Timing Chain Issue after Main Dealer Service
Discussion
Looking for some advice...
My Sister took her 2013 Clio (0.9tce) to the main dealer for its annual service. They sent the what appears to be standard video over looking under the car and commenting on tyre depth etc no mention of anything other than CV boot needing replacement and washer bottle cap missing(!).
Less than 48hrs later, sister calls to say car won't start- its just turning over freely. No warnings or noises before hand (So she says).
Back to the same dealer for diagnosis- zero compression on all three cylinders. My first thought was timing chain has snapped (only because I'd replaced her engine 5yrs ago for the same reason!).
Question is, unless there was little or no oil put back into the engine - is this just a coincidence that the tensioner/chain has given up so quickly after a service? Any point in fighting the dealer? It seems chains/tensioners can be troublesome on these motors.
Unknowns for me are - was it making a noise before the service.... and was there oil in the thing through the year....Sister assures me that during the last year she has checked the oil level on multiple occasions (terrified of another engine letting go) but who knows!
Thanks in advance!
My Sister took her 2013 Clio (0.9tce) to the main dealer for its annual service. They sent the what appears to be standard video over looking under the car and commenting on tyre depth etc no mention of anything other than CV boot needing replacement and washer bottle cap missing(!).
Less than 48hrs later, sister calls to say car won't start- its just turning over freely. No warnings or noises before hand (So she says).
Back to the same dealer for diagnosis- zero compression on all three cylinders. My first thought was timing chain has snapped (only because I'd replaced her engine 5yrs ago for the same reason!).
Question is, unless there was little or no oil put back into the engine - is this just a coincidence that the tensioner/chain has given up so quickly after a service? Any point in fighting the dealer? It seems chains/tensioners can be troublesome on these motors.
Unknowns for me are - was it making a noise before the service.... and was there oil in the thing through the year....Sister assures me that during the last year she has checked the oil level on multiple occasions (terrified of another engine letting go) but who knows!
Thanks in advance!
How far did she drive it between the service and it expiring?
If it was only half a mile drive back home, and the timing chain failed the next time she tried to start it, that would make the "didn't put any oil in" possibility more likely than if she's done 100 miles on the motorway in between.
Another obvious one, if not checked already would be to check there isn't a large pool of oil under where the car was parked, and the inside of the engine compartment isn't covered in oil. Not fully tightening up the oil filter or sump plug would be a fairly easy mistake and could make it lose all its oil pretty quickly but manage a few miles home first. Similarly for the filler cap.
It could be just a coincidence though, if this engine is prone to have a timing chain problems. A small (but most likely impossible to prove) possibility is that the car might have been taken for a "spirited" test drive by the apprentice doing the lunchtime pie run which stressed the engine much more than normal. That's probably less likely on a normal car like this though than a performance model....
If it was only half a mile drive back home, and the timing chain failed the next time she tried to start it, that would make the "didn't put any oil in" possibility more likely than if she's done 100 miles on the motorway in between.
Another obvious one, if not checked already would be to check there isn't a large pool of oil under where the car was parked, and the inside of the engine compartment isn't covered in oil. Not fully tightening up the oil filter or sump plug would be a fairly easy mistake and could make it lose all its oil pretty quickly but manage a few miles home first. Similarly for the filler cap.
It could be just a coincidence though, if this engine is prone to have a timing chain problems. A small (but most likely impossible to prove) possibility is that the car might have been taken for a "spirited" test drive by the apprentice doing the lunchtime pie run which stressed the engine much more than normal. That's probably less likely on a normal car like this though than a performance model....
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