Dream Weaver

Had a phone call at 9pm last night - the fiancee had broken down on the motorway, and walked to my parents house which luckily was about 5 minutes away back down the sliproad (I bought her a mobile for these siutations, but it had no time left on it - bloody typical )

To cut a long one, the AA guy turned up and kindly told us the cam belt had done one [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

It is only a H-Reg Clio, but it was mint and only had 55k miles on it, hence we had planned on keeping it for the next year til after our wedding cos it was paid for.

I would guess it is worth £500, but the repairs would cost about £300 so we will have to buy a new motor. Question is, what do we do with the Clio? Not worth much with no engine!!

DW

David_Wallis

what engine was in it? Should be able to pick one up quite cheap... how much is a new car going to cost? more that 300... then there is the hassle of mot / tax insurance... just get a recon engine...

David

Dream Weaver

It does tend to break down a bit though - just had new wheel bearing, new carb plugs or something, new rear brakes etc etc.

Although it is low mileage, it has whethered 10 years in the UK.

DW

Could always put a 16v engine, brakes, and sus in and use it for trackdays

jjones

engine from breakers will be about 150 quid (assuming 1.2). then if you cant fit it yourself - maybe 300-400 - ask the breakers who they recommend to fit it - they usually know the cheap half decent locals.

good luck

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Sounds like you've done a lot of work on it now. If it does the job I'd keep it and get it fixed.

Better the devil you know.

David_Wallis

id get a quote for an engine from a breakers... is it the core plugs they did? do you know whether it has done any damage to the engine, or can you just stick a new cam belt on? what damage has it done if any?

David

Alpine

I'd go with the better the devil you know guys... FWIW

russell hayward

I agree, Get it repaired !!!!!!!!!

NotoriousREV

Stick a 2 litre Laguna motor in there, you know it makes sense. Keep the rest of the car stock though, it'd be quite a sleeper

Dream Weaver

Cheers guys - may just get it repaired then. Luckily i know a good mechanic who only charges about £20 an hour.

David - yes it was the Core Plugs. Renault wanted £396 to do them. Got them done by said mechanic above for £100!!!! Robbin' buggers.

May ring him now, but dont know if there is any engine damage yet. The engine wasn't warm as she had only done a mile, but we did try to turn it over a few times. Not really sure whether that affects it or not. I am just a bit worried that when he takes it to bits, all the melted parts fall out. Worth looking though I suppose.

DW

Dream Weaver

Just phoned my mechanic - Clio is going in on Monday to see what the damage is.

He reckons even if it needs 4 new valves he can do it for £220 all in with parts and labour, so decided it will be worth doing I think. May even be lucky and find there is no damage.

Just booked my MR2 in as well for a new cambelt just in case

DW

BOB.T

I know where theres a cheap Fiesta

Dream Weaver

Bollox

Had the Clio fixed on Wednesday - blown all 8 valves, total cost £290 for new valves, gaskets, oil etc.

Missus goes out in it last night and breaks down on motorway AGAIN!! Same motorway, same time, same evening as last week. AA called out again, and this time the Alternator has gone. How annoying are cars when they start breaking down all the time [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Really dont need this today [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

DW

Denzil_Dog

i know somebody else who gets bad luck like this
i hate my ferkin work car sometimes

i feel for you bro

JoeyDeacon

Dream Weaver,

The car is slowly dying, if it was me I would get shot of it for something newer. I had the same thing with my Old F reg Peugeot 205 GTi and my friend had the same thing with his old H reg Escort RS Turbo.

Trouble with cars is they don't suddenly die one day they just end up costing more and more to keep on the road. What ends up happeneing is you spend a load of money on the car (as you have just doen) to get it fixed and you think might as well keep it now as I have just had it fixed when a few weeks later something else goes wrong. In my experience you are just chucking good money after bad so get the alternator fixed and get shot of it.

TaviaRS

[ rant mode]
And the best part is that the AA will only come out 5 or 6 (i think) times in a year to you. I had the following in a year:

Throttle cable snapped
Exhaust snapped off at manifold
Cracked radiator
Electrical fault that stopped car from starting

This was on 2 different cars. I then got a letter that if I called them out after the 5th or 6th time I would be charged call out and repair. Now I've been a member since 1988 and including the ones above have called them out 7 times. What made it worse was that 3 days after getting the letter about withdrawing free assitance I get some direct marketing form them offering me a loan to buy a more reliable car!
[ /rant mode]

Sorry for hijacking your thread.