Can you drive a car with damaged valves
Discussion
Hi there
Sorry, complete novice here but running into some problems with my car and looking for some advice.
A few weeks ago there was a loud rattle coming from my engine (SAAB 9-3), speaking to someone who used to work in the trade said that it sounded like my timing belt and that I should take it to the garage. Looking at the log book I noticed that the timing belt had been serviced less than 10,000 miles previous so I took it back to the garage that done the work.
They later told me that I had a collapsed waterpump and I gave them the go-ahead to replace. A few days later they said that they had done the work but now could not get the engine to start as there was no compression in the valves. After further inspection they discovered that all 16 valves needed replaced.
My question is this - did the garage cause the damage? A lot of people of told me this is the case and now I am being left with a bill for £1400 if I get them to do the work. I drove the car to the garage and when I left the car was starting fine.
Sorry, complete novice here but running into some problems with my car and looking for some advice.
A few weeks ago there was a loud rattle coming from my engine (SAAB 9-3), speaking to someone who used to work in the trade said that it sounded like my timing belt and that I should take it to the garage. Looking at the log book I noticed that the timing belt had been serviced less than 10,000 miles previous so I took it back to the garage that done the work.
They later told me that I had a collapsed waterpump and I gave them the go-ahead to replace. A few days later they said that they had done the work but now could not get the engine to start as there was no compression in the valves. After further inspection they discovered that all 16 valves needed replaced.
My question is this - did the garage cause the damage? A lot of people of told me this is the case and now I am being left with a bill for £1400 if I get them to do the work. I drove the car to the garage and when I left the car was starting fine.
I thought the 9-3s had timing chains. Google says these engines can suffer from oil starvation which results in premature wear especially to the timing chain - possibly the garage misdiagnosed it as the water pump and then the timing chain failed when they had it, causing valve damage.
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