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bent valve?!? 2004 jetta


element771
03-26-2015, 07:49 PM
I was wondering if I could get some advice or suggestions. I would greatly appreciate it.

I have a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta. My wife was driving it in the parking lot when she heard a pop and immediately pulled into a space. Engine coolant (antifreeze) was pouring out from under the hood. I tried adding more but it just flowed right through.
Brought it to a shop and they found that my water pump had seized resulting in a “shredded” time belt with only about 10 teeth left. They replaced the belt, the water pump, and water housing for about 800 bucks. They test drove it and it appeared to be fine. The mechanic said that I got really lucky.
I brought it home and it ran really well, actually better than when I brought it in. A couple of days went by and the check engine light went on. I pulled the code (p0303) which means a detected misfire in cylinder 3. I reset the code as I thought that it may have just been a remnant of the initial event. Five days go by and the light comes back on. I always comes on when I first start the car before I even put it in drive. I have listened to the engine and it doesn’t sound like that there is anything wrong.

I was curious to see if this could be the result of a bent valve from a week ago or more likely an unrelated issue.

Thanks for any information or advice that you could provide!!

Crvett69
03-27-2015, 01:24 AM
if the belt had gone enough to bend a valve it wouldn't have kept running before. might have a bad plug or wire on that cylinder. usually a bent valve will make engine run rough since its not firing on one cyl. its possible when they were working on it they took the plugs out or left a wire off or loose, might take it back and have them check their work. or your car might just need a tuneup with new plugs

65comet
03-30-2015, 09:53 AM
That is an interference engine. If something goes bad with the timing belt, the valves will hit the cylinder piston. If she shut it down quick enough, and all movement after that was by towing, a valve could have received a small enough bend that it didn't post a code for a couple of days after the bend. The hit could have damaged the head with stress damage that became worse after running again. Or it could just be a problem with the sparkplug, wire or COP. I'd check the electrical side and do a compression test.

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