Need some help to diagnose my car problem.

[alpolo9n]

Hi all,

My sincere apology for this long post.

Its been a while I haven't posted. But today I thought to check online and see if anyone here can help. I had recently (as in 3 weeks ago) had to replace my valves, head gasket, timing belts and etc. Reason being I was driving one day and suddenly some sound coming from the car engine and the car lost power and died. I was coasting to a stop and immediately I knew something is up with the timing belt. It must have snapped. So I knew its going to cost me a lot to fix this.

But what I didn't realise after the mechanic opened the timing belt compartment is that the belts were still there except lots of the belt strings wound around the timing cogs and when it was put under tension, the belt basically rides over the cog tooth and slides. basically the same thing. I can't believe timing belt can do this. Or is it VW's quality need to be checked.

Anyway I digress. My problem actually started after the fix. I have 2 problems. One is the car doesn't idle properly. When warming from start, its ok, revs up to around 1k RPM. But after its warmed up, the engine would idle rough. Sometimes ok sometimes too low. At times, the engine would just die when reversing or moving from a standstill. Anything to do with the ICV? The mechanic checked with his computer but no error codes.

Second, I have no idea why but after the fix, my brakes is not working properly. When driving slowly, the brake pedal rides kind of high. i.e. I can't press it down like normal. Felt like something is preventing the pedal from pushing down further. It function ok only when I am driving at cruising speed or higher. I believe the mechanic has flushed the fluid but not sure. I am not too concern except for the fact that it may happen when I am driving fast. What seems to be the problem? Mechanic checked and no error codes either. Anyone?

Thanks.

Alex