Lack of power after engine rebuild

[typer05]

The wet belt broke on my 2008 Galaxy 1.8tdci 125bhp with only 77k on the clock. Lucky the garage where I bought it second hand 6 months ago gave a one year warranty so they have covered the repair bill, phew.

The engine was sent off for Remanufacturing,upgraded the wet belt to a chain kit,  new clutch, flywheel and numerous other bits.

Since they put it all back together there is a big lack in power. They replaced the mass air flow sensor, rechecked the timing, checked the turbo and still no power. You end up having to really Rev it to do anything. For example at 50mph in 4th and the foot to the floor it won't do anything, nearly like the speed limiter is on unless you drop it down to third and rev rev rev, anyone any ideas before I bring it back to them. (They had it 5weeks the last time)

[insanitybeard]

Unfortunately, and especially as it's had an engine rebuild, it really could be anything- you say the engine was sent off for remanufacturing (which seems odd in itself to me, if the damage was bad enough to require that then the route I would have expected them to take would have been to fit a recon unit rather than send your old one off for repair and make you wait), but without knowing who carried out this work and what exactly they did, it could be any number of things. If a timing belt failed and there was valve & piston contact, then the likely items to have sustained damage are the valves and pistons themselves, camshaft, maybe valve guides etc etc, if there was debris from the valve/piston impact then that could have caused damaged to the bores- and the turbo if it's got past the valves..........

In short, I'm afraid it really is down to how competent the repairer/ remanufacturer was/ is, I'm not trying to be cynical here but if a garage is having to pay out of their own pocket to put something right then there's a good chance they'll try to do it on the cheap (in fairness I know nothing about who carried out this work so I'm not saying that's definitely the case). The problem could be something simple and not relating to the rebuild but after a major mechanical failure like this then it's got a good chance of being either something that's been overlooked at the remanufacturing stage or during the subsequent reassembly. Is the garage able to test it for any fault codes? 

My final thoughts concern the substitution of the wet belt drive for the earlier chain type system- did you ask them to do this? If not, it'd surprise me that a garage would do that off their own back, more likely that they've simply sourced and fitted an earlier type engine in which case any number of things could be different which would explain why it doesn't run properly!

[typer05]

Thanks for the info. It was a toyota dealer where i purchased the car. It was my own engine that went for the rebuilt, as far as i know from what they told me it got new valves, skimmed head, new pistons and liners (severe scoring on the pistons and bent valves). The toyota garage then refitted the engine, sent it off to a Ford independent workshop who checked the engine codes it came up clean. They thought the timing was off a tooth so it went back to the engine remanufacturing as they gave a 1 year gaurantee on there work. The engine crowd said the timing was ok and it was the Mass air flow sensor, the toyota garage fitted a new one and the problem still persists. What i have noticed in the past few days is that when the engine is cold you need to hit about 3000rpm for any sort of movement (before that its so sluggish, hardly moves, which it wasnt before the belt break). But one the engine heats up after 5 to 10 minutes of driving it picks up again. Pulling off in 1st is back to what you would expect??? Im at the stage now where if its not sorted soon ill be looking for a refund. In releation to the chain kit, it was the ford dealer over here who recommended it but they dont sell it as its not a genuine ford part. The engine crowd have them.

[insanitybeard]

Hm, I'm not sure about that (cylinder liners) as to my knowledge the 1.8 lynx diesel used in the Galaxy doesn't have removable cylinder liners, they're machined directly out of the cast iron engine block. Either way, your engine sustained major damage. Bent valves can also damage the valve guides- which looking at the parts diagram don't seem to be listed as separate parts (from Ford at least), I know the camshaft and bearing caps on this engine can also break in the event of major impact.

Your issue may not relate to any of these things but for the pistons themselves to require replacement suggests the damage was extensive, even for this kind of failure, and if the pistons were damaged then it's not beyond the realms of possibility that one or more con-rods could have been bent. The cost of fitting replacement pistons and the other engine work you mention when combined with the labour must have been approaching the cost of fitting at the very least a short motor if not a complete recon engine!

[typer05]

I'm afraid I'm not up to speed on the mechanics on the engine, only going from what they have told me. I was driving at 60mph when the belt broke, they haven't told me the exact amount it has cost them to date but the last figure i heard was approaching the Ã,£2200. Id imagine the work carried out by the engine crowd was using all spurious stuff. Either way none of them know where to go now with it. Ill drop by the Ford garage before i leave it back to the crowd where i bought it to see if they can diagnose the problem.

[typer05]

Got the car sorted, turns out it needed a new set of injectors. Lucky the garage had given me a warranty.

[gregers]

happy days then.