Timing Chain Issue

[CupraJohnQ]

Hi all,

Took my 2010 Ibiza Cupra into a VW specialist with a coolant leak and engine light on. ( I thought the light was on because of the coolant leak)

The specialist has just called saying that the timing chain has stretched and everything is running out of sync. Have been quoted £700 to fix this and £400 for the water pump/coolant system repairs.

Does all this sound legit ? Prices seem fair ?

Thanks

John

 

[Firaxis]

It does sound rather expensive IMO, I've done a cam / WP replacement on an Alfa with issues and it was £150.00 for the parts and took about 7 or so hours. Also Seat's fixed price service quotes £600.00 for a cam / WP replacement..

Learn about SEAT Fixed Price Maintenance | SEAT UK

SEAT Maintenance. Your car is designed for the minimum of maintenance, but it's important to have certain jobs carried out at the recommended intervals.

www.seat.co.uk

I'm not sure about the Cupra Ibiza specifically but I'd highly suggest getting a separate quote from a Seat dealer.

 

[Jay5959]

I’d imagine it would cost more than just a standard chain/water pump change as they’ll need to check for damage and retime the engine. You could always ring up seat and see what they’d charge, bet it’s more than £600

edit: and sorry to hear this has happened, hopefully you get it sorted without a massive hole in your wallet

 

[Firaxis]

I’d imagine it would cost more than just a standard chain/water pump change as they’ll need to check for damage and retime the engine. You could always ring up seat and see what they’d charge, bet it’s more than £600

edit: and sorry to hear this has happened, hopefully you get it sorted without a massive hole in your wallet

Timing an engine isn't extremely difficult to do, neither should it be that costly. It's damage that's the potential ringer here, there was a slurry of BMW's with timing chain issues and the cost of an engine re-build was about £3K. I'm not arguing because I don't know much about the 1.8 TSI neither do I know the full story as I'd personally have to inspect the engine to understand exactly what needed doing. It just might be worth getting a second opinion, issue is it's not like you can drive it to the next dealership or indie.

Also agreed, sorry to hear about this OP.

 

[Jay5959]

Timing an engine isn't extremely difficult to do, neither should it be that costly. It's damage that's the potential ringer here, there was a slurry of BMW's with timing chain issues and the cost of an engine re-build was about £3K. I'm not arguing because I don't know much about the 1.8 TSI neither do I know the full story as I'd personally have to inspect the engine to understand exactly what needed doing. It just might be worth getting a second opinion, issue is it's not like you can drive it to the next dealership or indie.

Also agreed, sorry to hear about this OP.

Absolutely worth a second opinion on it mate and if it’s only stretched the chain hopefully not caused any damage that’s requires a rebuild. If it’s a simple enough job (I assumed it would be a pain, you know more than I do ) to sort the timing back out, then £700 does sound expensive. I paid £495 for cambelt and water pump at an independent. Have a chat with a few garages, there will be some that would be able to sort transport for your car to be taken to them and give a better price

 

[Ghostface]

Hi I got a quote last year from vw central for my 2010 leon cupra, camshaft timing chain and tensioner £492 with labour (non service item) and £459 for cambelt and waterpump all in all I believe but didn't actually state with labour unlike the chain quote. Hope these prices help you out.

 

[CupraJohnQ]

Thanks for all the info guys. So in the end I told Motor Continental Audi & VW specialists in north London to do a full check up on my engine while they were doing the Timing chain and water pump. It was running rough when I took it in and sounded like a tractor.

The list of things that were fixed is crazy! I bought the car at 80,000 and its on 84,500 now. Probably should of got a garage to do a full health check when I bought it.

All parts that needed fitting:

Timing Chain (stretched timing chain causing rough running)
Timing Cover Gasket (mine had melted onto the engine due to overheating because coolant system wasn't working)
Supercharger Belt (frayed and on its last legs)
Fan / Accessory Belt (frayed and worn out, squeaking on startup)
Water Pump (leaking and broken)
Coolant Tank (small crack in the bottom)
Coolant system Piping
PCV Valve (mine had a crack in)
Oil Filter and full oil change (they said the oil was 'gloopy' and looked like it hadn't been changed for years) The car has 12 Seat main dealer service stamps in the log book so this was interesting to hear.


Total cost was £1600

She feels like a completely different machine now though, super responsive, boosting hard and the work was all documented and completed to a very high standard. Big hit on the wallet but hopefully its given her another 80k miles of life..

 

[Jay5959]

Thanks for all the info guys. So in the end I told Motor Continental Audi & VW specialists in north London to do a full check up on my engine while they were doing the Timing chain and water pump. It was running rough when I took it in and sounded like a tractor.

