Broken timing belt, which car next?

BungalowPrincess

Hello,

I'm entering into unknown territory and I'm hoping some people with more knowledge then me about cars might be able to help. Yesterday tragedy of tragedies as I was driving home from work my car just lost power and stopped dead. It had decided it didn't want to work any more after a while the AA arrived like a modern day knight to inform me that the timing belt had gone in my car a 2003 Renault Clio which essentially means the car is now scrap. Is this true I do not want to pay a garage to look at it for them just to say yes it's scrap that £100 for taking the engine to bits.

If it is ready to go to the car graveyard what car next I've got a maximum of £7000. I was thinking a Honda Jazz but I'm not sure I drive 15000 miles a year and need something reliable which isn't going to cost me a fortune in repairs or to maintain. I plan fo keep it for the next 7 years. Any ideas?

Thanks for looking,

Richard53

If there were no loud bangs and clatters when it stopped, it is likely that the engine has sustained no internal damage beyond the belt itself breaking. This would be a simple and fairly cheap fix, and certainly not worth scrapping the car over. If there was a lot of noise, the engine internals are toast and you need to budget for a stripdown/rebuild or new engine - or scrapping the car if the rest of it doesn't justify the expense. The trouble is, there is no way of finding out the condition of the engine for certain without at least opening it up and looking, which may be throwing good money after bad. It's very much either/or - the engine will be severely damaged internally, or it won't. It won't be 'slightly damaged'. I could explain why, but maybe this isn't the time or place.

Will the engine spin over on the starter without nasty noises? If so, it's probably worth investigating further, as it is likely to be OK. Likely, not certain. A colleague had a cambelt go on her Golf, and on the starter it just whirred like a clockwork toy. Turns out it was all fine inside.

I think you need a second opinion. The AA man might just have been pessimistic.

Ebe_Scrooge

As Richard said, there is no way of knowing the extent of the damage without opening it up and looking.

First question is, how much is the car worth to you ? If it's basically a good car with loads of miles left in it, apart from the cambelt issue, then it could well make financial sense to have it repaired. For the sake of argument, let's say it costs £1000 for the repair - you then end up with a good car, who's history you know, for £1000. If you were to go and buy a "new" car for £1000, odds on it wouldn't be anywhere near as good as the one you've got.

It's a bit of a gamble. If you want to go down this route, you're going to have to pay a mechanic for their time to get the head off and have a look. You may then decide that the outcome is too expensive and you want to scrap it, in which case it's money down the drain. But if it's only a couple if hundred quid's worth, then it's money well spent. Do you have a local trusted independant mechanic you can use ? They'll invariably be cheaper than a main dealer, and more likely to give you an honest appraisal.

For what it's worth, the same thing happened to me several years ago. Turned out that only 2 valves were bent, and the total bill was around £250, so I guess I was lucky. But to repeat what's already been said, it really is impossible to guess the extent / cost of damage without looking.

guestman

just buy a second hand head from a breakers or ebay, you WILL have bent some valves if the belts snapped, find a side street garage to fit the new head along with a new head gasket , water pump and belt, this should cost more than £120 to £150 for parts if you look around and labour should be cheap, its French, very easy and quick to change the head.


a water pump isn't a must but this way so long as you car does get serviced then this car will last you for many many years

Horizon81

A 10 year old Clio is ready for scrapping anyway. If you throw money at replacing the belt and associated parts (which you should have replaced anyway, but that's another story), then you can bet something else on it will break in the not too distant. Been there, got the t shirt.

£7K will get you quite a decent motor. You're on the right lines buying Japanese. Honda Jazz is a great choice or maybe a Toyota Yaris, Suzuki Swift or Mazda2.

colino

With times being hard, a lot of people, even with known interference engines, are asking that a new belt goes on and the engine tried before condemning. If your going to try that, first of all, don't spin it on the starter. More engines are properly wrecked (all valves and guides damaged instead of a couple) by recovery techs, "giving it a spin" when they really should have known better.
Take out the plugs, put on the new belt and turn it over with a socket on the crankshaft pulley. Apart from a cold afternoon and torn knuckles, that will only cost you £20 to tell you if the car needs open wallet surgery or not.

forgotmyname

Whatever you get, Will you get it serviced? If not you need an engine with a chain driven cam.

Horizon81

forgotmyname wrote: »

Whatever you get, Will you get it serviced? If not you need an engine with a chain driven cam.

Indeed. I *think* (although you'd better check) that all the cars I listed above have timing chains.

Axial

forgotmyname wrote: »

Whatever you get, Will you get it serviced? If not you need an engine with a chain driven cam.

Just not a Vauxhall Corsa with a chain driven engine, these are very fussy about services to keep the chain in a decent condition else it starts rattling and stretching.

jase1

I wouldn't necessarily stick to cars with chain cam -- just factor in the cost of replacing the belt when buying. If car A with a belt is more than £300 cheaper than car B with a chain (all else being equal) then just buy car A and take it in for a belt change and service on day 1. Done that a few times now.

BungalowPrincess

The sad thing is I have had it serviced every year the timing belt should have had another year and 10,000 miles but it didn't. I've had it looked at and the com rods and something else are bent it needs a new engine and the mechanic said its uneconomical to repair. It's going to the great car graveyard.

So it's now to the matter of a replacement car any thoughts?