Getting Screwed I Think - S60, 2002 engine's got problems

jmwidmer · Post by **jmwidmer** » 16 Jul 2011, 14:23

Ok, 2 months ago I had some issues with the idling of my car, check engine light was on and it was going through oil and gas mileage was getting worse so I took it in to a mechanic. Mechanic did diagnostic and stated it was turbo sensor and the turbo was bad as it was leaking oil internally. I proceeded to get a used turbo and paid for job to be completed.

Fast forward 1 month. Was driving up a small mountain pass and I heard a loud pop in the engine and pulled over. Looked under hood and didn't see anything bad (I know nothing about cars, but am not stupid either) or smell anything bad after the initial pop in which I smelled oil. Car was still running so I completed the drive down the pass into my families town. After I got there and stopped the car, it would start up again but not hold the idle or drive forward or in reverse. Towed the car back to San Diego and dropped off at the shop that did my turbo. They looked at it and said it was the catalytic converter. I have an "acquaintance" at church who has his own shop and asked me to look at it. Next day I had a tow truck meet me at the shop to get the car to take to my church friends shop and the car started right up and drove over to friends shop.

Next day, my friend called me and told me to come down to look at the issue. He showed me spark plugs were drowning in oil as there was a crack in valve cover gasket so I was not getting proper spark so that was why my car was shutting down. He quoted me verbally that they need to change the valve cover gasket, spark plugs, seals and gaskets, and oil. While they were in there, he recommended changing timing kit and water pump as well since they are opening it up. He does not have the proper tool to open up the valve cover gasket so he has a colleague in other shop across the street who will do it for him. Mind you I had lights replaced and brakes done as well by him and he said he wouldn't charge me labor since the valve cover gasket job is expensive ($640 for parts, $600 for labor). I thought I was being well taken care of and felt very happy even though another mechanic friend of mine said $600 was 2 jobs, so I figured he was getting some $ out of that for my brakes, lights, etc.

Fast forward 1 month again. I had noticed my car was losing oil again but wasn't acting up badly and we were going to go back over the pass to in-laws for the weekend. I put 1 quart of oil in and started making the drive up the pass again. Well half way up the pass, my car started acting up and check engine light started flashing so I made sure to turn around on next exit and drive back down to home. Did so and car was still acting up. Got off freeway on my exit and came to a stop and the car was shaking badly and sounded like it wanted to give out. Called friend and told him I think it was the same problem and he said to bring it in on the 5th.

Took it in on 5th, next day he calls me and said my 3rd valve was bent and bad and I need a valve job now! I explained all of this to my brother who has worked on a ton of cars in his life and he said it sounded like when they did the timing kit, the valve was torqued down too much and that's why this happened. I explained this to my friend and he said that was not the issue, that the valve went bad because the ignition coil went out and so my valve went bad. He said he can do the job for me for around $1000 but I feel that I am being taken and that the cause of the valve going bad was from bad work done on the car 1 month prior. Please let me know what you think as I want this to be taken care of by the person who did this with no money out of my pocket due to negligence. BTW, I have not received any paperwork stating what was done on cover, timing kit, water pump job.

Jake

Post by **JRL** » 16 Jul 2011, 15:38

You got and are still getting screwed by both shops who seem not to know anything about Volvos
You need to take it to a Volvo dealer and find out what they both screwed up and if they (probably) did, you may need to take this to small claims court.
You don't "tighten down" anything during a timing belt job except what's directly related to the T belt
A valve does not fail if a coil goes out/ I've had several coils fail over the years. You replace them and all is well again, I've never heard of other collateral damage from a blown coil
You know it when a coil goes, it instantly starts to miss and usually badly

Where are you located anyway?

jmwidmer · Post by **jmwidmer** » 16 Jul 2011, 15:53

I'm in San Diego

jmwidmer · Post by **jmwidmer** » 16 Jul 2011, 15:57

He is saying that if the timing was off in the beginning the valve would have bent right away from the piston hitting it

Post by **JRL** » 16 Jul 2011, 17:37

If it was that far off and a valve got bent the engine would not run period
Take it to Volvo and have them see if the timing is off.
DO NOT bring it back to either of those two "mechanics"
If the timing is that far off, as I said above, time for them to replace the engine on them or take a trip to a lawyer

jmwidmer · Post by **jmwidmer** » 17 Jul 2011, 17:46

So you are saying that they should replace the whole engine instead of fixing it?

Post by **JRL** » 17 Jul 2011, 18:43

Do you read or what?
Take it to a Volvo dealer and find out what happened
If it was the mechanic's fault (which I'm sure it was) you sue the crap out of him
(and yes, in the long run, it's probably cheaper to put a used engine in as this one seems to be totally screwd up but you need to take it to a LEGITIMATE 3rd party shop to find out what happened)

bobsnow100 · Post by **bobsnow100** » 19 Jul 2011, 09:05

I have had ignition coils go bad and it won't wreck your engine or break a valve. You can tell right away becasue your engine will run rough.
It seems to me like the mechanic who fix the original problem messed up the timing. If the timing is off, the valve can hit the top of the piston and bend the valve. Depending on the RPM's and cams variable timing , this could happen when the rpm's are high. I agree that you should go to the volvo dealer and they will be able to tell right away if the timing was done wrong.
I had to put a used engine in my sons 1999 s80 this past winter and got a used one with 115,000 mile for $800 with a 60 day warranty.

BobbyC · Post by **BobbyC** » 20 Jul 2011, 22:41

It's strange that only a single valve in cylinder 3 is bent badly.

If the timing were off, a valve in EACH cylinder on that cam should be bent (assuming the engine kept turning after the first valve was struck).

How did they determine you had a bent valve? Compression check, or by noticing the vale wasn't closing all the way (tappet well below the cam lobe)?