sepulchrave

Just about the only thing this engine has in common is that it has six cylinders, they couldn't be much more different! This is the correct answer. I can't believe the search function has failed to confirm this for you! Head gasket failures on VR6's are extremely uncommon, it takes really systematic abuse and persistent stupidity to blow one.

This is actually very important if the cam and followers are renewed since the head comes back 'dry' from the engineers, most knowledgeable mechanics liberally squirt EP90 gearbox oil all over the cam and followers to provide protection during the initial engine startup especially since the followers will be empty, in PD engines these loadings are particularly high and damage can result very quickly. It is likely that the unit injector stretch bolts have not been renewed and will have come undone. PD engines which snap cambelts generally smash followers and damage the cam as a result, which is why we supply completely reconditioned heads with all new components.

It's not getting the wood that's difficult, it's keeping it. :wacko:

I agree with you. I just worry that this garage is SO bad that they've done worse damage, like continually cranking the engine with no gearbox oil in the cambox to keep the top end alive before engine oil finally arrives, thereby chewing up the cam and followers badly.

Hold on a damn minute, those three bolts do not hold the pulley to the cam just as I previously stated! They hold the pulley to a carrier, it's a vernier pulley with slotted holes for fine adjustment. The large central bolt holds the carrier to the large taper on the cam just as I previously stated. Unlike you I've actually seen lots of them in bits, and I actually know what I'm looking at. This isn't a UFO report, I'm not going to draw you a bloody picture while you snicker behind your hand, I'm not making this up. Be fair, I admitted that I don't do the mechanics, I can even admit that I don't do the machining since I have a team of technicians who do that, but I do at least know what I'm talking about.

The ECU is not faulty, it's either go or no go. This is a sure sign that they have no idea what's going on. Sounds like they've blown a bunch of fuses or burnt out some wiring while clumsily crashing through the undergrowth of your cars electrical subsystems. I warned you that they were dangerously out of their depth, now it's getting worse. If you let them near it again, they might actually fry the ECU or better yet set light to the car! You're in a land of pure horror, if you've already paid them then you're in big trouble, take the car to a main dealer for diagnosis and get a courtesy car while Trading Standards prosecute them.

You should always treat the missus to a bit of wood, she shouldn't really have to ask! :wacko: Does that German outfit come with a big stick-on moustache?

Errrr, you don't need to remove the cat if you've eliminated the back box and the middle box from your enquiries because it'll be the only thing left! Sounds obvious when you lay it out logically!

Yes, the Cat or one of the silencer boxes may have collapsed. You can check which by removing bits and driving up the road, start with the back box obviously!

Joking apart, you don't mention mileage/condition of the vehicle. Poor cold starting can be symptomatic of a loss of cylinder compression, particularly on diesels, it only needs for one or two cylinders to be down to really cause problems. I often see this with engines which have been seriously cooked up at some point in their life, generally the middle two cylinders are worst affected due to them running hotter. It can also be down to the valves seating incorrectly although this is far less likely. ECU FFS, Morons!

Let me translate for you: "We have no idea whats wrong with it, it's made our heads hurt, if you want us to think about it any more it'll cost you at least a grand, if not please take it away and don't come back." Does that help?

This.

Jesus, you guys! I didn't mean 'perish' as in rubber particularly, just as in short lifespan, like tyres, brakepads, exhausts, clutch plates etc. If I had said 'consumable' would you be shouting at me because I suggested you should eat it? Get with the program, there are NO Ford main agents here, just people trying to give good advice. You don't have a leg to stand on with such items, good luck trying to persuade your dealer to do it out of goodwill with that attitude. If you buy a

Of course it's not covered under warranty, it is a perishable service item. It really won't cost much to repair, relax.

Dodgy TPS or Cam sensor would definitely show up in fault memory. Fuel pump relay may be marginal, ignition amplifier (is it separate?), are you definitely getting full throttle?

This is starting to sound more like a gearbox ECU or fuel supply issue, does the car kickdown ok and what happens when it gets to 3000 rpm? If it just runs out of puff then I suspect a fuel delivery issue, if the gearbox just keeps changing gear at 3000 then runs out of gears or won't rev when you kickdown then it may be a gearbox problem.

