timing?

[Kickadog]

Hey, Im looking at getting a 2000 vr6 golf. He said its running rough and the timing is off. and local vw shop told him he needed to replace the timing chain.

here is the car. any ideas if that sounds reasonable or not? im terrible with timing.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/3335410122.html

[ahmetthej3rk]

thats a whooooole lotta work for a car that needs a wholelotta work! i would pass! im sure u can find something same price that doesnt need "much" work

[Kickadog]

hmm ya i know itll be a little work. he wants to trade for my car just worried about trading for something when that might not even be the issue.

[GTomI]

He wants to trade for your car? So no cash? What kind of car do you have? I'd seriously consider having a mechanic overlook the car first since you don't seem to know too much, and I don't mean that to sound negative. Sounds like this car might have a whole lot more problems then this guy is alluding to.

[Kickadog]

my car is a 99 civic coupe clean but idles wierd and grinds into 3rd. and possibly a headgasket problem developing casuing the idle but im not sure. he will put cash on top. and i dont mind changing the timing chain im just worried if i change it and end up not fixing it. making sure that what he sais its doing is a timing chain problem and that a new one will fix it.

[Kickadog]

im going to look at it tomorrow, can anyone gimme some signs to look for? or ideas of how itll run/sound if its the timing chain?

[Sbrady]

if the timing chain skipped more then one tooth don't bother it bent the valves and you'll need a brand new head. if it isn't misfiring or sputtering then it just skipped one tooth and the ecu is compensating for it and your valves should be OK. But don't get into thinking that its an easy 30min fix, if you don't work on cars then don't buy this car.

[Kickadog]

I do work on cars have been for a long time, done timing belts on jettas and some nissans. changing the chain isnt a big deal. Im not good at diagnosing problems.

[Kickadog]

he said it runs rough, wouldnt that be considerd a missfire? or would the ecu make it idle rough as a compensation? any way to tell for sure?

[Sbrady]

Since you don't have any reference to vr's, then really just if it misfires or is really poor acceleration then it skipped more then one tooth. it will also throw a code out if you scan it that shows if the cams slipped. The more teeth it slipped the worse it will be but you should be able to tell if it skipped cause it will run like ****

[Kickadog]

he just sent me this email after i asked him about the rough idle "It seems like its misfiring, this guy told me to check some sensors , but I don't wanna work on this car anymore, it's not my thing
"

[Sbrady]

Alright good choice.