big_johnson Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Hi all, Haven't posted in a while but need some help! Long story short (kind of): Had my water pump and timing belt replaced around 100k, no problems. Water pump decides to start leaking around 133k, so it needs to be replaced again unfortunately. The shop felt that it would be good to do the timing belt again while they were in there, so I said OK (only a bit more in parts at that point). I get the car back, and now have a noticeable lack of power at lower rpm's, lower mpg, and an odd intermittent knocking noise from the engine. Took the car back to the shop and they had to re-tension the belt, apparently they had set it below spec. So the noise is gone, but I still have no power and lower mpg. I took the car back to the shop again with this complaint, and they couldn't find anything wrong. So I'm frustrated at this point. I know something is wrong, but I'm not sure what it could be. I was thinking the timing is off, but you would hope they checked for that when I brought it back the second time. It feels like going back to that shop is pointless now, unfortunately. I also have a Scangauge which backs up my perceived lack of power: It has a feature called "load", which indicates how much power you are using out of how much you have available at any rpm. Previously, my load would go to 100% at any rpm if I stepped on it. Now, it only gets to 89% at lower rpm, and barely reaches 100% at redline. Basically, the lower the rpm, the greater the power loss. Mpg is also down from 19.5 to barely 17, with the same exact driving. Any insight or advice would be very helpful! I just want my car back the way it was, it's frustrating to drive as is. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I would take that tool with you to the shop and have them watch you do the load test....If they still dont beleave anything is wrong with it take it to another shop and have it repaired and send them the bill....I know that this is the long and expensive way to do it but thats not kool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Sounds like what happened to my dads r50. The timing belt was a tooth off and the truck had no low end power but it had pretty much the same at the top end. I would tell them to keep it until its fixed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 just another case of idiots setting the timing belt without any references Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarehouseRat Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 timings off for sure, and they most likely over tensioned the belt as well beings they cant set the timing right, take it back and tell them to fix it or see you in court Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_johnson Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Thanks for the responses. I'm considering just taking it to a dealer at this point, seems like they have the highest chance of getting it right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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