[council dweller]

I had the Rover's cambelt changed last year, cost me 200 quid and they had a look at the water pump and said it was OK....as I expected them to. Those boys have the time to spend sitting around waiting for the parts van to arrive!

Honest John is cambelt/chain mad. He loves cam chains, that's why he loves Korean cars.

I wonder if there'll be any problems with Ford's new 1,000cc motor? Apparently it has a cambelt that runs in an oil bath and is supposed to last the lifetime of the car.

[MrPin]

council dweller, on 20 March 2012 - 07:11 PM, said:

Honest John is cambelt/chain mad. He loves cam chains, that's why he loves Korean cars.

I believe BMW have gone back to chains, after a period with external belts! Can anyone confirm this?

I have no particular love of Korean cars, although the ones I saw in Korea look much better than the budget models they sell us!

[rxe]

Cam chains are great. My old Alfa has them, and the recommendation is to change them if you have the cams out, and if the car has done over 100k miles. The downside is that the cams need to come out every 24k miles as the tapetts are solid and need shimming. The modern Alfa has hydraulic tappets which self adjust, but the belts need changing every 60k miles - £600 and I haven't yet worked up the courage to do it myself.

I very much agree with the comments about looking at internet forums. Alfa front suspension job - a grand at the dealer, or £300 of parts and an afternoon's getting grubby - courtesy of a well photographed guide on the web. Recently the gearchange became stiff, and impossible to select 3rd - much sucking of teeth at the dealer. A quick look at the web showed this was a common fault that need a pair of bushes (£5.40), and about 30 minutes work with simple tools to fit.

[MrPin]

rxe, on 20 March 2012 - 07:39 PM, said:

Cam chains are great.

I very much agree with the comments about looking at internet forums.

Mr Miyagi and yourself are welcome to come round with a bag of tools, and fix the cruise control on my other car!

Actually ALL of my wisdom comes from the Internet!

[Mr. Miyagi]

MrPin, on 20 March 2012 - 07:45 PM, said:

Mr Miyagi and yourself are welcome to come round with a bag of tools, and fix the cruise control on my other car!

Actually ALL of my wisdom comes from the Internet!

I have a cam chain too

[Frank Hovis]

Useful thread, cheers.

I agree with the point about why are cars getting more complicated? if they brought in that £3k car ?Renault? were making in East Europe I think I'd buy one, wind-down windows and all.

[MrPin]

Frank Hovis, on 20 March 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

Useful thread, cheers.

I agree with the point about why are cars getting more complicated? if they brought in that £3k car ?Renault? were making in East Europe I think I'd buy one, wind-down windows and all.

Frank, I had one of those rear-engined Skodas once. Opening windows in the back were an "option"!

[SeeYouNextTuesday]

Frank Hovis, on 20 March 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

Useful thread, cheers.

I agree with the point about why are cars getting more complicated? if they brought in that £3k car ?Renault? were making in East Europe I think I'd buy one, wind-down windows and all.

http://www.thetrutha...-am-radio-star/

[MrPin]

Nice quote!

“Well, I still want a basic car. But now I think I’d be happy with just a basic BMW or Lexus.”

Well I quite liked my Lexus, but it wasn't a basic car like the Skoda!

[happy_renting]

Boomer Baby, on 20 March 2012 - 01:47 PM, said:

I ran an old 1989 Porsche 944. Things go wrong at that age but it was certainly possible to use as a daily driver given regular maintenance and some help from the specialist internet forums.

The sunroof motor failed and Porsche dealers wanted in the region of £400 for a replacement. Specialist garages offered it up to a £100 less but someone discovered the same motor – badged as a VW spare – was available for £200.

Amidst all the congratulations and thanks, one contributor reported he ran an early 1990’s Ferrari, for which the cost of the sunroof motor was £1700 and yes, exactly the same VW unit but with a Ferrari sticker applied!

Funny - I posted about Porsche on another thread here yesterday.

I pointed out that Porsche use Audi parts - such as relays. But Porsche charges double for them.

[Sine270]

Rachman, on 20 March 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

most modern diesels have a dual mass flywheel - disastrously poor things that they are. Budget another £800-£1200 to do. Oh, and you might as well put a new clutch in whilst it's out.

I am curious about the dual mass flywheel. I know my car has one and as Its done 200k miles I'm wondering if it will go pop soon.
Anyone know the symptoms of a knackered dual mass flywheel? Or will the car suddenly just stop being propelled forwards? I heard you could get it replaced with a normal flywheel but the engine wont run quite as smoothly. Anyone got experience in this?

[SeeYouNextTuesday]

Sine270, on 21 March 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

I am curious about the dual mass flywheel. I know my car has one and as Its done 200k miles I'm wondering if it will go pop soon.
Anyone know the symptoms of a knackered dual mass flywheel? Or will the car suddenly just stop being propelled forwards? I heard you could get it replaced with a normal flywheel but the engine wont run quite as smoothly. Anyone got experience in this?

the problem is them going pop at low mileages - 40k - 80k, 200k is getting your money's worth. I would imagine you'll be ok as it's gone this long. I'd google symptoms for your particular car. Not likely to be a readily available SMF unless your car is known for troublesome ones.

Not sure what happened to VW. The 1.9 PD TDI was a great, reliable engine but the progression to 2.0 ******ed it up a little.

[Sine270]

SeeYouNextTuesday, on 21 March 2012 - 07:56 AM, said:

the problem is them going pop at low mileages - 40k - 80k, 200k is getting your money's worth. I would imagine you'll be ok as it's gone this long. I'd google symptoms for your particular car. Not likely to be a readily available SMF unless your car is known for troublesome ones.

Not sure what happened to VW. The 1.9 PD TDI was a great, reliable engine but the progression to 2.0 ******ed it up a little.

Thanks, I'll try google. And yes, you're right. I read reviews about the old passat and the new ones and based on the reviews I decided it had to be the old one. Ended up buying a mint 200k miler

[SeeYouNextTuesday]

Sine270, on 21 March 2012 - 12:24 PM, said:

Thanks, I'll try google. And yes, you're right. I read reviews about the old passat and the new ones and based on the reviews I decided it had to be the old one. Ended up buying a mint 200k miler

I'll stick my neck out here but if it is a 130 passat that will defintely be the 1.9 PD TDI. I don't think they have particular DMF problems although obviously they can fail and I'm pretty sure there are SMF alternatives available.

The B5/B5.5 passats do have a number of design flaws though thatyou may want to check out - CV boots rings a bell along with water ingress from blocked drain channels which can screw with the electrics. I'm sure google will give you plenty of ideas.

[buckers]

The 1.8K head gasket just needs to be replaced with a quality one and then you're reliable - probably some annoying accountancy trick whereby they saved 3p per car during production at the time.

I used a Mike Satur HG kit and mine's been tracked and thrashed mercilessly and no problems at all.

Tiger Woods?, on 20 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

MGFs, and Freelanders and any other car with the 1.8 K-series engine have serious head gasket problems.

Wider question, whatever happened to gear driven cams? I love the sound they make but I guess they're too costly?

Buckers