So I took my car into the garage for a timing belt, they where still working on it when I came to pick it up, on first start after the belt change the car was slow to start and would not idle, i.e they had the timing out, as it was the end of day they kept it in and "fixed" the timing and I picked up the next day. Now it has a lumpy idle..... I am guessing as the car ran OK they could not have had the timing out by more than a tooth or so, the question is that enough on these engines to bend a valve?

The lumpy idle feels like I would expect a misfire, as it is not all the time, I have checked the HT leads are clean and making a good connection, is there anything else it could be other than a bent valve I can check before I take it back in on Tuesday morning?

Sods law I picked it up on the Friday of a bank holiday.....

Just a guess, but I think if the timing was out you'd have more than one bent valve.  I think you'd have four, since all inlet/exhaust valves would be affected after two revolutions.  I also don't think the engine would run if they were far enough out to be bent, since there wouldn't be enough compression.  You could get an endoscope (I got a cheap but good enough one off eBay) and see if there are any marks on the piston crowns.  You will find a lot of carbon in there, and a valve would leave a mark in it.

TBH, any place that would not put a belt back in the correct position is not a place I'd be taking a car back to.  The Duratec has unkeyed camshafts, and they probably don't have the right factory tools to hold everything in place.

Hi @hendybear, I just did a head rebuild on my 2006 Fiesta 1.6 and had lumpy idle until I stuck some Redex in yesterday. It's almost completely cured it.

Earlier in the rebuild I replaced the plugs and it wouldn't start, so put the old ones back in overtightening one which broke the insulation, that caused a subtle misfire so replaced the plugs.

As @leederbyshire mentioned timing on these engines is done with a floating sprocket design, so if not done properly and tightened really well, it could be less than a tooth out and possibly cause poor running without immediate damage. It's more likely to cause damage if not tight enough so either you're really lucky of they've tightened them well. I'd take it back and get it timed again because it's not as it was before. Did they use new cam and crank bolts? I didn't BTW.

The intake needs to come off to properly lock the flywheel so the crank pulley bolt can be loosened to remove the lower belt cover and replace the belt and retighten the bolt. Is there any unmetered air getting in from poor inlet seals? The hose at the back of inlet whch I think is the hose for the PCV, might be damaged causing rough idling. Was the throttle body seal replaced? Did they reattach the pipe to the throttle body properly? I know, a lot to look for but, I'd go back to the garage again and ask them to look at it again.