The unthinkable just happend

+1

 

OMG, sorry to hear....

 

OMG it happened again ?

 

Correct, one belt does it all

 

I completely agree.

 

Could it have been a bad belt?

 

Would be very nice to find the belt!

 

sorry to hear about this .....hopefully your mechanic stands by his work.

 

the belt can't be far off from where the engine failed.....I would go back to the scene to retrieve the belt.

 

Do mechanics carry errors and omissions policies or do they self-insure on a situation like this? Obviously, for purposes of this question, I'm assuming, and perhaps incorrectly, that there was some sort of mistake made by the mechanic. It could be any number of things including a faulty part, in which case he would try to pass the buck. Just curious.

 

the mechanic could be on vacation......but if your not sure....
I would drop by during business hours to confirm it.

 

Sure, buy no Dealership names please.

 

I definitely would have dropped by.

 

That belt may have been 'missing' when he took the top inspection covers off to take a look.

But the belt would have not have flown out from behind those timing belt overs. It's not water, dirt or dust proof, but it's well sealed that timing belt cover area.

I suspect the timing belt is still jammed down in there behind the covers. It will be a hell of a mess down in there....

 

+1

A friend did this on his Toyota L/C ute. He was doing the timing belt change and his Wife called him inside for dinner.

He was just about to tighten the belt tensioner bolt when she called him in for dinner.

He went inside, realised dinner was not 100% yet, so he went back outside and refit the timing belt cover without tighten that belt tensioner bolt.

He finished the job around 10 mins later, started his ute and it ran it for a few minutes before shutting it off.

He went inside for dinner and called it a night.

The next morning he went back outside and put all the tools away and clean up. He went for a drive to do a few things up town and that's when the bolt walked out, belt lost tension, tensioner fell off, jammed the belt up, snapped it.............then bent 17 out of the 18 valves in the cylinder head.

I helped him tow it home. We removed the timing cover *you could see it buldging out like something let go in there* and found that mess of broken belt, bolt jammed into the cover and the tensioner bearing was rubbing into the cover also before it finally fell off.

A simple mistake cost him around $3000 to have the valves replaced and other parts ordered to complete this cylinder head job. I removed and replaced the cylinder head for him as he was not confident in doing the job himself.

 

oh ok.......forgot for the moment we were talking about a 348 (not 355) belt covers.

 

No worries man.

 

+1

 

I think so mate. Just leave it be, let the mechanic look at it for you and definitely go past the workshop and let them know what happened.

 

Sorry to hear... very frustrating. I hope your voice message didn't scare him off...

 

How do you determine bad luck from bad workmanship. If these guys have a good rep then it is super unlikely it was their fault. It is an old car. Even a rebuilt motor isn't perfect.

 

Seriously? When was the last time you heard of a car coming back from a major and having the timing belt fail right after? Like never? Those belts are super tough, so I wouldn't lean on that as the failure point. More likely the belt tension. Call it the tensioner or related part. Maybe a bracket broke and lodged in there. Regardless, I can't see this as being fate. I am leaning towards mechanic error. But I really want to know the reason of this failure, regardless.

 

Well this was a well respected shop according to the OP. If even a stooge can do it then what is the likelihood a pro mechanic goofed?
This is such an easy job newbies do it. Pro failure? Possible. Bad luck? Possible. Other unforseen failed part? Possible. I think people are too quick to judge.