Blarno
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Buggeration!Not my car, but one that was in my possession. Whilst driving my Stepdad's 1997 Astra today, the engine began to make an awful knocking sound, follwed by complete loss of, well, everything. After pulling over and lifting the bonnet, I was presented with this:
^^^^ Hello Mr Conrod! Aren't you supposed to be inside the engine?
The oil trail stretched for a good 200 yards up the road and there was a HUGE puddle of creamy brown sludge under the car when I stopped. Something tells me Mr Headgasket had bought the farm, too.
Cue a 1 hour wait for the AA, who very kindly took me and the car to the local scrapyard, where it will be turned into a cube very soon.
All of which pissed up my entire afternoon, and tomorrow, too. I needed the Arstra to carry an engine crane to enable me to retransplant a Rover 25. Luckily, I have decent friends and I'm now in possession of an 07 plate Vectra CDTi. Onwards.....
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gonnabuildabuggy
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How happy was Mr. Blarno Stepdad?
Any idea on cause?
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Blarno
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He's okay about it, it was only a cheap runaround. I think the cambelt slipped or snapped. Travelling at about 40 mph would guarantee some pretty big damage.
Scrap prices are pretty good round here and he only paid 300 quid for it 18 months ago, he's had his money's worth.
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SpecB
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| Blarno wrote: | He's okay about it, it was only a cheap runaround. I think the cambelt slipped or snapped. Travelling at about 40 mph would guarantee some pretty big damage.
Scrap prices are pretty good round here and he only paid 300 quid for it 18 months ago, he's had his money's worth. |
Oh well. Bangernomics at its best. At least it didn't happen in the outside lane of a motorway.
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gonnabuildabuggy
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| SpecB wrote: | | Blarno wrote: | He's okay about it, it was only a cheap runaround. I think the cambelt slipped or snapped. Travelling at about 40 mph would guarantee some pretty big damage.
Scrap prices are pretty good round here and he only paid 300 quid for it 18 months ago, he's had his money's worth. |
Oh well. Bangernomics at its best. At least it didn't happen in the outside lane of a motorway. |
+1. £200 p.a. isn't bad depreciation and that's before the scrap money.
Bet he hadn't bothered getting the (well known Astra fault) Cambelt changed!
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canadian bacon
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I feel your pain.
just suffered the classic frogeye malaise......fuel evaporation, and promptly trundled to a halt at wellesley and Yonge, one of the busiest intersections in Toronto, joy.
Waited the requisite 1/2 hour for it to cool down and cranked the engine, nothing doing, so I tried the carb tops, and lo and behold the front one was loose, this is actually a positive , as I was able to draft some petrol out of the tank (yes i has a piece of pipe on board, just in case) sling it in the carb float bowl and cranked it again, this time it fired, so I made straight for home and managed to get in before the under bonnet temp went loonie toons again, guess I still have something wrong with it though.
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Blarno
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Cambelt hadn't been done, but it only had 78k on the clock, so it was virtually due.
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BeN
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That looks nasty. I would have freaked.
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Parm
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Ouch!
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Jasper
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| Blarno wrote: | | Cambelt hadn't been done, but it only had 78k on the clock, so it was virtually due. |
Most timing belts have an age limit too.
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Frank Bullitt
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| Jasper wrote: | | Blarno wrote: | | Cambelt hadn't been done, but it only had 78k on the clock, so it was virtually due. |
Most timing belts have an age limit too. |
Having owned French and Italian cars, I'd never leave it 'till the last minute to change a cambelt.
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Stuntman
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That's one helluva 'dirty protest' from the car!
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ALF
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I'm no expert but I'd say that was f*cked.
The focus is 8 years old and on 96k - with a 10 year or 100k cambelt change looming (which is terribly civilised compared to any other car we've ever owned). Perhaps I should get it done...
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TimR
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| Frank Bullitt wrote: | | Jasper wrote: | | Blarno wrote: | | Cambelt hadn't been done, but it only had 78k on the clock, so it was virtually due. |
Most timing belts have an age limit too. |
Having owned French and Italian cars, I'd never leave it 'till the last minute to change a cambelt. |
Chicken.
The Fiat has a 6 year/72k mile cambelt change and mine got done at 10 years/88k 
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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| TimR wrote: | | The Fiat has a 6 year/72k mile cambelt change and mine got done at 10 years/88k |
Madman! As any fule kno, the right time to change a cambelt is just before it breaks.
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gonnabuildabuggy
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| ALF wrote: | I'm no expert but I'd say that was f*cked.
The focus is 8 years old and on 96k - with a 10 year or 100k cambelt change looming (which is terribly civilised compared to any other car we've ever owned). Perhaps I should get it done... |
100K? Is that a steel cambelt (AKA Timing chain)
I'd get it changed pronto.
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DradusContact
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Mines on number 2, planning on getting it done this year along with aux belt, most common cause of puma 1.7 death is the cambelt.
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Blarno
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Number 2? How many miles has it done and when should it be changed?
Clio was due at 5 years/72k, so mine was done last year on 42k.
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Frank Bullitt
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| ALF wrote: | | The focus is 8 years old and on 96k - with a 10 year or 100k cambelt change looming (which is terribly civilised compared to any other car we've ever owned). Perhaps I should get it done... |
My boss has just changed the belt on his 1.6 at 105K - apparently it had seen better days...
| TimR wrote: | Chicken
The Fiat has a 6 year/72k mile cambelt change and mine got done at 10 years/88k |
Saving up for the engine-out job eh? The one that specialists do without taking the engine out...!
Mine is due at 5 years/75K - will get done this autumn at about 61K and just under 5 years.
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Gooner
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| Blarno wrote: | | Cambelt hadn't been done, but it only had 78k on the clock, so it was virtually due. |
I go by the rule of new cambelts at 60k on older cars. Or just do it anyway if you've bought a banger, least then you know it'll be in a reasonable condition. Bad luck though, wouldn't have wanted that to happen to me if I was borrowing the in-laws car.
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GonnaBreakABuggy
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Yep, I don't go longer than 40k on a cambelt, they tend to stretch the limits as far as they can so they look pretty good on the fleet expenses these days, but it's not worth the risk.
My dad on the other hand, believed FIAT when they said 72k for a cambelt, which is why there is a Brava outside with a kaput engine 50k after it was last changed..
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