Is car mechanic right? Coolant leak/RCZ engine issues

Tiiia

Goudy said:

WellKnownSid said:

Tiiia said:

In your opinion, as a car that's driven roughly 50 miles a month and is generally 'not exerted much', would this still also result in the new pipes going  cracked/brittle so soon? He text saying basically the end just broke as I he removed them

  That particular engine is used in many other cars - and has a reputation for being quite fragile.

Basically this.

Writing it's not the most robust engine might be a bit unfair, but perhaps the way it's packaged into engine bays and some of the peripheral components used are more of an issue.

The air intake pipe is notorious for splitting, it's cheap, light and very thin plastic which tends to be very brittle if flexed.

There's the heater pipe that runs under around the back of the engine, under the manifold to the heat matrix and through the fire wall that is also known to break.
It's rubber with plastic fitting on each end.
The manufacturer has tried to shield it from chaffing and under bonnet heat by fitting a short cover over it, but it's no guarantee. 

Once they would have fitted heavier, more robust parts made of thicker plastics, reinforced rubber and metal.
Fixings would have been metal nuts and bolts or steel clips, but modern cars tend to be tightly packed under the bonnet which can cause lots of labour and the use of lighter materials is very common to save overall weight.
Thin plastic clips, fixings, pipes etc all save weight (and the manufacturer money) and often make the initial assembly easier and quicker. 

Weight kills fuel economy and increases emissions, so most modern cars these days have the same sorts of problems. Some are better than others in different places but they are generally stuffed with lighter parts that aren't as robust as parts from 30 years ago.

Under use and short tripping cars can add to the list of problems most cars already suffer from.
You are never getting the engine up to temperature properly which tends to cause the engine to run rich more often than it should causing problems with sensors in the exhaust.
The battery won't have chance to recharge fully, leading to repeated battery failures.

And generally and I know this sounds strange, a lots of parts just don't like doing nothing.

Parts under the bonnet can start to rust as the under bonnet heat usually dissipates any moisture particularly the exhaust, rubber parts perish, furry friends start to make themselves at home and start snacking on rubber, plastic and wiring.

I know it doesn't sound great, but if it's just a matter of replacing these pipes you should count yourself lucky.
Over heating a cars engine can be utterly disastrous.
It can lead to some very expensive work and parts but worse case is total engine failure. 

I know most French cars used to flash up a large red "STOP" when they detected serious problems and it's was always worth doing that!

Yes I feared as much. Well, he will do the fixes, so I will see how it goes, and I'm hoping it's the last I hear of any pipe issues for sometime! Thanks