Renault Clio Cam Belt Broke

In message , Guy King writes

You neglected to return from holiday? I've often thought of doing that.

Your not Shirley Valentine are you?

;)

Ivan (Ivan'H' snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I strongly suspect that the current crop of aging motors (roughly mid 90s) will actually prove to be the highpoint for vehicle life.

Modern stuff's just too damn unfixable.

What fails on the modern stuff that you can't fix?

Duncan Wood ( snipped-for-privacy@dmx512.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You ever tried troubleshooting multiplexing?

This was my point Adrian, the 'cost' of new vs cost of repair, how many people have electrical appliances repaired anymore?. answer, virtually zero, if a TV or DVD player breaks down it usually winds up in the local landfill.

Imagine if the Chinese eventually do the same with cars as they've done with almost everything else. i.e. produce a fair quality midsized family saloon to sell for five grand off of a Tesco forecourt, who in their right mind would bother spending two grand having say a fuel pump replaced on a five year old bog standard motor?

I'm sure if that day does arrive then I for one will be budgeting for a brand new vehicle every three years.

The message from "Ivan" contains these words:

If only!

The message from "Duncan Wood" contains these words:

It's not the fixability, it's the econonies of fixing it. Not /that/ long ago a perfetly good car with a couple of bent valves wouldn't be a candidate for the scrap heap because access to the engine was a lot easier and you could whip a head off in under an hour on many cars. I don't suppose there are many current models where taking the head off would take less than three or four hours because of all the gubbings. Was it Vauxhall who ran adverts showing off how little space there was left under the bonnet?

Yes, but in my case I can cheat :-) However it's no worse than current sensor technologies, it's not the timing errors & protocol errors that are going to be an issue on cars, it'll be the connecters.

Duncan Wood ( snipped-for-privacy@dmx512.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Perhaps - but those connectors can start to manifest themselves in all sorts of odd ways which are going to make the testing difficult, because of the lack of linearity between fault and symptom.

Ivan's also mentioned common rail diesel pumps. The total integration of ABS/TC/ESP/EBA and the other alphabetti spaghetti "essentials" will also prove bloody difficult - especially as parts stocks start to be discontinued.

my renault was an x reg with 95 thousand on the clock when it knackered up!

A bit like carburettor faults or ignition faults then.

Duncan Wood ( snipped-for-privacy@dmx512.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No.

I've never yet heard of a carb fault opening the windows at random.

In message , Guy King writes

Washing machines are a nightmare. We have been going through various makes of washing machine at the rate of about one every 18 - 24 months for some time now. Names like Indesit, Creda and Beko are the ones to avoid. Our current one is a Bosch which appears to be behaving itself. Miele and Siemens are supposed to be highly reliable but I didn't fancy blowing 6 or 700 quid on one.

Don't blame them. It's up to you to make sure its serviced.

Yes.

Because when a cambelt goes on an interference engine, the results are the same no matter what make it is.

Valve hits piston and bends/snaps. Makes gouge in piston crown(s) and cylinder head. Needs new piston(s) and new complete cylinder head.

Take the part down to a proper bearing suppliers such as Swans. They'll probably be able to change it for you.

Carb faults are easy to diagnose if you have half a clue.

The message from Conor contains these words:

Not always. The wife's Clio just needed two valves. And a head gasket, of course. One crown had a slight scuff on it, the others were untouched.

The message from Conor contains these words:

It's moulded into the nylon. The plastic covers the bearing outer race. There is no way to withdraw it.

The message from Conor contains these words:

Except for some time you'll still be worrying about whether it'll recur.