive repair.
I think an independent asessment is needed.
Are you with the AA or RAC? They might have a look at it for you and tell you what caused the timing to slip.

:yeahthat:, get it inspected, and if they're at fault them them to either cough up, or you'll take them to small claims. £2k is one hell of alot on money

 

[doblodisaster]

well they didnt get th engine that they quoted me on and it is still there waiting for an engine so i am up the creek at the mo

of course not a very common car so not easy to get an engine