NEVER BUY FROM CAR CRAFT!!!

[chunkielad]

The cam belt tensioner has gone on the Alfa so it can't be started without killing the engine. I rang the Alfa dealer in Manchester and explained that the car is still under warranty from CarCraft and all I have to do is pass the car to a VAT registered garage, they get authorisation for the work and then invoice NAC (the warranty people ) direct.

Alfa dealer laughed - 'You pay us and chase it yourself. CarCraft and NAC never pay out!"
So I rang all the main dealers for all makes of car including the Alfa authorised repair centre in Bolton and a handfull of independant garages in Leigh, Wigan, Tyldesley,Atherton and the surrounding areas. They all said the same.

I called CarCraft 'customer services' who advised that outside 90 days it was out of their hands and it is tough on me. SO Ner was gonna be her next line but I hung up after advising that the trading standards route will be taken as they have a responsibility under the Sales of Goods act 1988 Incl ammendments in 1995 and 1998.

So, a full cambelt kit needed, no way of getting the money from Carcraft or NAC means I am £260 out of pocket (incl Labour) for a repair that is covered under warranty!!!!!
____________________
Mark Harrison R.I.P - 26th March 2003.
Remember you always and will ride in your honour.
Big revvs up for Mark!

[Valentino Mossy]

Thats a bugger !
They nice as pie when they want to sell you something,and dont want to know when something goes wrong !
Are you changing the cambelt as well ?
Maybe it would be cheaper for you to buy the parts of the net and get the local garage to do it for you ?
I did that with my mx5, Mazda wanted £450 for the cam belt change, the local garage did it for £120 and the parts i got was £60.
But you dont get the stamp in the book though is the thing
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[Fuddymumpster]

Warrenties from people like RAC and NAC are not worth the paper they are wrote on. My 406 coupe is totally shagged and would you believe that none of the faults are covered under their policy. The garage where I bought the car from are looking at the problem now but are resuctant to do anything with it. I suggested that the car has been faulty from when I bought it and that Trading standards had been told and they are thinking about what to do with it. I don't care if I don't see that pile of crap ever again as long as I get some money for it. Generally all car dealers are modern day highway men! Still I've got my bike to play with now.

[Kickstart]

Hi

How old is your car? How many miles has it done?

From memory it is a 2L 16V TS engine. The early ones of those had a known problem with the cam belt tensioner. They often failed early, taking the cam belt out and resulting in the valves and pistons meeting. If the tensioner has failed without the belt jumping then you are very lucky.

However any of these early tensioners should really have been changed by now. On these engines never change the belt without changing the tensioner (although the same applies to many modern engines).

Warrenties are a waste of time as they have so many exclusions. Worst of it is that a full service history really does not mean that much anymore. For example on our Clio the cam belt is due to be changed at 70000 miles, but the dealers will only do this if they are instructed to. Most of the servicing is done for leasing companies, and they play a numbers game. A load of cam belt changes skipped will pay for the odd car which fails (the rest will fail after they sell the car on, so they don't care).

By the way the Alfa 16V TS engine is not an easy one to change the belt on properly. The correct way of doing it is using a replacement tempory camshaft cam to locate the cams correctly.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[chunkielad]

It's a 1.6 Kickstart not the 2l but the belt will be changed too. The warranty says it does cover the tensioner and the belt. The AA guy ( a mate of mine who knows what he is on about) says it hasn't skipped and should be fine after a new belt, tensioner and idler bearling.

The car is 3yrs 6 months and has done 32K miles. The belt has never been replaced though by the looks of it as the original stickers were still intact over one of the cover bolts. Chances are this is an old tensioner.

I took a look last night and the belt has been worn on the outside by the fact that it has rubbed against the tensioner which is totally jammed.

The warranty says that I needed to service within 6K miles or 6 months if no previous date of service was shown ( the car has a full service history).

This car needs a special cam lock tool to do the work so I can't even think of sorting it myself!
____________________
Mark Harrison R.I.P - 26th March 2003.
Remember you always and will ride in your honour.
Big revvs up for Mark!

[Kickstart]

Hi

Good luck getting it sorted. At that age I would think it would have the newer style tensioner bearing (from memory the old ones were black and the new ones white).

The 1.6 TS engine is very similar to the 2L TS.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing