Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Wed 28 Jul 2010 22:32

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - vsseym

Hi There,
I have a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 which is on an 05 plate. On Friday i was travelling down the motorway at 70mph when tne engine management light came on. It started flashing and the car was losing power. I pulled over and called the RAC. Initial diagnosis was the ignition coil. However a new one didnt work. A neighbour who is a mechanic has stripped the engine has said the there are bent valves in the head and the exhaust camshaft has snapped. There may be more damage underneath
Is this a common problem? The car has done 76,000. The first 3 services were by Vauxhall but then i got my neighbour to do them.
Can i get any money back from Vauxhall as all the things ive read on the internet it seems to be a known problem?

Thanks
Vicky

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Wed 28 Jul 2010 23:02

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - ChicksFan

A fairly common problem on cars that haven't been maintained by a Vauxhall dealership. Hardly Vauxhall's fault if the car hasn't been serviced by them lately. They won't have had a chance to check the camshaft bearing retaining bolts which should be checked for tightness every service. Perhaps your neighbour neglected to do that.

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Wed 28 Jul 2010 23:16

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - gordonbennet

Thanks Chicks haven't had such a good laugh for years, i imagine owners of 35K Corsa's and Tigra's with full dealer histories that have broken camshafts are rolling on the floor too, doubled up with mirth when the dealer declares the vehicle out of warranty and Vauxhall don't want to know.

OP, i doubt you'll get any joy out of Vauxhall, but we'd all be interested to hear of Vauxhalls engine stripping routine during regular servicing to check if the camshaft's due to fall off if they'd care to comment.

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Thu 29 Jul 2010 08:44

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - oilrag

Vicky, Welcome to the Forum ;-)

It`s not the neighbours fault - it`s the car - and allegedly the way it was manufactured.

Agree 100% with GB`s comments above too.

Given that it`s done 76,000 miles and is 5yrs old - I would imagine you would have zero chance of anything from Vauxhall.

Edited by oilrag (Moderator) on 29/07/2010 at 08:54

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Thu 29 Jul 2010 09:30

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - Collos25

Well I disagree knowing that this fault exists special care should have been taken, It is unheard of here in Germany as a major problem and they make them down the road in Eisenach.But then again cars are generally serviced a lot better in Germany they love their cars better than their wives or husbands.

All service national service centres here in Germany have a routine bulletin to follow when servicing a Opel Corsa which includes checking and replacing if required any worn or faulty camshaft parts or making the customer aware these need changing.

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Thu 29 Jul 2010 22:20

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - Railroad.

I have known a couple of cases of broken camshafts on earlier 8 Valve GM engines. It was strongly suggested at the time that this happened sometime after the cylinder head had been skimmed following removal. The head became bowed, and when torqued down the camshaft would be bowed with it causing it to break.

I worked in a Vauxhall dealership from 1980 - 1995 and have done many cylinder head removals and replacements. Only though on a handful of occasions, and when a head was damaged due to severe overheating did I ever send one away for skimming, and I never encountered any problems. These days cylinder heads go away for skimming as a matter of routine, and I for one am not convinced it's always necessary.

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Sat 5 Feb 2011 20:57

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - happy new year

hi i am also an owner of corsa 55 plate. on new years day 2011 , ibroke down an had too be recovered by road rescue. my car was taken to local garage where it underwent repairs on camshaft costing nearly £450.i rang vauxhall to explain problem , but they wre not interested, all they wanted to know was service history, though i have had it serviced, it was not by vauxhall so they didnt want to know. put this down to bad start new year!!!! now, on 3 feb we recieve letter to recall my wife car, corsa 05 because engine could be affected by camshaft bearing bolts not being tightened to specification!!!! rang vauxhall again spoke to them to no avail, . anyone in this situation? av spoken to solicittor, regarding the sale of faulty products.

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Sat 5 Feb 2011 21:16

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - unthrottled

Don't waste your money on a solicitor-you won't get anywhere. It's bad luck to have a camshaft break, but £450 seems like a very fair price if you actually suffered a snapped camshaft. Vauxhall can't really be held responsible for not pre-empting the failure when they haven't seen the car for years. Long warranties whether prearranged or 'goodwill' are based upon long term (and expensive) dealership servicing-which you didn't use.

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Sun 6 Feb 2011 09:32

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - sb10

Correct me if wrong,but IIRC some manufacturers state as long as original parts are used anyone can service a car without voiding the warranty,and as the part failed it should be replaced

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Mon 7 Feb 2011 14:38

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - jc2

Maufacturers usually state that the servicing must be carried out to the manufacturers' specification-so if the camshaft check was not done by your independent or yourself,it's your problem.Parts should be to manufacturers' specification but not necessarily OE. Filters and oil spring to mind.

