CAR, WON'T START, NO COMPRESSION !!!

[Digger1]

OK. I used my car to go a short journey to the shops, came back to it less than an hour later,car wouldn't start ,just sounded like the starter wasn't engaging, phoned the AA, Who did a diagnostic
which came up with cam-sensor ! but said he felt it was more likely to be because of a fault with-in the timing,belt or pulley etc. , the dreaded sentence no one wants to hear,,, any way having had it towed back to HQ, removed the screws holding the top of the cam-belt cover and turned the ign; and the belt seams fine, belt still intaked, still seams taught, unscrewd the oil filler-cap turned the egn; again, looked inside the rocker-cover with a torch and the cam was turning, but still no compression, it's being towed in to looked at with an independent bmw/audi, on wednesday,,,,
any ideas apart from increase the overdraft !!!

 

[aragorn]

broken crank pulley key perhaps?

 

[Broken Byzan]

broken crank pulley key perhaps?

Beat me to it

 

[Digger1]

broken crank pulley key perhaps?

what damage would that cause ?,bearing in mind I was trying to start it from a stand-still
could it still slip a tooth or two on the belt, didn't hear anything?

 

[aragorn]

If its now whizzing over with no compression, its probably bent all the valves. (ie the engine just goes "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" when you turn the key, rather than the usual "wub wub wub wub wub")

The crank pulley (which drives the timing belt) sits on a small keyway to ensure its positioned correctly, then is bolted on REALLY tight. if the bolts not done up properly, then all the load for driving the cams is placed on the key, which eventually snaps, causing the belt to go out of sync.

If your lucky, it would just slip a bit and stop running or run badly, if your unlucky it'll slip by enough to cause piston-valve contact and then things end up very broken.

 

[Broken Byzan]

when i dropped my crank pulley, it made no noise at all, just cut out and wouldnt restart as there was no compression. Luckily i bought a used head for £100 and nailed that on with a new pulley

 

[ScottyP45]

yep definately bent valves there fella. the 20v unit only has to jump 2 teeth to bend the valves. mine jumped and didnt break, exactly the same symptoms, but for a different reason, sludge had blocked the oil pump, the tensioner on the VVT dropped down, the VVT chain boxed up and the engine jumped the belt on the first (drive) cam...

 

[Digger1]

when i dropped my crank pulley, it made no noise at all, just cut out and wouldnt restart as there was no compression. Luckily i bought a used head for £100 and nailed that on with a new pulley

Good idea that,,,A used cylinder-head may be more economical,than having mine, recond !!!

 

[Broken Byzan]

I did the work myself,head, pulley, headset,bolts etc was under £200 done ( i hadnt long done the belt etc so re used it)

It's not that hard tbh, depends how handy you are with the spanners, 6-7 / 10 job i recon

 

[quattrojames]

I've just read this, what a ballache

Any news digger?

 

[Digger1]

I've just read this, what a ballache

Any news digger?

Yes mate,,, ballache

being towed in on wednesday,,, whatever caused the prob; will be fixed then a compression test
to establish the damage caused, then they can give me a finall price £££££££££££££££

 

[Digger1]

So spoke with the garage today,, turns out it's not the crank-pulley but a fault in the variable valve timing case at the back of the head,, as just the first camshaft is turning but not the second !!! all timing aux; working fine,,,they are stripping the head down tomorrow to find the fault,,,any ideas !!!

 

[Broken Byzan]

Snapped chain maybe? But also 99% valve damage sadly.

 

[Digger1]

what 99% certain of valve damage ? or 99% of the valves damaged

 

[Digger1]

Yes spoke with the garage today,, they said it was a broken varaible-timing chain and cam-tensioner, and they'd inspected the head witch is showing no valve damage

 

[Broken Byzan]

you need to do the lottery this is your lucky week.

 

[murran]

its bound to have caught the inlet valves on one of the cylinders. have they re-done the compression test after fixing the chain?

 

[Digger1]

its bound to have caught the inlet valves on one of the cylinders. have they re-done the compression test after fixing the chain?

The way I understand it,and I'm no expert, but there is more than one chain in that housing,the one that broke on start up,appears to have not caused valve damage,this is a BMW/AUDI independant I've used many times over the past 20 years , and they've never let me down, if however they are wrong,this would be obvious as the the car will be missing when they put it back together !!!

 

[quattrojames]

Sounds like some good news then! Any updates yet?

 

[Digger1]

Sounds like some good news then! Any updates yet?

Yes spoke with the garage today,they've ordered the necessary parts, inc;timing belt-kit ,
they confirmed again that there had been no piston valve contact, which is still a massive relief !!!

 

[Digger1]

Got the car back yesterday, drives and sounds better than ever;£600 all in,,,, inc;
tow-in.
variable valve timing chain + tensioner.(cause of problem)
gaskets + head-bolts.
timing-belt kit inc; all aux's
de-coke'd-head + new valve guides...

 

[TOPGUNTT]

At least it's sorted now mate and £600 isn't too bad for a garage to do all the work. I recently spent £800 on my mot for my Supra. Anyway hope you are pleased with the result.

 

[quattrojames]

Great result mate, could have been far worse!

Does this mean you'll be bringing my front valance to ADI now .... ?

 

[Digger1]

At least it's sorted now mate and £600 isn't too bad for a garage to do all the work. I recently spent £800 on my mot for my Supra. Anyway hope you are pleased with the result.

Yes mate, your right ! well pleased with the price, it was almost due for a cam-belt service anyway, as it was all stripped down I just had to pay the extra for the cam-belt kit, so it's not all bad ....

Yes james,if I'm not rota'd into work I will def; be there and will bring the valance, if I'am working then maybe there's somebody close by me attending, who would be kind enough to bring you the valance? will see closer to the time mate !