IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Welp... as some of you might have heard, had a bit of a snafu in Germany a couple of weeks ago.
It all started a few corners before Br?nchen, where the car suddenly lost all power. No warning lights or CEL, it just stopped responding to throttle inputs. We (loose_unit was passengering) managed to coast up to Br?nchen and pulled over to the side right after.
Our initial suspicion was that we ran out of fuel as the fuel warning light came on just as we entered the track, but I was (at the time) confident it would be fine. It did kind of slip my mind that diesel is a liquid and doesn't stay completely level when you're pulling relatively high lateral G's through the corners.
A tow truck was quickly dispatched as a marshal car was literally seconds behind us on the track and was on top of the situation almost as soon as it happened.
It appeared that my tow hook was not the correct one so the tow truck driver unceremoniously hooked up his winch to one of the front suspension arms and pulled the car up.
I was taken to the marshals' office at the entrance while Loose_unit hitched a ride with the tow truck to their parking lot in Adenau, where the car would be stored for 5 days in quite good company while I stayed over at mr. Loose's, trying to figure out how to cheaply get my car home (like an idiot I didn't have road assistance at the time) or get it fixed on the cheap.
During one of my visits I actually spent more than 5 seconds trying to poke a thing into a hole and managed to attach the tow hook to the car. Fucking idiot of a truck driver...
This allowed us to tow the car out of the (fairly expensive) parking lot to a nearby garage where it would undergo inspection. In the mean time nicjasno also managed to find someone driving home from the north of Germany. I got in contact with them and arranged for a pick up just in case the fix would be either too expensive or even impossible.
It turned out to be the former in the form of a slipped timing belt with several sheared off teeth. The place quoted me ?600-700 just to get the belt replaced, which meant I was on the phone with the guy 30 seconds later, arranging for pick up.
An old Sharan towing a trailer without a winch is definitely not what I was expecting, but fortunately the garage parking lot was on an incline and we managed to push the car onto the trailer and off it went. I booked train tickets and followed the following morning.
16 hours later in front of nicjasno's house...
One of nicjasno's neighbours is a mechanic, who agreed to take a look at the car, so the disassembly can begin!
Here's the culprit.
It seems to be missing something...
There they are!
At this point there were 2 possibilities. If the belt slipped a maximum of 2 teeth, we were fine. If it slipped more, that would mean the valves would impact the piston heads, bending or possibly cracking either or both in the process. The head would need to come off to make sure.
And wouldn't you know it? No signs of impact!
A few minutes of nicjasno-ing later and the block and head looked almost like new again (*cough*)!
After the inspection, the head went back on and timing belt replacement could commence.
We also replaced the water pump that had seen better days.
And with the new belt and tensioner in place it was ready for a test start up.
However...
Something was preventing it from firing. A quick OBD check revealed a faulty cam sensor, so a replacement for it was quickly sourced.
However, the engine still would not fire. It wouldn't be until the following day that we realized that the timing belt was still off by one tooth and then...
[video=youtube;xos2MnVxe-c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c[/video]
Thank fuck for that. The nightmare is finally over. What followed was another day of nicjasnoing the interior and exterior and now it's back to being my old, trusty Saudi.
I would like to thank everyone who helped get me and my car back home safely and in working order, especially loose_unit, nicjasno and his neighbour mechanic. I owe you many awkward hugs and drinks. You guys are the best.
(oh, and before someone mentions that the timing belt looked super old and manky and was supposed to have been changed during a large service, I did pay for that to happen...
It all started a few corners before Br?nchen, where the car suddenly lost all power. No warning lights or CEL, it just stopped responding to throttle inputs. We (loose_unit was passengering) managed to coast up to Br?nchen and pulled over to the side right after.
Our initial suspicion was that we ran out of fuel as the fuel warning light came on just as we entered the track, but I was (at the time) confident it would be fine. It did kind of slip my mind that diesel is a liquid and doesn't stay completely level when you're pulling relatively high lateral G's through the corners.
A tow truck was quickly dispatched as a marshal car was literally seconds behind us on the track and was on top of the situation almost as soon as it happened.
It appeared that my tow hook was not the correct one so the tow truck driver unceremoniously hooked up his winch to one of the front suspension arms and pulled the car up.
I was taken to the marshals' office at the entrance while Loose_unit hitched a ride with the tow truck to their parking lot in Adenau, where the car would be stored for 5 days in quite good company while I stayed over at mr. Loose's, trying to figure out how to cheaply get my car home (like an idiot I didn't have road assistance at the time) or get it fixed on the cheap.
During one of my visits I actually spent more than 5 seconds trying to poke a thing into a hole and managed to attach the tow hook to the car. Fucking idiot of a truck driver...
This allowed us to tow the car out of the (fairly expensive) parking lot to a nearby garage where it would undergo inspection. In the mean time nicjasno also managed to find someone driving home from the north of Germany. I got in contact with them and arranged for a pick up just in case the fix would be either too expensive or even impossible.
It turned out to be the former in the form of a slipped timing belt with several sheared off teeth. The place quoted me ?600-700 just to get the belt replaced, which meant I was on the phone with the guy 30 seconds later, arranging for pick up.
An old Sharan towing a trailer without a winch is definitely not what I was expecting, but fortunately the garage parking lot was on an incline and we managed to push the car onto the trailer and off it went. I booked train tickets and followed the following morning.
16 hours later in front of nicjasno's house...
One of nicjasno's neighbours is a mechanic, who agreed to take a look at the car, so the disassembly can begin!
Here's the culprit.
It seems to be missing something...
There they are!
At this point there were 2 possibilities. If the belt slipped a maximum of 2 teeth, we were fine. If it slipped more, that would mean the valves would impact the piston heads, bending or possibly cracking either or both in the process. The head would need to come off to make sure.
And wouldn't you know it? No signs of impact!
A few minutes of nicjasno-ing later and the block and head looked almost like new again (*cough*)!
After the inspection, the head went back on and timing belt replacement could commence.
We also replaced the water pump that had seen better days.
And with the new belt and tensioner in place it was ready for a test start up.
However...
Something was preventing it from firing. A quick OBD check revealed a faulty cam sensor, so a replacement for it was quickly sourced.
However, the engine still would not fire. It wouldn't be until the following day that we realized that the timing belt was still off by one tooth and then...
[video=youtube;xos2MnVxe-c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c[/video]
Thank fuck for that. The nightmare is finally over. What followed was another day of nicjasnoing the interior and exterior and now it's back to being my old, trusty Saudi.
I would like to thank everyone who helped get me and my car back home safely and in working order, especially loose_unit, nicjasno and his neighbour mechanic. I owe you many awkward hugs and drinks. You guys are the best.
(oh, and before someone mentions that the timing belt looked super old and manky and was supposed to have been changed during a large service, I did pay for that to happen...
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