General Marea Cambelt nightmare

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General Marea Cambelt nightmare

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Sep 6, 2004
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My birds giving me hell. We were travelling back from Liverpool airport last night when the Cambelt snapped on her 1997R 1581cc Auto ELX Marea. The cars done 51,000 miles and only had a service 2 weeks ago. We had it dropped at the garage where the work was done (it had a previous service there also). She was told today that the garage would not be responsible for the work as it could 'break at any time' . I understand that the belt should be changed at 72,000 miles OR after 5 years whichever comes first, but am looking for written confirmation of this in writing from a legitamate source. The car is of course 7 years old. Should they have suggested that it be changed? Should they have at least checked the state of the Cambelt? Where would I obtain best practise information as regards when the Cambelt should be changed? Any input would be most apreciated as I am reliably informed by my girlfriend that I should have all the answers and that the odds of me ever getting oo oo again are limited :( undefined.
 
hmmm well my cambelt went on the other bravo - it shoule be done between 60 - 70k i think - dont quote me. my bravo had done about 50 odd k and i didnt have the car 4 months - it was covered by insurance so i didnt pay a thing.

My current bravo has done 104k and i bought it last year at 82k and the belt was changed at 80k, sometimes its just one of those things. i would always recommend a belt change with a new(to you) car - this helps to keep the likeliness of something like this to happen to a minimum. I didnt change the belt in this bravo coz it was done a few months before i bought the car and there was proof.

But in future to anyone getting a car - get the belt changed - its too expensive to risk anything going wrong.

But i doubt very much the garage would do anything, its usually one of those things and would only reccomenned a change of belt guided by the cars serivce manual, unless you can prove it was something they did that caused it to go. my brother had a belt change in his mgf - only lasted a few weeks and it went, there was an investagation against rover and it was found out where they boxed the belt in they had missed a screw and it had fallen into the box where the belt is and the srew just sredded the belt over time.

i hope this has been of help :)
 
The recommended change as per the Fiat service book is 72K or 5 years, whichever is sooner so I'm afraid you wouldn't really have any comeback. I would suggest that if it was a Fiat garage they should have warned you but I doubt there would be any legal course fo ryou to take unless they had changed it and then it failed.

Most reputable Fiat specialists now advise a cambelt change for all Bravo/as and Mareas at between 36 - 48K or 5 years, whichever is sooner. The problem with these engines is that they are not "Safe" engines like the Punto. Also, it's the tensioners that fail more often than the cambelt as they had nylon tensioners. Fiat do not supply the nylon ones anymore as a consequence.

Hope you get it sorted and get some oo oo soon chap.;)
 
Thanks Sammiundefinedboo & Ozric-al - The car is 7 years old + it was serviced by the garage in question when 6 Years old and according to an associate I just spoke to the mechanics guide in such matters advises a change at 6 years or 72,000 whichever is earlier. May sujest redress through small claims but feel that this may be hitting a nail with sledge hammer given that mistakes happen & I think any garage could be caught out with this. Also dont know if this is suffcient enough a screw up to have a crack at! The reason i'm annoyed though is that my girlfriend always ask the garage how thinks are generally with the car when it passes its service and they've never mentioned the Cambelt even though the car is 7 Years old.​
Ozrik​

am an eat static fan by the way and have noticed the Ozrics some time back having a gig up our way at the witchwood in ashton - a nice suprise but unfortunately missed by the writer.
 
Try here guy: - http://bravo-guide.co.uk/cambelt-guide.htm
From the Bravo Guide which covers Mareas too.

Recently saw the Ozrics live and by happy coincidence they were being supported by none other than Nodens Ictus AND Eat Static! Fantastic gig!

Keep an eye on here as I have posted before on the Bravo Forum when there are gigs about so may do on here as well being as there are a few fans about. :)
FF meet at the next one? Nice. ;)
 
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