My Mechanic Is Doing Disasters, Help!

[mastakilla 1]

Hello, I have bought a '87 1.9 gti which was lying unused in a garage since 2000 or so. When I tried it, it ran pretty well engine-wise: strong acceleration, good idling, no hesitation or any sign of bad running. It just needed proper care after the long pause.

The day the car has become mine, I gave it to the mechanic that works in my town, which is a very small one. He is one of those do-it-all general purpose mostly lawnmovers repairers mechanics, but he did some works on my cars before, and I had no complains, so I thought that it would have been fair to give my money to the community, thinking that after all 205s are not that complex beasts!

Well, he returned me the car after replacing cambelt, hoses, all the usual fluids and filters, and brakelines.

Now the engine runs absolutely, purely crap: when on neutral it is not that evident, but once the car starts moving it is very rough and spits, vibrates, struggles to reach 2500 rpms..it can rev only using the clutch but it lacks power. It looks like an alimentation issue but the fuel pump is new and before the cambelt change, it was running fine.

So my thought is that he somehow managed to put the engine in a wrong distribution phase, probably by not using some peugeot tool while doing the job.

He obviously denies that, saying that it's something else..so my fear is that once (if) he wil give me back the car running normal, I'll have to pay for some non existent damage that HE did!

Are the symptoms I described compatible with errors in the distribution phase? How can I tell for sure?

Thank you all very much

[Matteo 17 1 Cars]

No special tools but two simple dowels are required to time correctly the 8V engine.

It sounds to me as the timing is somewhat retarded. Do you have a vernier pulley?

[mastakilla 1]

Thanks for the reply. I don't know if it has a vernier pulley, it is a standard 1.9 8v engine...

[kyepan 291]

most likely cause, he has timed the cam belt incorrectly, however he could have dislodged the AFM. as above get the cam belt cover off, and check the timing pins line up.

 

You clearly don't trust him, perhaps you should either find a mechanic you trust or do it yourself

Edited July 27, 2012 by kyepan

[marksorrento205 80]

To be fair all the timing belts I have ever fitted have lines that line up with marks on the cam pulley and the crank pulley. As said a couple of pins to lock it in place. Plus it is good practice to rotate the engine by hand and make sure it all lines up again ok. Normally job done.

[harryskid 193]

Don't go the route i went with a so called local guy, he cost me a fourtune. Sack the fu*ker now!

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

sounds like symptoms I've had before when the cam belt was two teeth out

[colti 5]

Hello, I have bought a '87 1.9 gti which was lying unused in a garage since 2000 or so. When I tried it, it ran pretty well engine-wise: strong acceleration, good idling, no hesitation or any sign of bad running. It just needed proper care after the long pause.

The day the car has become mine, I gave it to the mechanic that works in my town, which is a very small one. He is one of those do-it-all general purpose mostly lawnmovers repairers mechanics, but he did some works on my cars before, and I had no complains, so I thought that it would have been fair to give my money to the community, thinking that after all 205s are not that complex beasts!

Well, he returned me the car after replacing cambelt, hoses, all the usual fluids and filters, and brakelines.

Now the engine runs absolutely, purely crap: when on neutral it is not that evident, but once the car starts moving it is very rough and spits, vibrates, struggles to reach 2500 rpms..it can rev only using the clutch but it lacks power. It looks like an alimentation issue but the fuel pump is new and before the cambelt change, it was running fine.

So my thought is that he somehow managed to put the engine in a wrong distribution phase, probably by not using some peugeot tool while doing the job.

He obviously denies that, saying that it's something else..so my fear is that once (if) he wil give me back the car running normal, I'll have to pay for some non existent damage that HE did!

Are the symptoms I described compatible with errors in the distribution phase? How can I tell for sure?

Thank you all very much

Speaking as a profesional vehicle technician,i cannot for the life of me understand why you would give a car back to a customer if its 'not right' having worked on it.I wouldnt get away with it if i wanted to!!!!

If you guys find a good mechanic,let him know your pleased with the work he's doing and he WILL look after you.(When we get praise,its appreciated!)

Speech over