Blown turbo pipe and grey liquid on engine cover

Tiny
EQ2112
  • MEMBER
  • 2005 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF
  • MANUAL
  • 100,000 MILES
To celebrate my car's one hundred thousand mile milestone I decided to have the timing belt changed at a local garage.

After about an hour of collecting the car I heard a pop and lost most of my power.

Another motorist stopped and confirmed that my turbo pipe had come off. I rang the garage and he almost too quickly agreed.

When I looked under the bonnet the engine cover and other plastic parts were covered in a spray of a grey/brown substance. This has stained the plastic and will not come off. When I rub the substance it becomes shiny almost like graphite from a pencil.

There was also water, oil and a greyish gunk around the filler cap on the engine.

I sent the attached photos to the garage and he says the stain is from a "cleaner" they use on the engine. It is obviously not a cleaner as its actually stained my engine cover.

I am taking the car back to him today and would really appreciate some help in diagnosing the problem so I can force him to accept blame and repair the damage.

The guy that helped me on the side of the road thought it could be a gasket issue as there seems to be water and gunk around the filler cap.

How could fixing a timing belt create these problems?

Thanks for your help
Sunday, September 25th, 2016 AT 12:49 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,643 POSTS
O wow, that is a mess, yep the graphite like oil is caused from metal rubbing against metal mixed with oil, so the turbo could be going out or the timing belt tensioner has allowed the belt to contact metal which has taking out the front oil seal, this is a weird problem I have never seen it before. Please get back to us on what you find I am super curious.

Please let us know what you find so it will help others.

Best, Ken
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Thursday, September 29th, 2016 AT 10:20 AM
Tiny
EQ2112
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Hi ken,

So I've got to the bottom of it. The turbo pipe blew off as they didn't use the correct clip.

The substance you can see on the engine cover is actually cleaning fluid. For cleaning hub caps. This very strong acid was sprayed on my engine cover accidentally and has reacted with certain plastics.

The gunk in the filler cap
Is a result of the mechanic panicing and trying to wash the acid off with water and the water mixing with oil.

It all makes sense now but has been a bit of a mystery!
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Thursday, September 29th, 2016 AT 3:16 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,643 POSTS
Glad we could get it fixed please use 2CarPros. Com anytime we are here to help.

Best, Ken
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Thursday, September 29th, 2016 AT 7:13 PM

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