My car is exhibiting some strange behavior, opinions welcome.

[Aldo]

I'm just glad that's all it was and it wasn't some incredibly expensive fix like last year when I had to replace my timing belt. Or the year before that when I had to get my transmission fixed.

Come to think of it, my car has been breaking down in January for the last three years like clockwork. It's kind of weird.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I assume (and hope) you got the timing belt (and water pump) replaced as general preventative maintenance for a car this age. That hardly counts as "breaking down."

 

[Captain Ice]

Well, I assume (and hope) you got the timing belt (and water pump) replaced as general preventative maintenance for a car this age. That hardly counts as "breaking down."

And if you haven't done either of these recently, you could be in a real world of hurt. How many miles are on the car and have either of these ever been replaced?

 

[Trekker4747]

He said in the post I was responding to that he had gotten the timing belt replaced but seemed to lump it in with a yearly "bad luck" he has with the car, which I'd argue replacing the timing belt isn't "bad luck" because it's something you supposed to do as part of maintenance.

 

[Captain Ice]

Did not catch that, and you are right. That's just a maintenance item.

 

[indranee]

Why do people hate Neons? Poor l'il Neon :'(

 

[propita]

My old car did that years ago, a 1996 or 1997 GM. The gauges went crazy, but never landed on the correct numbers. Not the battery or alternator but the whole damn dash went bad, something hiding deep inside. Not a cheap but not a super expensive fix, just kinda-expensive. Pain in the ass, though. I literally had no idea how much gas I had or how fast I was going.

 

[Aldo]

Well, I assume (and hope) you got the timing belt (and water pump) replaced as general preventative maintenance for a car this age. That hardly counts as "breaking down."

Timing belt snapped and nearly caused damage to my motor. That's why I mentioned it as "breaking down." I literally did break down at a light, had to push my car off the road and call a tow truck.

 

[MacLeod]

Had a battery go on me once. It worked fine one day, then the following day nothing.

 

[ares93]

Well, I assume (and hope) you got the timing belt (and water pump) replaced as general preventative maintenance for a car this age. That hardly counts as "breaking down."

Timing belt snapped and nearly caused damage to my motor. That's why I mentioned it as "breaking down." I literally did break down at a light, had to push my car off the road and call a tow truck.

Mate, yer one lucky bugger. Of all the cars with snapped timing belts that have come through the shop, and they number in the dozen. Maybe two or three avoided damage to the engine.

EDIT: I seem to recall a cop car that snapped the timing belt during a high speed pursuit. Imagine a working engine thrown into a very big blender. Thats how it looked afterwards. The damage a timing belt can do still amazes me.

 

[MacLeod]

Another few thousand miles and I'll have to get mine changed. Yes it was changed at 20 000 miles but I'm around 65 000 miles and better to err on the side of caution.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I assume (and hope) you got the timing belt (and water pump) replaced as general preventative maintenance for a car this age. That hardly counts as "breaking down."

Timing belt snapped and nearly caused damage to my motor. That's why I mentioned it as "breaking down." I literally did break down at a light, had to push my car off the road and call a tow truck.

Eh.... I still wouldn't call that "breaking down" since the timing belt snapped due to not being replaced when it should have. Saying your car broke down in that issue is blaming the wrong thing in this case. Would you say your car "broke down" and blame it if, say, you ran out of gas?

Another few thousand miles and I'll have to get mine changed. Yes it was changed at 20 000 miles but I'm around 65 000 miles and better to err on the side of caution.

Err.... What reasonable, responsible, mechanic would replace a timing belt at 25,000 or even 65,000 miles? You got ripped off, mate, unless something happened. Timing belts are supposed to be changed at 100,000 miles. Unless you're talking about your car's serpentine belt (what runs on all of the fans, pulleys, and equipment in the car) which should be changed once in a great while (I think 25,000 is too soon, but it can depend.)

The timing belt isn't the belt(s) you see spinning in your car as the engine runs, it's more towards the back of the engine and is vastly more critical to the engine's operation. It's also why they can be so expensive to replace on most cars these days the mechanic has to practically take the engine apart to get to it; which is why the water-pump is also changed with the timing belt; to get to one you have to remove the other so it's cheaper in the long-run to change them both at the same time.

