To scrap or not to scrap? PReg Clio cam belt faliure :o(

[_nai_]

Just been informed by the RAC the cam belt on my beloved (yet obviously neglected) Clio has gone ... was doing less than 10mph at the time (literally just pulled off ) but apparently will cost more than the cars worth to repair...

Does anyone know how I can check this out without paying a fortune to tow it to a garage just to be told I need to scrap it? Or any cheaper ways of bringing it back to life??

[NORMANTHEDOG]

the cam belt on a car should be changed around every 40k or so,when it does go,on most cars it causes a lot of damage to the engine,on yours as its quite old its not worth repairing the engine,it might be cheaper to source a second hand engine and have that fitted,cost about �250 approx,other then that,scrap it.

[mr rusty]

Until you look you just won't know what damage has been done- I've seen heads and pistons completely wrecked, and I've seen them with nothing more than a bent valve stem, and you just can't tell until the heads off.

As a rule of thumb, if you are just moving off the damage is normally fairly minor, particularly if the car just stopped dead or you got your foot on the clutch quickly enough to stop the transmission driving the dead engine round.


If you can't do the work yourself, i'd say take it to a garage and ask them to check for damage: only once the head is off can you tell wether it's worth doing the repair or not.

If you have a couple of bent valve stems and nothing more than a bit of scratching on the piston tops then it'll be an affordable repair and a better deal than getting a secondhand engine, which will be a bit of a lottery and an unknown quantity................but you won't be able to decide until the head is off!

[NORMANTHEDOG]

it will cost you money to have it looked at as mr rusty says,take the word of the rac man

[Big Bri]

scrap it put your money into a new car .it will be more than the car is worth trust me

[playergaz]

some years ago i had a cam belt snap on my honda prelude & the AA man said that honda`s are renowned for dropping valves when the cam belt goes & that i should either replace the engine or scrap the car. I ignored his advice and brought a cam belt for �20 fitted it in about an hour & the car was absolutley fine.Maybe i was just very lucky.
In your situation it could be worth a go