Ford Mondeo Cambet Snapped 3 days after a 70,000 mile Service

StephenW_2

Thanks for all the advice guys. As suspected, I have no leg to stand on (but many thanks for your comments!!)...A real pain, having just paid/ wasted £120 quid for a service and the car suffers catastrophic failure 3 days later!!! The garage have told me that the plastic casing holding the cambelt had become damaged somehow and caused the cambelt to snap, resulting in the valves damaging the engine. Quoted £500-£1000 to fix and given the car only has a trade in value of about £500 its clearly not economical. For information it was an X Reg Mondeo petrol engine and an official ford dealer told me that according to their manuals the cambelt should be replaced at 100,000 miles(?) - that seems v.high to me. Rotten luck but the car needed replacing at some point anyway...so have got a good deal on a new Ford Focus, which is some comfort.

goldspanners

StephenW wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice guys. As suspected, I have no leg to stand on (but many thanks for your comments!!)...A real pain, having just paid/ wasted £120 quid for a service and the car suffers catastrophic failure 3 days later!!! The garage have told me that the plastic casing holding the cambelt had become damaged somehow and caused the cambelt to snap, resulting in the valves damaging the engine. Quoted £500-£1000 to fix and given the car only has a trade in value of about £500 its clearly not economical. For information it was an X Reg Mondeo petrol engine and an official ford dealer told me that according to their manuals the cambelt should be replaced at 100,000 miles(?) - that seems v.high to me. Rotten luck but the car needed replacing at some point anyway...so have got a good deal on a new Ford Focus, which is some comfort.

my focus is the same, 100,000 miles or 5 years, which ever comes sooner, i done it at 4 years old with 50k on it. waiting till 100,000 is asking for trouble regardless of what ford says.

Hintza

The joys of the dreaded cambelt!:mad:

An accountant driven money saving component IMHO....:mad:

Ours went on the Golf at 33,000 miles when they advised changing at 60,000 miles fortunately it was still in warranty.

tomstickland

Cheapest solution would be to find one with a good engine but rusty or crashed bodywork and swap the engines over.

Pssst

I would never risk running a belt to anywhere near 100k even if it spec'd it in the book.

as for hintza and the Golf,you have been very unlucky. Golf belts dont often break. I changed my first one at 45k and ive just slipped another one on at 92k. The one i took off didnt really show and great signs of wear and the tensioner spun quite smoothly. Mind you,i'm not a flogger. I.m a plodder so my engine never sees any strain. motorways, i plod 60-70mph revs about 2800 barely off tickover!

Dave101t

it doesnt matter what the manual says, change a cambelt at least every 40,000 miles, regardless of wear.
as you have found out, its gets expensive if it snaps...

happylife

or next time you could look for a car that does not have a CamBelt...

The latest Fords with duratec Engines use a Cam Chain which does not require replacing,,,

I ran a Mondeo with Cambelt for 102,000 miles no problem, just couldn't justify the big price to replace..

If your not doing motorway then it's a risk I would take..

happylife

Dave101t wrote: »

it doesnt matter what the manual says, change a cambelt at least every 40,000 miles, regardless of wear.
as you have found out, its gets expensive if it snaps...

your'e having a laugh... Or obviously got lots of Money to waste...

until 80,000 miles I wouldn't even think about it.. If it goes before this you are unlucky or the car make/Part is rubbish..

These belts are tested and average what the manufacturer states,,

I would check Forums of the car make and see what other people are complaining about when the belt went then change at that time.

It looks like the Unreliable Golf has a problem for some at 45,000 so then change at this.

Fords are usually around 80,000..

What about all the other parts that potentially could fail early causing engine failure should he replace them as well ?

goldspanners

happylife wrote: »

your'e having a laugh... Or obviously got lots of Money to waste...

until 80,000 miles I wouldn't even think about it.. If it goes before this you are unlucky or the car make/Part is rubbish..

These belts are tested and average what the manufacturer states,,

I would check Forums of the car make and see what other people are complaining about when the belt went then change at that time.

It looks like the Unreliable Golf has a problem for some at 45,000 so then change at this.

Fords are usually around 80,000..

What about all the other parts that potentially could fail early causing engine failure should he replace them as well ?

i also changed my belt at 50k, when its suggested its done at 100k. not got lots of money to waste,so thats why i got the belt done early,i dont want to be geting the engine replaced,the belts the cheaper option.
it would be daft to replace every single part that might cause total engine destruction,but the ones that have a know service life then yes change them.
the belt only cost £130 to change. hardly massive amounts considering what the car is worth.
better safe than sorry.

jeannieblue

Your advice Happylife - could give others a Sorrylife...

Oh - timing chains go too, by the way, and more expensive to change! Micra owners beware... their chains have a tendency to go quite early.