 

[Pingfah]

Eh.... I still wouldn't call that "breaking down" since the timing belt snapped due to not being replaced when it should have. Saying your car broke down in that issue is blaming the wrong thing in this case. Would you say your car "broke down" and blame it if, say, you ran out of gas?

No, because nothing broke. Breaking down is when something breaks, like a timing belt.

 

[MacLeod]

^^Well it is a diesel. And timing belts can need changing anywhere from 60 000 - 100 000 miles depending on make and model.

 

[Trekker4747]

Eh.... I still wouldn't call that "breaking down" since the timing belt snapped due to not being replaced when it should have. Saying your car broke down in that issue is blaming the wrong thing in this case. Would you say your car "broke down" and blame it if, say, you ran out of gas?

No, because nothing broke. Breaking down is when something breaks, like a timing belt.

"Breaking down", however, implies that some part on the car failed unexpectedly and at no real fault of the driver; it's "the car's fault." If I'm driving down the road and my car breaks down because the alternator suddenly went kaput then that's not my fault, a part failed.

In Aldo's case he, apparently, didn't do something that's part of regular preventative maintenance on owning a car; changing the timing belt. So is the fact that it broke really "the car's fault?" It's Aldo's fault the timing belt broke, he didn't get it changed when he was supposed to have. The car didn't "break down" a part failed pretty much at time when it was expected to. You can't put that on the car.

Another few thousand miles and I'll have to get mine changed. Yes it was changed at 20 000 miles but I'm around 65 000 miles and better to err on the side of caution.

Changing at 20,000 even on a diesel sounds awfully soon, unless the car see a lot of work. 60 sounds about right.

I always wondered why cars never adopted the timing-chain? Those practically never need to be replaced! My last car had one and I didn't know it, went to get the timing belt changed at around 100,000 and the shop guy was like, "This car has a timing-chain you should never need to replace it." I guess they don't have timing chains as part of some conspiratorial "planned maintenance" program to ensure the owner of a car has to have some major repairs/maintenance to keep money flowing back to the dealer (presumably, if their methods to keep the driver going back to the dealer for repairs, I got my belt changed at a local shop.) I mean, you sell someone a car with a timing belt and that's another $1,000 likely in your in 8 years.

 

[MacLeod]

^It had been changed before I bought it. It had a full service history. So I think it was changed as part of fixing another part.

 

[Pingfah]

Eh.... I still wouldn't call that "breaking down" since the timing belt snapped due to not being replaced when it should have. Saying your car broke down in that issue is blaming the wrong thing in this case. Would you say your car "broke down" and blame it if, say, you ran out of gas?

No, because nothing broke. Breaking down is when something breaks, like a timing belt.

"Breaking down", however, implies that some part on the car failed unexpectedly and at no real fault of the driver; it's "the car's fault." If I'm driving down the road and my car breaks down because the alternator suddenly went kaput then that's not my fault, a part failed.

In Aldo's case he, apparently, didn't do something that's part of regular preventative maintenance on owning a car; changing the timing belt. So is the fact that it broke really "the car's fault?" It's Aldo's fault the timing belt broke, he didn't get it changed when he was supposed to have. The car didn't "break down" a part failed pretty much at time when it was expected to. You can't put that on the car.

Was it the car's fault? Who cares. That's completely irrelevant

As usual you are taking an extraordinarily simple concept and complicating it to the point of absurdity. Part of the engine broke, the car broke down, the rest is just blathering.

 

[Captain Ice]

Trekker, not all timing belts have 100,000mile replacement intervals. My last Ford vehicle had a 60,000mile replacement interval for the timing belt. Thankfully, both of the cars i have had since then have had timing chains.

 

[ares93]

^ There is one problem with chains. They'll hold until hell freezes over, but in the off chance that they snap. I can guarantee that you're buggered, cause no one has the part in stock. That is, if your engine survived it.

 

[Aldo]

Car's all done, after I take a shower I'm off to go pick her up!

After my roommate came home last night I mentioned to him where I took it and how much it was costing, and he said I totally should have took it somewhere else. After I called that other place and got a quote I totally should have...d'oh! I'll know better next time, but the important thing is my car is in working order now.