The aged Passat broke down the other day, fortunately only a mile from home. The ever reliable T2 was called into action for a tow back. The cambelt had not broken but had stripped its' teeth. Diagnosis of a seized water pump (30k old) or broken valve? All of academic interest really as its' clearly a scrapper, now we've got the hassle of sourcing a replacement in the Lockdown. Ah the delights of T2 ownership, with neither a timing belt nor chain to worry about....
No idea, but fair to assume beyond economic repair. £800 for a car that's lasted 4.5 years ain't bad so no complaints here. Just removed all the valuable bits like the lpg tank and slung in an old battery for a tow to it's "final resting place" (when they're open). Interesting to see the cambelt(40k ish) was like new, so definitely down to either the water pump or camshaft "locking in position" causing the teeth to strip.
Slightly surprised at this, being a Mercedes tech most of the engines i see are chain driven camshafts. Very rare you get one that breaks. The main failure is chain stretch & sprocket wear on high mileage vehicles. Occasionally you might get a failed adjuster but it’s rare. Cambelt failures are much more frequent usually by a collapsed water pump bearing or tensioner. We are also a Subaru dealership and surprisingly don’t get too many belt failures on them. Although they have now gone to chain.
To be fair, i probably have only seen one mercedes, but bmws, minis, ford, renault are a regular occurance, and vauxhalls and 3 cylinder vws
Just a quickie... Discovered the Passat has plenty of petrol in the tank. Is it possible to syphon this out, or is there some sort of anti-syphon device? Seems a shame to waste the precious stuff, which could be used in the T2
Can be difficult my Dads car was written off with a full tank of juice last week. Trouble is most modern cars have an anti syphon valve in the filler neck or like on Dads Yaris had three 90 degree bends in the filler making it difficult to get a hose in. Also the filler entered the top side of the tank. Another way is to take the hose off where it connects to the filter or fuel rail. Probably won’t get it out though without cycling the ign on off unless you can locate & bridge out the fuel pump relay.
Ta https://www.removemycar.co.uk/ have offered £56 which sounds good. Will need to check what the scrapyard will offer if we tow it there. The last scrap car got us £100, but the price will probably vary over time. The Passat is 2004, maybe before anti-syphon devices were routinely fitted ?
Seven gallons of petrol just syphoned off! Will go in the T2 when space available. Surprisingly easy access under the floor of the estate part via the single access port. With a T2 I gather you need to remove the engine then remove the tank to gain access via the sender gauge
chains can snap. I had the cam chain snap on my old Suzuki GSX-R750 track bike whilst "pressing on" down Craner Curves at Donngton Park a couple of years ago. Quite exciting as I remember. Its an interference engine so the pistons whacked the valves on two cylinders and shattered the cam followers. Amazing the pistons etc. were fine. Still not an economic repair as the bike was a bit of an old dog.
They've offered £56, another offered £70 if we towed it there. But they are probably automated systems not updated by the covid situation Just phoned 2 local breakers yards and they've offered nothing and £25 if we tow it there, mustn't grumble these days.....
