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

**Patty**

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 think you'll find, should you ask on some of these car forums you obviously frequent, that is is actually, either XXX thousand miles OR every 4 years. Whichever occurs the sooner.

And i certainly wouldn't trust a Ford past 60, 000........

goldspanners

**Patty** wrote: »

And i certainly wouldn't trust a Ford past 60, 000........

i wouldnt reserve this for just fords, i would change anything with a belt before 60k or 4 years.

Brooker_Dave

happylife wrote: »

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..

Chains snap too.

Brooker_Dave

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.

A used complete head would be around the £100 mark and allow another £200 to get it fitted along with a new belt.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Chains snap too.

Rarely, usually forewarned by excessive rattle upon startup, and they are much more reliable than belts.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

StephenW wrote: »

I'm looking for some advice. I own an X Reg (2001) Ford Mondeo and took my car to an independent garage last Thursday week for its 70,000 mile service. Its not a ford main dealer but I have used this garage over the past few years for services and MOT's. The garage (until now!) seemed quite reliable, and at the same time as the service I asked the garage to check to see how the car was running and to see if any parts were shortly in need of attention/ replacement. However, this morning on the way to my train station the car completely packed up (I was lucky to be able to push the car to the side of the road without injury to me, my wife and two toddlers in the back). I'm a member of the RAC and their mechanics quickly came to check the car and advise me that the cambelt had snapped and that the car is now basically a not economical to repair!! The RAC mechanic said that the cambelt should have been checked by the garage when I had the car serviced last week. I'm thinking that maybe something happened to the car when it was being serviced (had no problems with the car before the service) but my wife heard some engine noises shortly after picking the car up. Not being a mechanic, I could never prove this. Do I have any right to go back to the garage or pursue any sort of claim against them for not picking up (or even causing) this problem during the car service or have I no leg to stand on?

Stephen,

People need the model, engine size & fuel type before they could possibly answer this one. Also the previous service mileage & dates wouldnt go amiss.

jeannieblue

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Stephen,

People need the model, engine size & fuel type before they could possibly answer this one. Also the previous service mileage & dates wouldnt go amiss.

I think we can guess, in the ball park area of life, that this is going to cost more than the car is worth - even if the OP sources a secondhand engine. So all that info at this stage is not necessary.

jeannieblue

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

A used complete head would be around the £100 mark and allow another £200 to get it fitted along with a new belt.

And the planet ZaZa, no doubt, has many other spectacular deals.

Hintza

Apparently in the Fiat 1.2 Fire engine the pistons don't hit the valves so you could in theory run one of those until the belt goes!

jeannieblue

Hintza wrote: »

Apparently in the Fiat 1.2 Fire engine the pistons don't hit the valves so you could in theory run one of those until the belt goes!

There are some 'safe' engines about - but can't remember any of them off hand...

Personally wouldn't want a Fiat anyway..