I have just at the beginning of last october got the timing belt changed by the local garage and have noticed some slight noise and loss of performance from the engine. I took the car to another garage and explained everything to them, took the mechanic for a little spin around the corner and was told that everything was fine inc the turbo.

I thought well he is a mechanic so he should know best, decided to drive home and 200 meters away from the garage the car decided to die on me. Pushed it back to the garage and the mechanic found that there was a load of black sort of dust rubber bits in the timing belt area. He told me that the belt was touching the plastic part and was therefore getting damaged.

Has the previous mechanic done something wrong in installing the belt or have I messed something up here

 

Sounds like you should go back to the cowboys who fitted the belt, timing belts dont get damaged if theyr fitted properly!

 

could be the tensioner giving up, fitting a new belt with a dodgy tensioner or even a dodgy pully will mess things up, fitting a belt is easy but making sure all the other bits are good too is more of a job. timing belt is one main part of the car that you cant risk! pay a bit more nad have it done properly!

hope all is ok tho and no damage has been done.