It's been a rough year so far. Broke my leg at the beginning of spring, and then my timing belt broke a few weeks ago on my '02 Jetta TDI with 222k miles on it. My wife was driving the car that day, as she had taken it in to get the tags renewed. I was remiss and should have had the timing belt replaced sooner, but here I am now.
My mechanic says the only way he can know for sure if the engine is destroyed would be to install a new timing belt and attempt to start the vehicle. He says this would be 3.5 hours of labor in itself, and then if the engine worked, he would need to remove the belt and reinstall, including whatever additional stuff gets done (e.g. new water pump?) during a normal complete timing belt replacement. Note: he is not pushing this option by any means, but says this would be the way he would go if I want to proceed.
For about two months before the timing belt gave out, the car had become more difficult to start in the morning, and at times would emit a cloud of blue smoke upon starting. After that, it would run fine. No changes in mileage. I had been planning on taking it in to have my mechanic diagnose this concern, before the timing belt broke. As I recall, based on what I told him at that time, he thought there might have been some compression problems?
I'm a therapist, not a mechanic, so I am really at a loss here. My mechanic is trustworthy. I have picked up another commuter car, and at this point I am leaning toward just trying to extract maximum value from my TDI. Should I just sell it as is? Should I plunk down $300 or so for his initial plan? Or is there something else you think I should do?
Oh yeah, I live in Ashland, Oregon if this helps. Appreciate any and all kind-hearted and knowledgeable suggestions.
Many thanks,
Jason
My mechanic says the only way he can know for sure if the engine is destroyed would be to install a new timing belt and attempt to start the vehicle. He says this would be 3.5 hours of labor in itself, and then if the engine worked, he would need to remove the belt and reinstall, including whatever additional stuff gets done (e.g. new water pump?) during a normal complete timing belt replacement. Note: he is not pushing this option by any means, but says this would be the way he would go if I want to proceed.
For about two months before the timing belt gave out, the car had become more difficult to start in the morning, and at times would emit a cloud of blue smoke upon starting. After that, it would run fine. No changes in mileage. I had been planning on taking it in to have my mechanic diagnose this concern, before the timing belt broke. As I recall, based on what I told him at that time, he thought there might have been some compression problems?
I'm a therapist, not a mechanic, so I am really at a loss here. My mechanic is trustworthy. I have picked up another commuter car, and at this point I am leaning toward just trying to extract maximum value from my TDI. Should I just sell it as is? Should I plunk down $300 or so for his initial plan? Or is there something else you think I should do?
Oh yeah, I live in Ashland, Oregon if this helps. Appreciate any and all kind-hearted and knowledgeable suggestions.
Many thanks,
Jason
