Hello!
I don't know much about cars so i thought i'd ask people who do.
I took my car to a mechanic when my timing belt/water pump went out. They weren't very good (they forgot to put coolant back in my car after they drained it) That was two months ago, and the other day my engine was shifting weird so i pulled of the highway and it died.
I took it to different mechanic under the same company who told me my tensioner for my timing belt and the pulley it runs on was bent out of shape which caused my timing belt to run loose, damaging it.

They say the timing belt is under warranty but nothing else, because they didn't touch any of those parts. Does this seem right?

Now i don't know a lot about cars but it seems fishy to me.

Thanks!
Shannon

I can see it both ways. If the first guy damaged it while installing the belt than it should be taken care of. Good luck proving that happened!

On the other hand if all they did was the belt/water pump than why should they be liable for the other parts they didn't replace? It would be like having your brakes replaced and your wheel bearing failing a couple weeks later. Yes your rotor is attached to the hub that's attached to the bearing but is the shop responsible for the bearing going bad?

I understand that they aren't liable if another part of the car goes bad, but it's not like the tensioner just broke or was worn out, the pulley system it's on was completely bent out of place.

I just want to understand how this happens. Thank you for your response.

Its sounds fishy but you never know? Still it would be really hard to prove a fault by the other shop.

The timing belt, water pump and tensioner should all be replaced at the same time. They all last about the same amount of time.

I cant imagine a tensioner pulley or its bolt getting bent in any way other than by someone bending it while trying to get the belt on and the tension set. Still, the fix would either be a new belt and a new tensioner, or maybe a new timing belt and a new water pump with the tensioner - depending whether the part of the water pump that holds the tensioner got bent.

Well .... without seeing the part in question, it's hard to say. An over tightened timing belt, if not on an automatic tensioner system, can cause this damage as well as the other ways already mentioned above as well as a failure of the part resulting in the damage described. The tensioner should have been replaced to begin with, BUT BUT BUT not all garages perform the same procedure when repairing a car. Some take the "If it's not broke, don't fix it." approach while others, although more expensive, will do the repair AND replace the other parts which should be replaced, such as the tensioner in this case, when the belt and water pump were done. At least they are covering the cost of the belt, but again, if the tensioner were replaced as some of us here would have done, you wouldn't be having this problem .... or would you?? I've seen brand new parts purchased from the Dealer go bad just because of a manufacturing flaw .... it happens. It sucks when it does happen, but it does and can happen. As a former mechanic, I would think your case is fishy since you stated the garage didn't take the time to refill the coolant system when the water pump was just replaced NOT GOOD!! ...... this may be a case of choose another mechanic/repair facility as that shows complete lack of attention to detail and to me, is completely unacceptable.