The van has done it again

[ARW]

It could not have been my vehicle as my vehicle does not have a fan belt (as pointed out to the bell end several times)

[Richard]

Oh well. The pint was worth a punt and probably worth more than a Punto.

[Andrew]

That's odd because there is no hard shoulder on the bridge and the bridge operator would normally have recovered you back to safety anyway.

[Andrew]

Yes. The 'special tool' is some sort of plastic deflector that allows the belt to gradually 'jump across' the multiple grooves while the engine is turned with a socket set. I'll ask my neighbour next time I see him, he has done a few.

[tabbypurr]

why you've chosen to point that out yet again is a mystery, as is your bizarre attitude about this. Shrug.

[ARW]

Only £9.98

[John_j]

I did that and the radiator hoses in the Mark 1 Golf that I drove every day for 45 years and never actually needed to use any of them.

[Richard]

:)

[RJH]

Think they knew how to build a decent engine - some of the strongest and most innovative passenger car engines ever built in fact. And as well as the engineering, decent manufacturing methods (pre-GM at least).

Again - personally, I wouldn't lament the need for a service tool if it meant a better engineered solution with an assured fit. On the loose assumption it was reasonably easy to hire or buy.

[Steve Walker]

I don't know about that - did they in the '70s? Or maybe they wouldn't because of the increasing winds that stopped some types of RAC vehicles coming on too.

Even worse was that it was a hot summer's day and due to poor charging and using the battery for the TV and lights the night before, we dared not turn the engine off and to stop it overheating we had to leave the heater on full-blast.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Because it could be carried within your toolkit, transferred to whichever vehicle you were using, worked in (almost) any car and could be used to help out someone else if needed.

SteveW

[Dan S. MacAbre]

On me old Fiesta, if you get a 'proper' OEM belt, there is a little bent piece of steel supplied that makes a very difficult job into a simple one. Instead of throwing it away after the job, I keep one in the car 'just in case'.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Had a BMW like that. But it was an injection problem. The sort you might get with moving the car out of the garage in the morning, then stopping it when getting out to close the garage doors. Think it decided it was still the first start of the day and went fully rich. And fouled the plugs. Only certain cure was to fit new ones. There was a software upgrade early on which fixed it.

Only really experienced it when my local independent BMW place had it in for a service. They wanted it first thing, so I dropped it off the evening before. All they did was drive it from the secure forecourt onto the ramp. And then couldn't get it started afterwards. (That service didn't include a plug change)

I'd actually read about it on a BMW forum. It came as a surprise to them.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Modern silicone hoses can have a very decent life. Not sure they were around in Golf Mk1 days. But you could usually repair an older reinforced rubber type that had split with gaffer tape etc - for long enough to get home.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Their previous four cylinder unit was a much modified Triumph (BL) unit.

[John_j]

But much more convenient to have the spare in the car and the tool to replace the clips with. Access just isn't a problem even by the side of the road.

[ARW]

If it was my car it would have only cost a pint and the cost of the belt (and then probably an electrical job and a pint in return) as my brother is my mechanic.

Still I am not paying for this one as it's not my van.

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, John_j [e-mail] writes

Anyone remember the flexible coupling between the block and head on early Minis?

[bert]

I was recently surprised to find that max lifetime for a cam belt on a VW T5 Transporter van is 48 months. At nearly £600.00 dealer price that's an extra £150 pa on your servicing costs.

[bert]

Some year ago called out AA to Series 3 Land Rover. He was really chuffed to have a vehicle where he could actually fault find and repair. Mostly it was a case of give it a good looking at, load it up and recover to dealer.