Indepedant analysis of the problems by experienced and appropriately trained personnel. Either a good independant specialist or a main dealer. You might get him to agree to an independant more easily since he can try and get at them behind your back, better yet use the AA or RAC. Either way you'll be paying the bill for the inspection and diagnosis.

Three bolts? All the heads I've seen just have a dirty great taper on the end of the cam with a single large central bolt hole, the only way I can see that you could get the pulley on right without a keyway is to have the cam locked in place with a 'special' tool of some sort, this is common on twin cam engines like the Zetec which have no keyways for the pulleys. To be fair, I've never had to put a head back onto an engine, but I get to see most or all of the top ends when cretinous mechanics bring in a cardboard box containing EVERYTHING they've ripped off the engine whether we need it or not, including all the old gaskets and nuts and bolts. A favourite jape to watch is a sixteen valve head wrapped in a carrier bag which they proudly slam onto the counter, promptly bending a couple more pairs of inlet and exhaust valves! Make no mistakes guys, the vast majority of mechanics are utter idiots. Remember that if you're lucky enough to find a good one then keep him for life, not just Christmas, pay what he asks and treat him fairly, never question his judgement and above all trust him. They're that rare.

Does this literally just mean taking both cables of the terminals and touching them together then refitting? Yes, hold them together for a few seconds.

Dude, I'm sorry, I was typing that out while you were posting so did not see what you had written. What I wrote therefore was in no way connected to what you were simultaneously posting. You are and always have been a selfless, accurate and altruistic contributor to these hallowed fora, and you have my unreserved respect. You are of course correct, unlike most petrol injected cars which use a crank sensor for the ECU to determine engine position this particular one uses a cam sensor driven at half engine speed. Unfortunately I believe that the tapered drive onto which the pulley bolts also has a keyway making it difficult to get the pulley on wrong, which only really leaves the belt timing. I still maintain they've damaged this engine by not understanding how it works at first principles.

Oh dear, this garage really is useless. This is NOT an old tech diesel with a timed mechanical pump and pintle valve injectors. This IS a new generation common rail, pompe duse diesel turbo with electronically controlled unit injectors. This mean that injection timing is controlled completely by the ECU just like fuel injected petrol cars. The fuel pump is simply a low pressure pump driven directly from the end of the cam and it CANNOT be installed wrong since it has an offset keyway which fits in the end of the cam. There are four individual unit injectors inside the camcover which are driven by additional camlobes much like hypodermic syringes which each have electronic solenoid valves to trigger timed fuel release. So, to summarise. This engine contains revolutionary technology which has won many awards because it is NOTHING like diesels used to be. By all means print this sh*t off and give it to trading standards, check my facts and figures, I'm in the trade I supply the trade every day. Many garages are downright dangerous because they don't have a clue, however many of these traders know their limitations and simply turn work away which is outside their sphere of competence. Many of the guys I sell to wouldn't touch a job like this with a bargepole, however you seem to have found one who's totally out of his depth and has gone in feet-first. I strongly suspect they have wrecked your engine, at best one or more unit injectors are damaged (dealer only, very expensive), more likely is that they have wrecked the camshaft too and you need a whole new head and possibly one or more injectors. They'll never fix it, they're in full failure cascade mode now. The job should've cost you no more than

It's the big nimber on the big sticker on the front panel of the big car outside your house! :23:

The Lambda probe is under the car, below the gearchange mechanism approximately and is easy to get at when the car is raised at the front.

It is normal, as you later state the weight must be on the wheels to test this mount correctly. The mount probably hasn't failed but the bearing underneath it may well have seized, you might as well replace the lot though since the parts are so cheap and the mount has to come off to get at the bearing. The juddering may the whole mount slipping/gripping because the bearing has seized.

A faulty Lambda probe 'lies' to the Motronic ECU about the combustion efficiency of the engine. Motronic is totally reliant on closed loop Lambda feedback for all it's fuelling information, it uses this information to write a dynamic correction table which contains all the information about how your engines fuelling needs differ from the base or default map. If this correction table is corrupted by incorrect data due to a faulty Lambda reading then the dynamic map actually becomes worse than the base map. To check this, don't bother with VAG-COM (but you might as well get the cheap lead off ebay for