If you read the manual, it will say something along the lines of "the cambelt and associated tensioners/pulleys should be replaced at xx,000 miles or x years, whichever occurs sooner."
The belts and pulleys will deteriorate with age. If the car has reached the age at which the manual recommends, then tell her to get it changed.
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A know it all father and a what daddy says goes girl....the cause of so many tales of motoring woe...!
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£200 now vs. whatever the cost for a good used engine plus fitting... if you know she won't listen anyway, don't mention it. I'd change it if I wanted to keep the car running but it's probably better for you to let her find out for herself unfortunately.
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A TU cambelt change is one of the easiest to do, TU5 under the bonnet of this Saxo, parts are cheap ( get the cambelt kit ) so theres no excuse for not changing it.
2 hours labour tops for this job, I know Peugeot technicians who can do one of these TU cambelts in 45 minutes.
If it does snap it will bend all the valves so be warned, thats when it gets expensive.
If she loves the car that much then shes a fool for not having the cambelt replaced.
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Cars ought to have double cambelts, like fan belts, with a sensor and warning buzzer when one breaks.
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Cars ought to have double cambelts, like fan belts, with a sensor and warning buzzer when one breaks.
Now that sounds like an excelent idea, and if one could be on each end of the engine, although I'll admit I can't see how you could get one on the flywheel end, it could also reduce engine wear.
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Factors such as oil contamination over time can also reduce the life of a cambelt quite apart from time and usage.
Although the cambelt cover was dry and devoid of oil mist, when I puchased a near eight year old 306 (XU7 1.8 eight valve) with just 14k genuine miles (the previous "owner from new" was known to us) almost the first thing I did was get the cambelt replaced. I'm glad I did because the teeth were cracking at their roots. The car is four years and over 30k miles further down the road now, and if it's still with us in a year's time I'll get the cambelt replaced again (together with alternator belt and water pump at the same time since the former has to come off anyway to get to the cam belt, the latter requires the cam belt to be removed to get to it if it fails, and the major cost is in the cambelt labour anyway)
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My grandmother had a Saxo 1.1, which in the 9 years she had it only did 27000 miles. I kept nagging her to get the cambelt changed, but the Citroen dealer told her it didn't need changing until the car had got to 72000 miles or 10 years old, whichever was first. If it were my car I would have changed it sooner, but the car was still running on the cambelt it left the factory with when she sold it.
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Fiesta (Yamaha) Zetec engine belts are specd to 100k and 10 yrs and AFAIK the interval has never been down graded. Owning 2 10yr old Fiestas with 55k and 95k respectively, I am agonising whether to change or just run to failure. The value of the cars hardly warrants spending the money.
I am intrigued by an earlier posters comment that belt life is compromised by 'oil contamination'. pleas explain.
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pmh (was peter)
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I have just reread the earlier post, it can be read in 2 ways! I initially read it as 'contaminated oil', what he actually means is belt contaminated with oil! All is clear now.
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pmh (was peter)
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Owning 2 10yr old Fiestas with 55k and 95k respectively, I am agonising whether to change or just run to failure. The value of the cars hardly warrants spending the money.
I changed the belt and tensioner on our Fiesta Zetec (1997) at 82,000 miles. The belt actually looked fine with no sign of cracking or perishing on the teeth, and no contamination of any description. The tensioner however was another story. Noticeable play in the bearings, and very rough when spun, I seriously have my doubts that it would have made the 100k mark.
I find your second comment a little odd. A belt and tensioner change on these cars can be done for under £100 DIY, or professionally for around £200. Even the latter is only about a fifth of what any tidy Zetec engined Fiesta with reasonable mileage is worth.
Cheers
DP
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DP Why do you find it odd?
I value the cars at about 500£ each and on the basis that both these cars do about 5k miles per year now, the chances on a failure occuring in the next few years must be less than 1 in 3 say, do I want to spend the money? Even with a wrecked engine I would probably pickup £200 for the car. So the financial case is certainly not clear cut. However if I factor in the inconvenience of a failure occuring at an inconvenient time (eg on the way to an airport ) it probably is worth doing.
But thanks for your comment on tensioner, it means I may think about doing the high mileage one! All a case of finding the time.
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pmh (was peter)
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I value the cars at about 500£ each
I don't know the condition or spec of your cars, but if they're clean you might be pleasantly surprised, particularly the lower mileage one. We were looking for a 1.4 Zetec engined Fiesta last year, £1200 seemed to be a starting point for anything with under 100k on the clock and any form of history. We ended up at £1600 for a clean, proper historied 1997 example but that was after weeks of hunting. There is some real carp about though - it took us weeks to find ours.
A thumb through Autotrader suggests a grand, or thereabouts is still the going rate for clean 1.25's and a few hundred quid more for an equivalent 1.4.
Cheers
DP
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I see this as a safety issue as well as a financial/convenience one. You really don't want a cambelt to break just as you make a slightly marginal right turn onto a busy A-road for instance, especially not for the sake of £100 every 6 years.
I have a family member with a 97 Megane, on 35K and its original cambelt. Manual says 60K or 5 years. I've given up.
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too expensive. far better to just have one cambelt, dole out some advice (advice is free) and then if it goes wrong let the customer pay.
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