Cambelt Paranoia

[highlander]

I've got the Coupe booked in for her timing belt change on Thursday the 20th of January - just one week away - yet the horrible niggling feeling at the back of my mind is driving me nuts. I am still getting used to how the 2.2 engine sounds, so any noise, creak, groan, squeak, or vibration I wasn't expecting is making me panic!

Please don't snap, please don't snap, please don't snap ... only another week, please!

Anyone else going through similar car-related anxiety at the moment?

[Gary406]

leave the car on the drive parked up and only use it to drive it the garage

then you wont be worried

[Doggy]

Please don't snap, please don't snap, please don't snap ... only another week, please!

Anyone else going through similar car-related anxiety at the moment?

Me

[GeordieBoy]

Just drive it normally, dont rev the nuts of it, espec when cold.

[FarmerPug]

my orange light is on and i dont fill up until friday thats just an eccentricity i have, but it should last till tommorow.

[lozz]

Im just waiting for the warmer weather to come and im changing my cam belt,
idont know if its been changed in the past,
My guess is its on its original belt and im coming up too 114,000 miles and idont know the correct belt change intervals on these but ipresume its past its Recomended date for change,
idoes leave me paranoid about it going somedays ..but im not freezing my nads off changing it,
and the Garages want £250 to change it fecking jokers

[FarmerPug]

why is there a belt used to drive the cams, wouldnt some mechanical system like cogs or the thing old locomotives used for turning the wheel be better.

[lozz]

why is there a belt used to drive the cams, wouldnt some mechanical system like cogs or the thing old locomotives used for turning the wheel be better.

cam belts are easier and cheaper to change,
if they was on chains iwouidnt of bought a 406

[FarmerPug]

i think chains are a better idea my old merc had chains i think because the tensioner was on its way out it only covered 170k on that tensioner, bloody cheap german shite.

[lozz]

i think chains are a better idea my old merc had chains i think because the tensioner was on its way out it only covered 170k on that tensioner, bloody cheap german shite.

Ithink mercs are very Reliable,
But there a fecking Nightmare when they go wrong : ive not long sold one of my beloved mercs she Was a money pitt,
isold her for £1,200 she was a £5k motor iwas Glad to Get shot of it altho she was the best looking car ive ever had

[FarmerPug]

my old merc had a very solid build quality the doors opened and closed with a thud that no other company knows of. Though my old merc wasnt exactly an original, it was a 230te automatic, and got the engine donated out of a 190e 2.5d making it a 250d. My cousin drove it for 12 years solid and never did anything to it, except not service it, treat it like sh*t, and it was also hit on the wing. I considered fixing it up but didnt bother because even if i did it was a mongrel of a car, it would have been worth it if it was a genuine 300d estate instead. Also merc parts are not cheap so it wasnt that overly affordable to work at.

[lozz]

my old merc had a very solid build quality the doors opened and closed with a thud that no other company knows of. Though my old merc wasnt exactly an original, it was a 230te automatic, and got the engine donated out of a 190e 2.5d making it a 250d. My cousin drove it for 12 years solid and never did anything to it, except not service it, treat it like sh*t, and it was also hit on the wing. I considered fixing it up but didnt bother because even if i did it was a mongrel of a car, it would have been worth it if it was a genuine 300d estate instead. Also merc parts are not cheap so it wasnt that overly affordable to work at.

The merc ihad
had a computer built into it so every time you turned the ign on it wouid give you its life story,
shite like Your brake pads need changing,
your oil needs changing
you have a bulb out its now switched too another aux bulb,

somedays itwouid come up with 37 faults and there was feck all wrong with it,
there was no way of switching all the ^ bull shite off,

The amount of times igot in it and said Just shut up and drive you peice of shite were unreal

and then it got a derv knock which was the injectors £280 each for re-conditioned ones

so isold it off cheap and cut my losses,

imiss the car tho,
it was one of them cars that looked nice sat on the drive nice and shiny but best not to use it because something wouid break on it,

[FarmerPug]

merc you must remember lowered its quality standards severly between the years of 1997 and 2005 i think its when they did the deal with chrysler, it didnt help chrysler, and it definatley didnt help merc. Before that mereceds were building tanks not cars, the old square volovs may have looked tough but an old merc estate was even tougher.

[lozz]

merc you must remember lowered its quality standards severly between the years of 1997 and 2005 i think its when they did the deal with chrysler, it didnt help chrysler, and it definatley didnt help merc. Before that mereceds were building tanks not cars, the old square volovs may have looked tough but an old merc estate was even tougher.

aye true,
this merc looked classy and was a tank but,
iwas too poor to keep her on the road,

idont know if this link works but if it does theres a pic of her on there after i parked her up and just let the spiders build homes in her lovely leather interior

http://s553.photobucket.com/albums/jj39 ... IM0141.jpg

[Welly]

Back the original question @ Highlander - I know exactly how you feel......in 2005 I bought a V6 Mazda with 45K miles but it was 8 years old and HADN'T had the belt done I drove it back from Brum and sat it on my drive for a week until I could get the belt changed (which I gingerly drove down to the garage for).

Anyhoo, when they whipped the belt out it was almost perfect just starting to show signs of ageing but was otherwise in remarkable condition. If I was you I'd just drive it nice and steady and, more importantly, super-smoothly and you'll be fine.

It's perfectly normal to panic a bit with a new car, it's only human. Here's a similar tale....when I first bought my 4-year old Volvo I was paranoid about squeezing through traffic and would always sit there letting everyone through until I had a nice big space to pass through in case I scratched my shiney new paintwork but 2 years later I squeeze that thing through the most impossible gaps without a thought .........still don't park it near anyone though