Catastrophic Pulley Failure on sunday!

[kaiserVR6 0]

Morning all,

 

Just thought i'd put this up as i think everyone should just give this a quick check on there cars.

 

On sunday i was travelling down the M5, near the strensham services when there was a loud bang and debris flying from the back of my car. :shock:

 

The temperature shot through the roof and the power steering was a little heavy to say the least. :eek:

 

Made it to the services and upon popping the bonnet the problem was obvious, the bottom crank pulley had sheared away, and on closer inspection two of the bolts had dissappeared a some point leaving the other 2 bearing the load.

these had sheared and the pulleyt left the car with some force.

 

So it is now in the garage awaiting the following work........

 

New Pulley

New Crank Gear (that the pulley attaches to)

New V belt,

New Cam Belt (better to change while the cam belt is being removed anyway)

 

:help: :help:

 

the pulley has been hard to find so the garage are sorting something out.

 

So a word to everyone, check the bolts on al your pulleys, the car wasnt being driven hard (luckily) and this could have happened at any time.

[kaiserVR6 0]

well the car is now fixed.

 

all to the tune of £249 inc VAT, reasonable i thought when the guy who has completed the work is ver trust worthy and owned 3 corrados in the past......

 

 

:gag:

[davidwort 0]

Unusual failure, these pulleys need removing when the cam belt is changed to get the bottom cam belt cover off, you don't actually need to remove the bottom cam belt pulley itself which can lead to more serious problems with the drive pulley and crank keyway damage not to mention destroying the head.

Part of the problem is reusing the hex head bolts for the ancilliary pulleys, particularly when the heads have been damaged by ripping out allen keys, it's worth just buying new ones and using a small amount of threadlock, trouble is most garages doing cambelt changes don't take their time and care over the job.

[kaiserVR6 0]

well new bolts all round and done correctly so i was happy with that......

 

problem is now the car is over heating, or should i say getting up and past temperature on a very fast basis, after 6 miles from cold and some relaxed driving the car reached 118deg oil on the MFA, and 110deg on the water gauge :confused4:

 

so i can only come to this conclusion so far;

 

1) the temp sensor is buggered after reaching a high temp when the incident happened on a sunday (similar temps to last night)

 

2) there is an airlock in the water system/crap clogging it up preventing a good flow?

 

3) water pump is buggered, but i am think against this as the system isn't leaking and has pressure?

 

Can i have some thoughts on this one please, i am a little stuck to say the least!

:shrug:

[coolrado 0]

could it be running a couple of teeth out?

[dinkus 10]

I know bugger all about valvers, but as coolrado says - getting that hot, that quickly does sound like a timing issue and/or air-lock/blockage. Timing sounds most likely if they've had the belts off though.

 

Having said that, an air-lock would have probably bubbled it's way out if you've had the temps up that high by now. Still worth giving the pipes a squidge and listening to see if owt gurgles.

 

Don't think it'll be the temp senders as the oil and water are separate senders and it seems unlikely that both are dead.

 

The water pump would probably be squealing/leaking if it was dead, so again, unlikely.

 

Thermostat is probably ok as the fans are kicking in (and thus I assume the rad must be getting hot, but worth checking). If the thermostat was jammed closed, it wouldn't explain why the engine's getting so hot, so quickly.

[kaiserVR6 0]

whats the chances that this could be the head gasket?? :mad2:

[coolrado 0]

unless there is mayo in the oil,oil in the coolant or oil/coolant leaking out of the side of the engine or steam/smoke from the exhaust it will be unlikely, although letting it get too hot will cause it to go, I would take it back to the garage and get them to check it.

[davidwort 0]

is the water flowing out of the bottom of the radiator?, could be a stuck shut thermostat (fairly unlikely) or a partial blockage in the radiator?

Bally's did this (temp-wise) after a waterpump change the other week, seems that it was filling the coolant a bit too fast that caused an airlock in the head, even though the rad was full of water as all the hoses had water in them. What I have noticed recently, with an expansion tank off the car, is that the fill speed is reliant on the flow of air back to the header tank through the expansion hose, and the tank is a bit of a restriction here, I'd remove the expansion tank hose from the rad to the tank to help the air escape quicker.

