Cam failed after 10 months 4200 miles

pendulum

vaio wrote: »

Wouldn't have thought that would include the water pump

Obviously, I've never known a cambelt kit to include a water pump...

To OP, I would get your car investigated elsewhere to find out what caused the belt to break, and get a report in writing about what caused the failure, you can then go back to the fitting garage with some evidence that they are to blame, as long as the report goes in your favour. If it turns out the belt failed due to a failed water pump, or by some other component failing that the garage did not fit, or by oil contamination etc then the garage wouldn't be responsible. Who pays for this depends on what caused the failure and I would not trust the original garage to tell me if I were you!

vaio

vaio wrote: »

Wouldn't have thought that would include the water pump

pendulum wrote: »

Obviously, I've never known a cambelt kit to include a water pump....

try http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Renault_Scenic_Grand%20Scenic_2.0_2004/p/Car-Parts/Cooling-and-Heating/Cooling/Water-Pumps-and-Gaskets/?349775185&1&ae73dcde47eb8e8682f9c33acb5b380cce83cedf&WATB

pendulum

vaio wrote: »

try http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Renault_Scenic_Grand%20Scenic_2.0_2004/p/Car-Parts/Cooling-and-Heating/Cooling/Water-Pumps-and-Gaskets/?349775185&1&ae73dcde47eb8e8682f9c33acb5b380cce83cedf&WATB

No, that's a Water Pump and a Cambelt kit, it's not a cambelt kit with a water pump included, there's a difference.

EdGasket

Trouble is the garage will find 101 reasons why it is not their fault and you are then left with trying to prove otherwise after the garage has poked around. Seems there are two options:
1) Return to garage that did the work and rely on their trustworthiness in acting in your best interests. This should not cost anything initially but the original garage may be economincal with the truth to cover themselves or
2) Have it independently inspected FIRST to determine the cause of belt failure. There will be an up-front charge for this and the original garage may still dispute the findings if they are unfavourable but at least you should know the correct facts and the original garage will not have had a chance to tamper with the evidence.

The choice will depend on how much you trust the original garage.

Bedsdriver

I am grateful for all your answers. I do need to get it seen by an independent garage as i now believe that the belt probably was not faulty. Something Pendulum said jogged my memory.

In February i started out to my parent's house when a noticed a noise getting louder from the engine. I popped the bonnet and found the auxiliary belt coming apart. I turned the car around and put it straight back on the drive.

The belt had not failed but was close to failing. The garage changed the belt and i took the car home on the Tuesday (mileage 42387).

The car stood on the drive for a few days until Sunday when I made my first trip and drove from Bedford to Luton to look at a house (about 20 miles or so), on arrival at Luton the power steering failed. I rang the garage and they said to bring it back to them.

i drove the car straight back to the garage and left it with them. The power steering hose had leaked and the power steering pump had failed. The work was fixed about a week later (mileage 42439).

My questions are:

[1] Could power steering fluid rot a cam belt?

[2] If so, on repairing a power steering leak, is it normal practice to check for contamination of other components?

[3] Assuming 1 and 2 are true and the belt is obviously contaminated with fluid the garage would appear to be at fault?

[4] Lastly, if the belt has come apart, will it still actually be in place to even check?



EDIT:Speeling


Further edit just to confuse matters: On one of the visits, about three largish covers for the engine area were left in the boot. When i went to Tesco for my first shop after the second repair, I discovered them there and went back to the garage to have them refitted.

somech

yes pas fluid can ruin a belt. they probably did'nt check the cam belt for contamination as its hidden away behind covers.

there also seems to be a lot of distrust on here towards the repairing garage first and foremost you should let them check the car then if your not happy with there findings get an independent inspection done.

Bedsdriver

That's the problem really, under the terms of the Green flag recovery policy i have one free further recovery to take the car from my house to one garage.

So i can take it to Renault and pay for an independent assessment or take it to the original garage who will look at it and may or may not stick their hand up to making an error if that is the case.

GTRsmiles

Sounds like the aux belt smashed the cam belt when it was flailing round and damaged it, or a piece of it has got stuck somewhere and caused the cam belt to fail.

I am not a mechanic, and have no formal qualifications in car mechanics, but I have been heavily involved in high performance cars for years as a hobby, always worked on mine and my friends cars and I have friends who are mechanics who I do track days with.

I have never known a cam belt fail after such a short amount of time and mileage, nor have I ever known one fail due to water pump failure, 99% that the aux belt has smashed it when it failed, which I find strange as the cam belt should be protected by covers all round it to stop this happening and to stop any stones getting in-between the belt and the pulleys.

Cam belts are tough strong things and don’t just fail, cars generally only need 2 or 3 in their life time.

Don’t just think worst case scenario on this, the engine may still be useable, all that could have happened is the belt snapped, timing gone out, inlet valves stayed in the cylinder, piston come up, hit the valves, bent the valve stems, stalled the engine.

Could just be head off, a few new valves, new stem seals, re seat the valves, head back on, job done. Worst case, if the engine was revving fast enough when it snapped it could have smashed most or all of the valves, cracked pistons, snapped valve heads off which could have scored the cylinder bores, if this has happened, may be easier to get a new engine and a straight in and out job.

Don’t take it straight back to the garage! They will not say “ahh it’s our fault, we forgot to put the covers back on (idiot mistake) after doing the initial work, a stone has got in and caused the belt to fail” we’ll re-build your engine for free.

Get an independent opinion in writing and take it from there based on the outcome, hope that helps

somech

take it back to the garage and if need be have an indpendant inspection carried out at their premises if you not happy with their findings.

remember you have to give the garage a chance to investigate
i would be more than happy for someone to come in to my place to take a look at a car