Dealership cause damaged to my motor

I have taken my 05 jetta tdi to a dealership. They installed a new fuel, and did not set the timing. As thy tried to start the motor they broke 4 rocket arms. Now they just want to place the head and valve train. They said they did a visal insteped of the piston and say there is no damage to the lower end (short block). I believe when the piston hits the valves there is damage to the lower end. The delaship is paying for the head and valve because they did damage. I have issue for the long term. Any thoughts????

What did the dealership install?

I would edit your post for grammatical errors


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It's hard to understand what you wrote. "A new fuel"? Fuel is a liquid that you put in the fuel tank. Do you mean a fuel FILTER? Or a fuel PUMP? Or a fuel INJECTOR? Or something else?

On your "pumpe-duse" engine, there is no need to "set the timing" if you service any of the above items. Maybe it's something else ... Timing belt, perhaps? Except that even if the timing is wrong, it won't break "rocker arms" - because those are used for operating the injectors, and those don't care if they are mis-timed. The consequence of those being mis-timed is that the engine doesn't start. Except that the only way those can be mis-timed is if the camshaft timing is wrong. But then what breaks isn't the "rocker arms". It can be the "lifters", or the valves themselves.

Now ... On to what I think you really meant.

"They installed a new timing belt, and did not set the timing. As they tried to start the motor, they broke 4 lifters." ... "They said they did a visual inspection of the piston and there is no damage to the lower end (short block)."

Is that what you really meant? If it is NOT what you really meant, then please explain, and disregard what I am about to say. Otherwise, if it is what you really meant ...

Piston and valve collisions should not result in damage to the bottom end of the engine unless the collision is such that the valve itself breaks and smashes around inside the cylinder. I suspect that if their "visual inspection" said there is no damage, this isn't what happened, and thus, there really is no damage to the bottom end.

What can happen is that even if the valve did not break at that time, the valve stem is weakened, and if not replaced, it may fail shortly afterward. Thus, their offer to replace the cylinder head and valve train is thus completely reasonable. Accept their offer, get a warranty on the repair, then keep on driving and stop worrying. The bottom end of the engine is fine.

...the bottom end and pistons are usually fine even after a valve contact.

I would have them replace the engine, on their dime or pay you out a massive settlement 2x the value of the car or full refund plus the cost of a local guru to fix it plus your time.
I'm not surprised in the least. So I'm assuming you ment that they replaced the fuel pump (ip) and messed up the head, valves and cam?

Mongler98 said:

I would have them replace the engine, on their dime or pay you out a massive settlement 2x the value of the car or full refund plus the cost of a local guru to fix it plus your time.
I'm not surprised in the least. So I'm assuming you ment that they replaced the fuel pump (ip) and messed up the head, valves and cam?

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That's certainly unrealistic in my view.

He needs to be made whole again and your request is looking for punitive damages that no one is going to just give up without a fight.

Reasonable expectations will most likely result in a reasonable outcome. (They've already offered to replace the cylinder head and valve mechanism ... reasonable.)

Unreasonable expectations will almost certainly result in push-back and a fight. Expecting an entire replacement engine? On something that has been out of production for 14 years ... Not happening. Any replacement engine you hypothetically get is going to be coming from a wrecking yard - and be almost a complete unknown in terms of its history and maintenance records. They don't make those engines new any more.

Why struggle, when a reasonable offer was already made? Take them up on it, let them do it, and quit worrying.

I could understand putting up a fight if the dealer had failed to accept responsibility, but not in this situation.

You may request the results of piston to deck measurements to confirm there is no rod damage

I am guessing what happened is they installed new fuel INJECTORS and didn't set the lash properly and the injector rockers bottomed out and broke. In that case there will be no piston to valve contact at all unless the timing belt broke. The head and injectors are probably trashed though.

There is likely no damage to the bottom end or pistons.

I had a timing belt fail at highway speed, valves hit the pistons, and lifters were ruined. The bottom end was fine.

I must admit, it’s difficult to decipher exactly what happened to your engine based on your description.

Shark181 said:

... Any thoughts????

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I am thankful I don't have to go to the dealer for service work. My apologies that I do not have a constructive comment for you.

Cheers,

PH