Why won't my car start?

mazza111

sounds like dodgy starter motor to me.. Would have a go at hitting with a hammer before replacing it

angel00079

Finally towed it to the garage.

Timing belt gone. I am guessing that we will not be one of the lucky ones that gets away with no damage to the valves. Expensive lesson, make sure you change belt as recommended. Just spend £500 on it to pass MOT, grrr.

Thanks for the suggestions.

angel00079

Hodge4ever, so you finally got an account of your own, lol.

anewman

angel00079 wrote: »

Timing belt gone.

Must have been revving it a fair bit then :eek:

angel00079

Not really. I think my idea of revving is probably different to most peoples. I said revving to my brother and he thought that I had revved the nuts off it. I do not think that trying to go up a hill in snow did it any good but the belt probably would have gone soon.

The mechnical is taking looking at the valves but to be honest I have already started looking for another car.

I was suprised that my brother said that he would not change the belt on a car he had just brought if he did not know when it had been changed as he would take the risk on a car under a grand. My first thought was to change the belt on the other car. We also got talking about the cost of changing belts and damage done if they snapped. That got me thinking that when buying a car this is something I have never thought about.

I think this last experience makes me think that it would probably be a good idea to go on a course. I went on a course years ago but never really followed it up as I didn't have the tools or space to work on a car. I think I might look into it as I actually enjoyed the last one. I don't think I will be buying a project car off eBay just yet though.

LandyAndy

angel00079 wrote: »

Not really. I think my idea of revving is probably different to most peoples. I said revving to my brother and he thought that I had revved the nuts off it. I do not think that trying to go up a hill in snow did it any good but the belt probably would have gone soon.

The mechnical is taking looking at the valves but to be honest I have already started looking for another car.

I was suprised that my brother said that he would not change the belt on a car he had just brought if he did not know when it had been changed as he would take the risk on a car under a grand. My first thought was to change the belt on the other car. We also got talking about the cost of changing belts and damage done if they snapped. That got me thinking that when buying a car this is something I have never thought about.

I think this last experience makes me think that it would probably be a good idea to go on a course. I went on a course years ago but never really followed it up as I didn't have the tools or space to work on a car. I think I might look into it as I actually enjoyed the last one. I don't think I will be buying a project car off eBay just yet though.

On a cheap car you could easily end up spending half the original cost on changing the cambelt and water pump so it's not hard to see why people are willing to take the chance on not having it done.

I would always suggest that people should take a basic maintenance course because it gives you an insight into how the things work and hence why servicing is important and also a feel for what might be wrong when a fault develops.

Sorry to hear you've had an expensive failure.