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Sun 6 Feb 2011 21:43

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - happy new year

i agree £450 is afair price to pay, but the car has only done 24,300.miles and the mechanic who services my car works for local garage. but, the point being they have recalled my wifes car with no mention of service history, they are just recalling it to right a manufacturers fault. in my family we own 6 corsas,02 plate _55 plate. the money is not the issue it is the principal of the subject. i was thinking of renewing car soon , but i wont be going to vauxhalls!!!1.

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Mon 7 Feb 2011 14:10

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - sb10

What caused the camshaft to break?,ie was it oil feed problems

My daughter had a Kalos 1.2 that had a siezed camshaft after only 54k and was caused by oil feed failure,which they reckoned was because the oil wasnt changed on time and was overdue,this was total rubbish

in my opinion its poor quality materials and or poorly set up camshaft alignment in the head

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Mon 7 Feb 2011 20:26

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - happy new year

the mechanic who worked on my car reckoned it was a problem with the bearing bolts, the day he worked on it.

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Mon 7 Feb 2011 20:19

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - unthrottled

I can see why you're justifiably annoyed, but I'd implore you not to threaten Vauxhall with solicitors. The cost will rapidly dwarf the initial problem. giving you at best a pyrrhic victory. I would write to their head office (not the CEO!), explaining that you're a loyal customer (you've bought 6 corsas!), and you've been very happy with Vauxhall, but you're upset over this issue. Keep it measured, and say you've lost confidence in Vauxhall, but avoid the 'I herewith cancel my subscription' line. You might just get something. Something is better than nothing.

If they think you won't ever buy a car from them again, they have little incentive to help.

If you're awkward, they won't want you to buy from them again and have little incentive to help.

Who knows?

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Mon 7 Feb 2011 23:16

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - sb10

They have so many customers anyway a few upset customers is hardly going to worry them anyway,and as that company has had several problems anyway with their cars they must be used to complaints by now

But proves testing could be improved rather than let the customer find the faults for them,and accept the fact they do have faults instead of denying it all the time

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Thu 10 Feb 2011 18:26

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - happy new year

guess what !! today have received letter recalling car too check camshaft. now what?

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Thu 10 Feb 2011 20:48

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - carol60

My corsa is 55 plate and I had recall letter this week .

My husband was driving the car to Vauxhall garage to have the bolts done when >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> engine management light came on and the car sounded like a box of spanners then broke down.

I had no recovery and Vauxhall garage had no breakdown recovery service so my hubby had to pay £85 plus vat to take the car the mile to garage .

They told me it sounded like the camshaft had broken but would charge me £186 plus vat to tell me for sure ...lol b***** joke

I had a call from the garage today telling me that Vauxhall would NOT BE PAYING FOR ANY REPAIR or even paying something towards it as I had not had the last two services with them !!!

Im sure the bolts are not checked in a routine service anyway . This is a manufacture fault after all and admitted as well .

They then Told me it would cost no less than >>>>>>>>>>£1400 to repair !

I am shocked and amazed as my car has less than 18000 miles on it !

Can this be for real ?

iI Vauxhall think I am going to pay £1400 @ £80 an hour then they are madder than the maddest person I know

I think I have lost my Faith in humans who work for Vauxhall

Carol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Thu 17 Feb 2011 18:13

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - Sarah_G

Hi, My tigra has done the exact same thing to me on sunday and i am fighting with Vx to try and get them to repair and pay the costs. If i had recieved the letter a few weeks earlier i could have had the problem looked at and it would never have escalated to the problem it is now....they have known about this problem for months.... the guy looking at my car has even said to me that when they do the service they dont check for loose cam shaft bolts so it wouldnt have been spotted either and he works for Vx and has told me not to pay a penny cos he wouldnt...!!!!!!!

My faith in Vx has gone also they pass you from pillar to post saying they will be in touch and you hear nothing back....... never again will i buy a Vx and will advise any one i know not too.. x

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Thu 10 Feb 2011 18:46

Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Cam shaft snapped in 5 yoa Vauxhall Corsa - unthrottled

Yes, manufacturers could sometimes do more to redress component failure due to design flaw.

In fairness, it is virtually impossible to test components exhaustively-especially as consumers keep demanding better economy and performance, but don't want to pay for it at the showroom.

We've been buying cars too cheaply for some time now-and the balance is met by overpriced parts and servicing. The monkey must be paid somehow...

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