A neighbour of mine had the cambelt of his Vauxhall fail the other day with predictably expensive damage to the engine. It was below the 80,000 mile interval in the handbook but above the (revised) 40,000 mile interval now recommended by Vauxhall but of which he was not aware. He had it repaired at a reputable non-franchise garage and the new belt lasted just over 5 miles before letting go again, with another set of damage. An initial inspection suggests failure or misfitting of one of the bolts securing the belt tensioner pulleys/rollers. Questions are (please)
1. Does he have any hope of help from Vauxhall re the first failure, bearing in mind it took place at a mileage between the original and the revised service intervals?
2. Does he have any comeback on the garage whose repair lasted less than his journey home and whose initial reaction is "OK when it left here, mate!". At the moment the car is elsewhere, awaiting an independent engineer's examination and report.
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1. Possibly, depends on the age of the car and whether it had been serviced at Vauxhall etc. Always worth a try, but I suspect since he had it repaired elsewhere, probably not.
2. Probably. It will depend on the exact cause of the failure, and whether it can be shown that the garage was negligent. Given their inital response it would seem that a trip to court will be required.
Richard
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Thanks RW. It has been serviced at Vauxhall garages and they should have picked up on the change of cambelt change mileage, I would have thought. Clearly the poor repair is nothing to do with them and my friend is getting the paperwork for the Small Claims Court
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I suffered a similar failure on a customers Vectra (2000 model X18XEI engine) which I believe was due to the failure of the GM supplied replacement tensioner which was of a different style to the original. I am positive it was fitted correctly and the bolt tightened to the correct torque but let go after 5k miles. The tensioner supplied by GM to replace that one was of the original style. I would be interested to hear more of your friends problem.
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!
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Hi Andy has vauxhall cracked the problem of broken cam belts in the new generation 2002 Vectra's or is it to early to tell?
Thanks
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AS
Had a similar failure on my 97 1.6 Ecotec Astra please read these links regarding my experience with Vauxhall using an independent repairer to carry out the work:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=60...#
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=78...#
12 months/14,000 miles later all is well.
HTH
Charles
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The engineer's verbal and preliminary report appears to indicate that the relevant bolt, securing the tensioning roller, may have been re-used (should a new one be used?) and /or it may have been overtightened as the 'flats' are burred. Thanks for the helpful comments re different types of roller used. All posts have proved very helpful - thank you.
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I know for certain that the camshaft sprocket bolt on the diesel engine should be renewed every time if slackened. And at only a few pence it's daft to ignore the advice.
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