scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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Ok, hoping someone can help me feel a bit better.
My T Reg Corsa Sport 1.6 has just gone into the garage with CAM Belt failure.
I'm reading around and seeing owners of other cars saying its massively expensive to sort the damage that this causes.
Anyone had any experience of this. The engine was running well but making odd ratchet noises before it happened. I'm praying I'm not facing a massive repair bill.
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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if it was still running going into the garage then your cam belt hasn't snapped - which is well costsly cause it normally damges the head.
to me it sounds like the garage has spotted a fault early saving you the massive repair bill m8.
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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hang on re-reading that - did the belt snap? have you taken it into the garage to get those rachet noises fixed, or it was making those noises then the belt snapped 
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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unfortunately i was towed in!
but thanks anyway - any ideas whether the 1.6 ecotech engine is a non-interference engine or not - this seems to make a difference to whether the engine gets damaged
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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Registered: 12th Apr 03
Location: West - London Drives: Corsa GSi
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yea ive heard its quite expensive, you will be lucky if its not!!
and on the note of cabelt failure....How can you tell when its about to go????
im not sure when mine was changed, its 94 plate Gsi with 80k miles, its had 4 owners too! but its in good condition,
However i have noticed this week in the COLD only their is a weird noise comming from the cambelt area, what does this mean???
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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soz, yeah just wait and see for them to check the amount of damage to the head.... tbh it is costly, but it can be fixed.
it ISN'T a non-interferance engine like some toyotas 
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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Magic Monkey - the cambel is recommended to be changed evry 40K. so yours is due.
however if you drive hard then i would recommend you doing the change more frequently 
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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The sound i was hearing was like an old football rattle. Imagine if you put a bit of plastic into the spokes of a bike wheel whilst it goes round - a bit like that.
It got steadily worse for a week, and caught me out just a day before i'd planned to take it in!
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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m4tt - thanks for the realism. Do you reckon we are talking costly as in £300-400 or are we talking the big £1k????
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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sorry to hear that mate, sod's law init - day b4 you take it in, it goes....
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and-m
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Registered: 5th May 02
Location: Liverpool. Drives. Skud vRS.
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probably one of the rollers giving in
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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and-m,
whats a roller then. If you can explain your thinking and cost implications i'd be grateful
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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the thing is it's a 16v engine, with a small compression ratio, so when the belt snaps it will make more damage than your average 8v engine, so will be costly to repair. i've heard of people driving at 20 mph and doing a lot of damage to the head (valves and pistons).
how many miles has your car done?
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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rollers are just some runners the belt runs around, if it caves in, which is waht usually happens with the ecotec lumps then the cambelt system fails, cause the cam timing to fail......
the noise you were hearing was proabably a faulty runner.
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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its done 60,000
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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really (((
just waiting for the garage bloke to ring with estimated damage!
what i don't get is how the damage can happen after it snaps coz literally the car cut out and i came to a stop - no big noises or grating.
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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May as well make this fun - anyone fancy a crack at guessing the repair bill!
Can't offer any prizes for the winner as I'll be broke!
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M4tt
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Registered: 18th Apr 03
Location: Potters Bar
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erm ill go for about £600
how fast were you reving the engine? were you giving it some as it snapped?
if you were ill change my estimate
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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no - actually i wasn't. 5 mins before i'd been tootling at 70, but not driving hard as i could tell something was up. At the time of breaking I was actually doing about 25mph, (on the wrong side of the road, passing parked cars outside a school in rush hour). Comedy traffic jam scenes!
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Juni0r
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Registered: 17th Jan 03
Location: Hants
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Happened to me cost just over £2K - New Head, 16 new valves, 4 new pistons etc!!!
Vaux paid all but 10% due the car having done 20K miles!!
Good luck!!
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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Juni0r
Appreciate the honesty - this isn't making my day a happy one.
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AdiSRI
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Registered: 1st May 02
Location: Berkshire
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Yup mine went on a 1.4 16v doing a steady 30mph in 4th.
EVERY valve was bent, EVERY piston was dented and i was reccomened a new engine as the safest bet!!!
It cost me £1600 all in, for the new engine and all other parts and fitting.
Good luck also but most likely it'll be bad news m8!
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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Ok - does ANYONE have a good news story, like "well initially I thought the cost would be high, but fortunately the repairs only came to £300".
Lies will do, anything to make me feel better.
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AdiSRI
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Registered: 1st May 02
Location: Berkshire
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And M4tt damage isnt dependant on revs particularly i was told as mine was only doing about 2200rpm and it was completely mashed!
scorchingpost mine just cut and didnt make any noise either but it was still knackered.
Sorry for all the gloom and doom m8!
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scorchingpost
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Registered: 2nd Oct 03
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^^considers the petrol bomb solution^^
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