Cambelt help

[clayton6]

Quite a long story. Bought second hand 182 with 57k miles. Paid a little extra because it had cambelt change at 56K miles as stamped in the book.

Engine started making whining noise so got on to the garage that did the cambelt to ask what was carried out with the cambelt change. Kept saying they would get back to me and kept fobbing me off. Eventually got back to me after probly going on for 15 calls to them. Give me a list of everything that was changed with the cambelt so I worried no more.


The noise got worse so as my missus works for Jaguar she contacted the garage asking for all the invoices for the car's past services etc as it was for a customer's car that was in having work.
No cambelt change or invoice matching the date on the stamp got sent. After a call to the garage from her boss, we found out it never had the cambelt change done, the garage had lied and knew the previous owner and stamped the book for free because he needed to sell the car so it looked better with the cambelt change in the book.

Surely I must be able to do something about this and surely that is something illegal that has happened.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Fred@BTM]

common story in the used 172/182 world

dealers buy them cheap at auction, find out how much it is to do a belt on them and fabricate a stamp

some dealers do have the belt changed, but 99% of them are done incorrectly, rectifying other garages cambelt changes is a common sight in my workshop!

 

[clayton6]

What mileage do the 182's have to be changed by Fred, mine is now on 61K so is it overdue?

 

[Fred@BTM]

5years from new or 72K, whichever comes first

 

[clayton6]

Ok thanks. That makes it half a year over due, great!
Absolutely raging

Is it not against the law to falsely give a service stamp?

 

[laz5758]

In a word...Yes

 

[Fred@BTM]

proving it will be your problem, get the belts done ASAP (full cambelt kit and full aux belt KIT)

go see a specialist

then chase them through small claims?

 

[clayton6]

The call was recorded because it was done through the Evans Halshaw call centre because her boss had a weird feeling about it after the invoices.

Where's the best place to take it in North west. Take it I'm looking at about £500/600?

 

[Fred@BTM]

na sub £500

 

[mikekean]

I doubt there is anything you can do. Unless you have something in writing ie: letter or email from the garage saying they didnt do the work then its your word againts there's. There is no way you can accuratley proove if the cambelt has been changed or not.

Only thing i can suggest is that you go back to the person you bought it from and threaten them with legal action for falsley selling you the car knowing full well the belt had not been changed.

You dont really have a leg to stand on but they might be naive enough to give you some money back towards the cost of getting it done, But they will more than likely tell you to get stuffed. If you bought the car sold as seen then i wouldnt even bother trying.

Because it is so hard to proove im not sure you will get anywhere with small claims court.

 

[pvsmark]

Had exactly the same thing happen to me when I got mine, Garage assured me the Cambelt had been done so checked with the previous owner and it hadn't which made it a year overdue (believe me i learnt from this mistake). Tried getting the garage to replace it but they only told me it had been done so had no legal comeback so had to bite the bullet and pay.

You might have a better chance however as you have the stamp but i wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[Fred@BTM]

oh if its got a stamp then the garage should be able to produce an invoice for it

i just need the date of the stamp (if its one of my stamps) and the reg

 

[clayton6]

oh if its got a stamp then the garage should be able to produce an invoice for it

i just need the date of the stamp (if its one of my stamps) and the reg

That's what I mean, the book is stamped but they have no invoice for the date of the "cambelt change" then admitted it was never done.

Just to mention it wasn't a private sale, it was from a dealer.

Surely I've got enough proof, in the book being stamped but no cambelt change ( was dated as Nov 09 ) so surely you would be able to tell a 4 month old cambelt that has covered 2K miles.

 

[clayton6]

Booked it in for cambelt/aux kit and a service with NW Performance for a good price.
Hopefully will feel alot better as of next week

 

[yee_har]

.... surely you would be able to tell a 4 month old cambelt that has covered 2K miles.

That's where my thinking was as in "surely one can tell one that's been on since build and done 57k".
Would like to think an engineer (NWP?) would be able to tell and vouch for you.

Shame that there aren't two official belts - stamped or coded "build" and "service".

