Car Issue

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

i would have a word with your mechanic, as it was on his advice you didn't change the timing belt, i would persuade him not to chard labour if replacing with a new engine.... he will hardly pay for the new engine, but he could waver the labour costs.

anything that will help with the cost.

Gregor Samsa

bookiebasher wrote:

2..someone said i wasnt a customer of them as i got the car serviced elsewhere..HELLO i purchased the car from this garage..i would have thought that they would have fixed it at my expense and given my a car to get to work while it was being repaired.

But why do you expect them to drop everything for you and repair it immediately if they're booked up for two weeks?

Noelie

bookiebasher wrote:

quite a few people are missing my point here..


2..someone said i wasnt a customer of them as i got the car serviced elsewhere..HELLO i purchased the car from this garage..i would have thought that they would have fixed it at my expense and given my a car to get to work while it was being repaired.

Well they told you that they had a two week back log so you would need a loaner for at least that length of time, I can't see any garage wanting to give you a car that long.

TychoCaine

An update on the 2nd hand engine option. It uses the same engines as the old shape Opel Astra, so you could have options there....

lafors

TychoCaine wrote:

If you have an interference engine then the inlet or exhaust valves will still be open, and in the way, when the pistons comes up when the belt snaps. The valves will be snapped off and driven into the cylinder head. It means new valves, cylinder head and pistons. Lafors is wrong when he says that slow driving has an effect. The cylinders are hammering up and down @ 12 times a second even at idle, so engine or wheel speed is irrelevant.

Non-interference engines are ones where the valves don't drop low enough in the cylinder to be hit by the piston at any time. When a timing belt goes in one of those the car just comes to a spluttering halt on the side of the road. The worst damage you'll get is a messed up catalytic converter from unspent fuel going into the exhaust system, and that's rare.

You're right But surely if you are at a higher rpm (not speed, as I mistakenly said) then the piston would be moving faster and would cause greater damage, hitting the valve at a faster speed?
Maybe I'm answering my own question but does each cycle give the same amount of rotational force, and the reason for speeding up is the greater amount of cycles per second?
Or, I'm losing the plot here , that wouldn't be right either, as the fuel mix entering the cylinder is dependant on the thottle valve?

I'm no mechanic as you can see

Sorry OP for going off topic

TychoCaine

The inertia is greater at higher RPM, but idle speed is fast enough to do enough damage to the heads and cylinders to require replacement.

The valves don't meter the volume of air/fuel mix. That job is done by the fuel injection system (or carburettors in older cars), which is outside the engine. Valves are opened and closed for a set duration at a specific point in the cycle to allow fuel/air in or exhaust gasses out of the cylinder.

lafors

TychoCaine wrote:

The inertia is greater at higher RPM, but idle speed is fast enough to do enough damage to the heads and cylinders to require replacement.

The valves don't meter the volume of air/fuel mix. That job is done by the fuel injection system (or carburettors in older cars), which is outside the engine. Valves are opened and closed for a set duration at a specific point in the cycle to allow fuel/air in or exhaust gasses out of the cylinder.

Cool thanks

OKenora

But surely if you are at a higher rpm (not speed, as I mistakenly said) then the piston would be moving faster and would cause greater damage, hitting the valve at a faster speed?

You are semi right, if it goes at high RPM the impact will be greater and the damage more. Unfortunately it does not help at all as a break at idle has enough force to bend the valves badly and an impact at high revs will simply bend them even more badly, though it may also increase the chances of crankshaft damage as well but this usually won't show for a few thousand miles after you get your head fixed and does not always happen.

JHMEG

OKenora wrote:

THE TIMING BELT INTERVAL IS 48K

Did you read this in the actual owners' manual?

I seem to have missed where this came from. The garage told the op two different figures of 60-ish and 48k.

JHMEG

TychoCaine wrote:

dealers are instructed to check the timing belt as part of every service in case it's wearing faster than normal.

Mechanics do not check the timing belt as part of a regular service as it's not visible.

TychoCaine

This is a tick sheet that Volvo dealers use when servicing their cars:
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/s80/s80_service.pdf
The Diesel S80s have a "check/adjust" detail for the timing belt every 20k miles. I don't think you can expect a non-dealer garage to have the maintenance schedules and procedures for every manufacturer.

The timing belt is not visible until you take off the plastic cover. Once you undo the couple of clips it's perfectly visible. You'll need a torch, but it is possible (and necessary) to inspect it during the service.

JHMEG

Is it the same for a Daewoo petrol? It's not for the far eastern makes -- belts cannot be easily inspected, and do not require adjustment between renewals.

TychoCaine

I don't know about Asian cars. I've always found them too bland, so I've only owned Fords and Volvos. Each has had timing belt checks as part of dealer services, especially when they went over 50k miles. My last Focus was supposed to get 110K out of a timing belt, but was changed @ 90K on the recommendation of the dealer when serviced after they checked it and found a crack, so dealers are checking them.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

JHMEG wrote:

Did you read this in the actual owners' manual?

I seem to have missed where this came from. The garage told the op two different figures of 60-ish and 48k.

i don't think he brought the car back to the dealer for servicing, he got his own mechanic to carry out the regular servicing, and it was he that said around 60k, it was only when the belt broke that the op contacted the dealer who informed him that the change should have been done at 40k.... or something like that.


op please correct if I'm picking this up wrong