[Toad 0]

is the water flowing out of the bottom of the radiator?, could be a stuck shut thermostat (fairly unlikely) or a partial blockage in the radiator?

Bally's did this (temp-wise) after a waterpump change the other week, seems that it was filling the coolant a bit too fast that caused an airlock in the head, even though the rad was full of water as all the hoses had water in them. What I have noticed recently, with an expansion tank off the car, is that the fill speed is reliant on the flow of air back to the header tank through the expansion hose, and the tank is a bit of a restriction here, I'd remove the expansion tank hose from the rad to the tank to help the air escape quicker.

 

I've had a lump of crap block the little hole in the top of the radiator for the expansion hose. just needed to poke it out with a small drill bit and all was well again.

[coolrado 0]

I've had a lump of crap block the little hole in the top of the radiator for the expansion hose. just needed to poke it out with a small drill bit and all was well again.

any oppertunity to poke your tool into a little hole full of crap :roll: :pukeright:

[Toad 0]

I've had a lump of crap block the little hole in the top of the radiator for the expansion hose. just needed to poke it out with a small drill bit and all was well again.

any oppertunity to poke your tool into a little hole full of crap :roll: :pukeright:

 

Long live the double entendre!

[kaiserVR6 0]

well after a full day at the garage the car has been diagnosed with a blown head gasket......this has been determined by the fact that there is air getting into the water system and over pressurising it......i'm at a loss what to do!

 

How much do i love this car?

 

someone please give me some guidance, they have checked everything so what can i do, they want around 500 to fix her!!

 

A kit is £39 but i dont really have the expertise to change this on my tod, and the car is my work motor so i am stuck without it.

 

do i

a) buy another car and fix my c in the spare time (by new i mean a cheap scirroco to get to and from work)

 

b) lose all faith in my C strip her and sell the parts for spares?

 

c) stump up the money and get it done properly!?

 

Either way my trip to germany with you guys seems some what numbered!

I will make it but i may be driving a hire car! :brickwall:

[davidwort 0]

Where are you located?, you never know who might be reading and could give you a hand doing the HG.

The first one I ever did was admittedly only on an old polo but the job is much the same on a 16v and the only special tool is a torque wrench and spline bit for the headbolts.

It seems like you've single handedly built a car engine when you've finished the job and got it running, it's quite rewarding :)

[kaiserVR6 0]

i'm in bristol - if anyone has the tool they could loan to me i think i might be able to get on and do it myself, just need a little time and some elbox grease and it should be done,

 

as i said before never done this before but i might as well have a go!

[kaiserVR6 0]

after all everything this car has put me through i am still going to change the head gasket, a friend will do it at a cut down rate and the job will be done.............

 

i must love her more than the girlfriend!

well maybe not but the car will go to germany and wil not meet its maker before then!

 

8)

[dinkus 10]

Ah good stuff mate 8)

[davidwort 0]

8)

make sure you check the head face isn't warped though, no point in putting it straight back on to have it pop again.

[Valerian 0]

Make shure you have the head skimmed otherwise you'll be changing the head gasket again in the near future.

[kaiserVR6 0]

the head is being skimmed as we speak and i have taken the oppertunity (much against the other halfs wishes) to have a set of 1602 kent cams fitted, so by the end of the week she should be running well and i know what she has had done and the to do list decreases by a little bit!

 

bring on the ring!

 

Thanks for all the advice, you boys are top draw!

[kaiserVR6 0]

Right well i pick the car up last night, new cams, new cam belt, head gasket done, timing spot on, driving wonderfully, then the power dies!!!!! :bad-words:

 

open the bonnet and the dizzy cap wasn't on fully and i think the rotor inside must have struck it as i accelerated! :gag:

 

So the car is now back in my garage after another visit by the AA ( :notworthy: ) to help me limp the car home with a bit of insulation tap and some good luck!

 

This car is being very defiant at the moment, hopefully, fingers crossed this will be the last o0f the things to go wrong for a while.........

[dinkus 10]

It sounds like the garage didn't put the dizzy cap back on properly, so I'd have some words...

[kaiserVR6 0]

i would have words mate but they did all the work for £300 cash so i am not complaining!!