Faulty Vauxhall car - 4 Timing chains

Maverik12

I was wanting some advice if possible. I bought a Vauxhall Corsa in May 2013 - brand new (first owner). It needed a new timing chain after just 2 years in 2015, it then needed another timing chain in 2017 as it snapped. We have now been told that we need another timing chain. This means the car has now had 3 timing chains and this will be its 4th.

All the previous work has been completed by Bristol Street and we have always serviced the car with accredited Vauxhall dealership. All the timing chains have been installed by them and have been fitted free under the warranty. It looks like they are offering to fix for free again, however we have no faith that the repair will actually fix the underlying fault.

The car is nearly 6 years old and now has 79,000 miles on it. Selling it on would be incredibly unfair to a new buyer and if they fix it again it’s likely going to break again in 2 years. By this point we will be over the 100,000 miles and the warranty won’t apply.

We don’t know what to do? We just know that we are unhappy with having a faulty car that is going to need another timing chain again!

Has any one else had a similar experience - I have raised a complaint with Vauxhall, however they seem reluctant to help because of the age of the car. They are ignoring the fact that it’s the same reoccurring fault.

Any advice would be great :-)

motorguy

Whats the specific engine and is it petrol or diesel?

Whats the service interval on the car?

Is it mostly round town work or motorway driving?

Personally i see it as you having 2 options -

• Get the new chain fitted, then sell it, with the assurance that the car is as good as it can be as it has a new chain fitted, FSH, etc. Whatever may or may not happen down the line is not your responsibility.
• Drive on at it indefinitely, knowing that next time it fails it will probably be out of warranty, and the cost of repair might exceed the value of the car, effectively making the car scrap (or you swallow a large bill)

AdrianC

The chain's been replaced multiple times, but what about the gears/tensioners/guides etc? Is everything in absolute alignment?

Something's clearly causing them to wear far faster than expected. They're OEM parts, so it's not as if they're shonky quality.

mobileron

Do a part ex with the dealer,then he has the worries of selling it.

KaiserBill

Something of a worry. I was just about to buy one of these. I have checked over on Honest John. There are only two cases of timing chain problems.

So it does not seem to be common problem , or is it. ?

Maverik12

The car is petrol and has been serviced every single year. I think the service interval is generally every 25,000 miles though.

Arklight

I would think the answer would be obvious. Get rid of it and buy something that isn't a Vauxhall.

Why on earth would you want to own a car that is so unreliable it has a major engine failure every two years?

You haven't even started to explore the world of hurt that awaits for out of warranty Vauxhall owners as all the other bits start snapping off and conking out.

Buy something Japanese or a Skoda Octavia Estate and get on with your life.

ratrace

Maverik12 wrote: »

The car is petrol and has been serviced every single year. I think the service interval is generally every 25,000 miles though.

And there is the answer the service interval is way way to long, not only for the engine itself but also for the chain aswell, i service my vauxhall astra every 7 - 10k no later for the sake of £50 for some oil and a filter its not worth it in the long run

Corsa's have always had some sort of problem with the chains going as far back as to the early coras c (51 plate onwards) we have had a few over the years

personally if it was my car i would get the chain done free and then just get the car serviced often and keep n eye on the oil level and it should be ok, these long life service intervals are a joke and are really just there to help sell new cars once the car is out of warrenty the dealers dont want to know all the best with it

Arklight

He's had it done every year and it's still blowing chains.

motorguy

ratrace wrote: »

And there is the answer the service interval is way way to long,

As has been said already - hes had it serviced every year which suggests hes doing it every 10K or so. But yes, long service intervals dont normally help, but clearly not the problem here.

Jackmydad

Bye bye Corsa.
As already said, get it repaired to a good standard and let it go.
Unless you keep it until it dies, you're never going to know what problems might come up in the future.
ETA An engine that isn't particularly noted for timing chain problems (?) that keeps on killing timing chains would point to some deeper problem IMO. That could be anything though.