What do you do with a broken car?!

Davesnave

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

I have a VW diesel as well and when I bought the car they recommended the cambelt was replaced every 5 years or 60K miles. This was subsequently reduced to 40K, which is nothing between big bills of £300+ to do the work. I still stick to the 60K to be honest!

Lots of manufacturers have reduced the intervals. Our Transit's recommended changes have suffered like this, I think.

Like you, I don't care, as the Transit is now overdue for replacement itself!

Doozergirl

So much debate about the cam belt, lol! The car had a full service history when his brother in law bought the car which he subsequently and almost immediately lost so no idea what was in that. He only had it for a few weeks when H bought it from him. H has had it serviced regularly, not by Vauxhall, but frankly has no idea about cars so unless someone suggested the idea of a cam belt, I can't imagine him asking for it.

He had a Peugeot 206 before that for an absolute age and the thing never gave up, never broke down and he only got rid of it for this one which was a bit of an accidental purchase. Ownership of a newer car over 18 months would have been cheaper than this, especially adding in the new depreciation cost of buying another new one now. Don't think we'll be owning another Vauxhall despite any warnings of cambelt changes; if he got the car not that long out of warranty with high mileage, and one previous corporate owner (leased presumably), it should have been serviced by Vauxhall.

We'll just put it down to experience. My own belief is held in buying cars within warranty

Car was taken to the garage by the RAC, I don't think it's accruing costs though he obv needs to move it.

hundredk

Doozergirl wrote: »

So much debate about the cam belt, lol!

Well you disd ask:D

custardy

Davesnave wrote: »

But no one said it hadn't been changed. Mine had, and it still failed.
No such problems with my chain-drive engine now though!

careful now.vauxhall had a big issue with a faulty oil jet on the 2.2 vectra engines(chain driven)
many dead engines from a snapped chain
VX replaced the jets under recall but the only people to make headway
with dead engines were those with full VX service history

jeannieblue

custardy wrote: »

careful now.vauxhall had a big issue with a faulty oil jet on the 2.2 vectra engines(chain driven)
many dead engines from a snapped chain
VX replaced the jets under recall but the only people to make headway
with dead engines were those with full VX service history

Is it the Nissan Micra's that have problems with the chains?

One shouldn't be 'cocky' if you have a chain driven car - they can go as well - but you do get a bit of warning, as in noise, so the damage is less likely to happen. Still costs a fair bit to replace tho....

custardy

micra chains do get noisy
the vectra ones snapped from oil starvation
a lot of people lost out big time with that aand a poor show from VX

goldspanners

the problem is too many folk dont bother to think about timing belts,and too may people think chains are bomb proof,well the chains are ok but its the tensioners that fail,or oil gallerys block up.

op, why not try sourcing anothe engine perhaps like this one? and get it fitted?

Doozergirl

Nice idea but that's not happening in this household! How would we know that a new old engine it wasn't going to do something stupid as well? H was telling me earlier that it was serviced in November, and in the garage for fixes in February, April and last week. It's had two new starter motors this year - I can't believe that the car broke after being in the garage last week!

We're looking now for a pick-up for him, still in warranty so that the dealer gets to deal with any problems for a while and we get a vehicle that we will know where it's been for most of it's life as H will keep it for a long time. H treats the inside not very carefully because of his job but to be fair to him, he doesn't thrash the engines and his miles are all easy driving - we live right by the motorway and that is how we get to most places. Not impressed at all with the garage he's been using that they didn't even suggest a cambelt change :wall:

Davesnave

Doozergirl wrote: »

Not impressed at all with the garage he's been using that they didn't even suggest a cambelt change :wall:

No excuses now for garages. Even the 'little man'* that I use has all my car's details on his hard drive, so he knows what's needed and when. If I forget, an email reminds me. Everything's there, even the MoT advisory points, so I can't pretend those tyres will do another 6 months!

* actually, he's quite a big man!

Money_Grabber13579

Doozergirl wrote: »

Nice idea but that's not happening in this household! How would we know that a new old engine it wasn't going to do something stupid as well? H was telling me earlier that it was serviced in November, and in the garage for fixes in February, April and last week. It's had two new starter motors this year - I can't believe that the car broke after being in the garage last week!

We're looking now for a pick-up for him, still in warranty so that the dealer gets to deal with any problems for a while and we get a vehicle that we will know where it's been for most of it's life as H will keep it for a long time. H treats the inside not very carefully because of his job but to be fair to him, he doesn't thrash the engines and his miles are all easy driving - we live right by the motorway and that is how we get to most places. Not impressed at all with the garage he's been using that they didn't even suggest a cambelt change :wall:

Was it a Vauxhall garage?