The list of things that were fixed is crazy! I bought the car at 80,000 and its on 84,500 now. Probably should of got a garage to do a full health check when I bought it.

All parts that needed fitting:

Timing Chain (stretched timing chain causing rough running)
Timing Cover Gasket (mine had melted onto the engine due to overheating because coolant system wasn't working)
Supercharger Belt (frayed and on its last legs)
Fan / Accessory Belt (frayed and worn out, squeaking on startup)
Water Pump (leaking and broken)
Coolant Tank (small crack in the bottom)
Coolant system Piping
PCV Valve (mine had a crack in)
Oil Filter and full oil change (they said the oil was 'gloopy' and looked like it hadn't been changed for years) The car has 12 Seat main dealer service stamps in the log book so this was interesting to hear.


Total cost was £1600

She feels like a completely different machine now though, super responsive, boosting hard and the work was all documented and completed to a very high standard. Big hit on the wallet but hopefully its given her another 80k miles of life..

Ouch! Hopefully you are sorted for a good while now. Now you can enjoy the car

 

[CupraJohnQ]

Ouch! Hopefully you are sorted for a good while now. Now you can enjoy the car

Cheers, I feel like I've never experienced the full potential of this little rocket until now.

 

[Ghostface]

Glad it's all sorted now. Did you buy it private or from a Dealership? If that was from a dealers that's poor.

 

[CupraJohnQ]

Glad it's all sorted now. Did you buy it private or from a Dealership? If that was from a dealers that's poor.

Bought it from a non Seat dealership who I assume were re-selling cars that had been Part-ex'ed in. Paid £5,300 and It had an official Seat dealer service at 80K too, just before I bought it apparently.

Don't understand how all these issues were left / weren't checked.

I doubt all these things happened within 4500 miles ?!

 

[Ghostface]

That's shocking and real unfortunate for you buddy. But at least you can have peace of mind now.

 

[CupraJohnQ]

Engine light came on today on the way home from work

Hope its nothing too bad.

I will be calling the garage that did all the work requesting a free diagnosis.

 

[Ghostface]

Hopefully it's nothing related. Should invest in diagnostic tool. I recently invested in the obdeleven for £50 which picked up 2 faults which my cheapo £15 quid didn't find... Alternatively pinch a buddies tool to check with.

 

[CupraJohnQ]

Hopefully it's nothing related. Should invest in diagnostic tool. I recently invested in the obdeleven for £50 which picked up 2 faults which my cheapo £15 quid didn't find... Alternatively pinch a buddies tool to check with.

Can you link me to the tool you have please ? will it work on my car too ?

 

[Ghostface]

OBDeleven products

OBDeleven products

obdeleven.com

Although you can get them on ebay second hand aswell. Recently quite a few have been on auction so I'd try there really like I did but I got real lucky. The white version only connects to android whereas black does. Both android and apple.

They work with all vag cars. (BMW support in future)

 

[Tass]

Thanks for all the info guys. So in the end I told Motor Continental Audi & VW specialists in north London to do a full check up on my engine while they were doing the Timing chain and water pump. It was running rough when I took it in and sounded like a tractor.

The list of things that were fixed is crazy! I bought the car at 80,000 and its on 84,500 now. Probably should of got a garage to do a full health check when I bought it.

All parts that needed fitting:

Timing Chain (stretched timing chain causing rough running)
Timing Cover Gasket (mine had melted onto the engine due to overheating because coolant system wasn't working)
Supercharger Belt (frayed and on its last legs)
Fan / Accessory Belt (frayed and worn out, squeaking on startup)
Water Pump (leaking and broken)
Coolant Tank (small crack in the bottom)
Coolant system Piping
PCV Valve (mine had a crack in)
Oil Filter and full oil change (they said the oil was 'gloopy' and looked like it hadn't been changed for years) The car has 12 Seat main dealer service stamps in the log book so this was interesting to hear.


Total cost was £1600

She feels like a completely different machine now though, super responsive, boosting hard and the work was all documented and completed to a very high standard. Big hit on the wallet but hopefully its given her another 80k miles of life..

I can strongly advise against using Motor Continental Audi & VW specialists. I took my previous Skoda there as it has developed a strange ticking noise. I was due to leave for a 2500 mile European roadtrip in under a week and my standard garage couldn't fit me in in time. They seemed nice but came back to me with a similar list to yours - nearly £2000 of engine work. With no time for a second opinion I bit the bullet and paid for the work. The car came back without working air-conditioning, which they claimed was nothing to do with them. With only a day to go I had no choice but to agree to them changing the compressor for a further £500.

Fast-forward to its next service at my standard garage and apparently most of the stuff they charged me for either wasn't changed, or did not need to be changed. Absolute cowboys. I should have taken them to court. Avoid at all costs.