Has anyone actually had a cambelt failure?
Discussion
I'm in the market for a cheapo car at the moment and have a few on the ebay watching list. Many of these have reached the point at which they should really have a cambelt change - But there is no record of it being done.
At the sub £1k price point a cambelt change is a sizeable percentage of the car's value - But is it really worth it?
I've always changed the cambelt as soon as I've bought a car just for extra peace of mind. However I do just 5-8k miles a year.
So is it just manufacturers scaremongering and generating work for themselves?
At the sub £1k price point a cambelt change is a sizeable percentage of the car's value - But is it really worth it?
I've always changed the cambelt as soon as I've bought a car just for extra peace of mind. However I do just 5-8k miles a year.
So is it just manufacturers scaremongering and generating work for themselves?
I have a beater as a second car and a few years ago it was a k reg Astra, one day on the motorway the whole dash board lit up and power gone, I put my clutch in, hazards in and moved over to hard shoulder. Cambelt gone.
Luckily parts for those old astras were peanuts so I got a mate to replace the bent valves etc it it cost about £300.
On old cars though I'd recommend getting a cam belt done as peace of mind
Luckily parts for those old astras were peanuts so I got a mate to replace the bent valves etc it it cost about £300.
On old cars though I'd recommend getting a cam belt done as peace of mind
Absolutely not scaremongering. Timing belts can and do snap and idlers, tensioners and waterpumps can fail with similar consequences. The (usually expensive) remedial work is bread and butter stuff for garages these days.
Can you afford the inconvenience of a break down and the cost of writing off the car or getting a s/h engine fitted if this happens? If so then go ahead.
Can you afford the inconvenience of a break down and the cost of writing off the car or getting a s/h engine fitted if this happens? If so then go ahead.
Yes, the OH's Clio had its cambelt fail whilst I was driving it on the way to pick her up. The two hours spent at the side of the road waiting for recovery and the aggravation of having to buy an emergency snotter whilst driving her to and from work in the meantime was more tiresome than the cost of a cambelt change.
Buy a car that doesn't have an interference engine, then if it snaps you won't have any big internal damage.
If you're handy with spanners, keep a spare one and make sure you learn how to time the engine then it should be DIYable
I've never had one go, but helped a mate replace the head on a C-reg polo after his snapped. He's still got a dented piston in there but its still running strong (well as strong as C reg Polo's run) and that was a few years ago.
If you're handy with spanners, keep a spare one and make sure you learn how to time the engine then it should be DIYable
I've never had one go, but helped a mate replace the head on a C-reg polo after his snapped. He's still got a dented piston in there but its still running strong (well as strong as C reg Polo's run) and that was a few years ago.
Our old works Laguna had the Cambelt fail at about 115000 miles. I suspect it had never been changed in that mileage! Luckily this scrapped the wretched thing!
I also had the water pump fail on my Eunos at approx 80,000 miles and twenty years old. Again I suspect the belt and pump had never been changed!
This is in 15 years of car ownership and probably in excess of 250,000 miles of driving various vehicles.
Mike
I also had the water pump fail on my Eunos at approx 80,000 miles and twenty years old. Again I suspect the belt and pump had never been changed!
This is in 15 years of car ownership and probably in excess of 250,000 miles of driving various vehicles.
Mike
200bhp said:
If there is no paperwork to show it's been changed - Is there any reliable way of knowing how good the belt and associated parts are?
Not especially. You can see by inspecting the belt if it looks particularly worn, cracked or frayed or just generally knackered, and these are sure signs you should change it as soon as you can.But one that looks fine could be ten years old and is still more than capable of snapping on you.
Chris944_S2 said:
Buy a car that doesn't have an interference engine, then if it snaps you won't have any big internal damage.
If you're handy with spanners, keep a spare one and make sure you learn how to time the engine then it should be DIYable
I've never had one go, but helped a mate replace the head on a C-reg polo after his snapped. He's still got a dented piston in there but its still running strong (well as strong as C reg Polo's run) and that was a few years ago.
^^^^ This.If you're handy with spanners, keep a spare one and make sure you learn how to time the engine then it should be DIYable
I've never had one go, but helped a mate replace the head on a C-reg polo after his snapped. He's still got a dented piston in there but its still running strong (well as strong as C reg Polo's run) and that was a few years ago.
Or better still, buy a car that doesn't have one in the first place. There's three cars in our household and not a single timing belt between them.
You'd be surprised how many cars have chains these days.
My mate had a Vauxhall Tigra and the cambelt snapped, I had to laugh as it was the girliest car I'd ever seen... But it cost him big time.
When I first read your post I did suspect Vauxhall would crop up a few times. Some MOT garages now will warn you before the MOT test that if the cambelt fails during the MOT they're not liable, because they have to rev it pretty hard for the emmisions test (that's what I was told anyway)
You can inspect the cambelt and get a good idea if it is going to fail in the very near future, basically if there are teeth badly worn or missing or bits of cord showing and fraid edges get it changed asap, but I've heard stories of cambelt with half their teeth missing still working.
When I first read your post I did suspect Vauxhall would crop up a few times. Some MOT garages now will warn you before the MOT test that if the cambelt fails during the MOT they're not liable, because they have to rev it pretty hard for the emmisions test (that's what I was told anyway)
You can inspect the cambelt and get a good idea if it is going to fail in the very near future, basically if there are teeth badly worn or missing or bits of cord showing and fraid edges get it changed asap, but I've heard stories of cambelt with half their teeth missing still working.
We had a couple go on my parents' old mk1 1.6 golf. Fortunately, the valves wouldn't contact the pistons.
But had one fail on Mum's old Rover 214Si which meant a replacement cylinder head. (Engine mounts off to put the belt in place IIRC). I was driving it at the time. Just a one-off 'tink' noise and total engine failure. I knew what it was and immediately thought b
ks!
But had one fail on Mum's old Rover 214Si which meant a replacement cylinder head. (Engine mounts off to put the belt in place IIRC). I was driving it at the time. Just a one-off 'tink' noise and total engine failure. I knew what it was and immediately thought b
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