Page 1 of 1

New cam, lifters cleaned, now dead

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 8:14 pm
by Weatherby70
When I bought her she had a noisy cam. The wife had wanted one for ages and I was told by a "mechanic" that a new cam kit would resolve. The kit cost an unbelievable £300! Plus labour. I was sent a whatsapp video of the chain "slapping" the cam cover. The "mechanic" changed the whole cam kit and changed the oil, he phoned me to say she ran beautifully for approximately 10 minutes (idle) and then she knocked again. He now says it won't start and that the engine is goosed. I am so mad, I have put so much £££ into this for my wife (and to make it worse, today is our 17 year anniversary!) Does anyone have any previous experience or advice? Anything would be greatly appreciated. I haven't got the heart to tell the wife she's dead, she was so excited!!! Please help! :rhino:
He also said that when he was waiting for the parts he cleaned the lifters as they were clogged up with oil.

BTW she's a 55 plate Suzuki Grand Vitara Estate 4x4 2l Petrol.

Re: New cam, lifters cleaned, now dead

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 1:48 pm
by Anton
Welcome to the forum. You've got a J20a engine there, I don't know much about them but a couple of guys on here have them, some have even done rebuilds (ginger_boy did a rebuild after a snapped timing chain a couple of years ago). Did this mechanic not say what he thought was wrong with it now?

"it's goosed" isn't all that specific...

Re: New cam, lifters cleaned, now dead

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:18 pm
by ScottieJ
Personally if i took a car to a garage to be repaired and it came out worse than when it went in after they have done work on it then I would be demanding that they fix it and put it right out of their pockets!

I presume that you mean the cam chain was changed? Sounds to me like it was fitted wrong or he set the timing wrong.

Re: New cam, lifters cleaned, now dead

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:04 pm
by RickUK
I would be straight back to the mechanic asking for it too be put right but not at your expense for sure,hope you get the problem resolved quickly and without any further problems.

Re: New cam, lifters cleaned, now dead

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:49 pm
by Rhinoman
Maybe the bad cam was caused by a lack of oil pressure.