 

[clayton6]

Yep just going to get this sorted then i'll look into dealing with that garage.

My proof is stamped book but no invoice or record of it being done, email proof from the owner of the garage saying it had never been carried out but was stamped for a friend, a recorded phone call and hopefully NWP verdict of the current belt.

I wasn't too bothered before but I had a 20 min chat with the garage on the phone and apparently it's my fault for just relying on the service book and that I would have to change the belts again eventually anyway. t**t

 

[Keith185]

Sorry to hear What a bunch of w**ers.

Horror stories like this just makes me glad that my Clio is booked into Birchdown on Tuesday for the cambelt.

Hope all gets sorted

 

[stoney182]

is there specialist tools to do this job or is it a straight forward one like zetecs etc many thanx as i think i will do mine in the next month or so.

 

[CuppyDean]

is there specialist tools to do this job or is it a straight forward one like zetecs etc many thanx as i think i will do mine in the next month or so.

Yeah you need genuine renault locking tools to do the job, and its not a straight forward job, even worse if you car has aircon as space is more limited

 

[stoney182]

Yeah you need genuine renault locking tools to do the job, and its not a straight forward job, even worse if you car has aircon as space is more limited

yeah i have aircon mate bugger wats not straiight forward about them? i am a mechanic at a range rover specialists and have been for 10yrs now but i will know ppl with the special tools just obv never done one of these before and its even more stress full on ya own motor isnt it lol:S

 

[5alldaway!]

you can buy the tool from renault, recently had my cam belt by a renault specialist and lets just say a backstreet garage did a pretty pisspoor job of it previously

 

[stoney182]

you can buy the tool from renault, recently had my cam belt by a renault specialist and lets just say a backstreet garage did a pretty pisspoor job of it previously

i cant afford to do piss poor jobs matey every car i work on is above 60k in value and the ferraris are 100k plus and the classic astons some of them iam not insured to drive and works insurance covers me upto 190k

 

[CuppyDean]

yeah i have aircon mate bugger wats not straiight forward about them? i am a mechanic at a range rover specialists and have been for 10yrs now but i will know ppl with the special tools just obv never done one of these before and its even more stress full on ya own motor isnt it lol:S

I think space is the issue as there is very little of it, but im sure if you ask a renault specialist on here they will tell you alot more about it, as for genuine renault tools to change the cambelt i think there about £80 for all 3 of them

 

[stoney182]

ahh cool i got a couple of cars atm so can take it off the road for abit to do the job and use the other one lol thanks for the advice!

 

[mikekean]

That's what I mean, the book is stamped but they have no invoice for the date of the "cambelt change" then admitted it was never done.

Just to mention it wasn't a private sale, it was from a dealer.

Surely I've got enough proof, in the book being stamped but no cambelt change ( was dated as Nov 09 ) so surely you would be able to tell a 4 month old cambelt that has covered 2K miles.

If it was from a dealer then i would id deffinatly be taking some sort of action against them, with the proof you have got id say you would have a good chance of getting it sorted. I didnt realise you had any proof before.

 

[5alldaway!]

get a water pump on it while your there, and remember a cam belt kit, not just a cam belt

 

[clayton6]

If it was from a dealer then i would id deffinatly be taking some sort of action against them, with the proof you have got id say you would have a good chance of getting it sorted. I didnt realise you had any proof before.

This is what I'm not understanding though, surely the fault would lie with the garage where it has been stamped and not the dealer where it was traded in to? Or is it the dealers responsibility to make sure everything is in check? Need to find these things out before I rush into anything, I'm pretty sure I've got enough evidence to do something about it but need to do it the right way.

Also found out tonight the ONLY things it has had changed is ONE air filter and an oil change since it's first service at Liverpool Renault at 8000 miles......yet every service is stamped fully in the book from an independent garage. That's 51000 miles with skimped services and one oil change.

I'll see what NW Performance say next week before I get too worried. Pissed off is not the word though!

 

[mcphee197]

Clayton, I used NW performance for my old 197. Top lads