Mk1Renault Clio-Advice please

[BigMac]

Mother Mac has asked me to 'go on that brown car website and ask for some advice'. She has had snapped the (original)! cam belt on her mk1 1.4 Clio. My instruction on getting it changed 6 months ago was not heeded but thats neither here nor there now. The car in question has less than 50,000 miles and passes the yearly inspection without any troubles and is otherwise well cared for. She has had some quotes of around £800+VAT+collection.

 

My initial thought was to cube the car, cash the tax and find something around the £1000 bracket but my mum doesn't seem to keen as she 'knows' this car and doesn't want other peoples problems. She is also adverse to wasting money on a fresh out the box car. 

 

I have little experience in this department and as I'm stuck on the other side of the country I cannot cast my eye over the damage. Would it likely of caused bent valves if the belt snapped at very low speed? Also the engine was turned over a couple of times after, would this have caused further problems? Is the quote a sensible price? If we go for some fresh wheels what good shopping cars can be had for that sort of money? I'm a bit worried that if we get this work done it will start to become a black hole for money, if the good people of Autoshite could offer their opinions/advice on the matter it would be greatly appreciated. 

Looks just like this, incase this helps 

[Stanky]

t'Internet suggests this is an interference engine so probably bent valves, but will need a strip-down to check the extent of the damage - at which point you may as well fix a few other things while you're there. IMHO that's not too bad a price, considering the work involved, but see if you can get a couple more quotes and maybe ask the question of how much it'd cost to have a second hand engine installed, if you provide the lump - there ought to be oodles on ebay for pennies (goes to check)

 

I guess you don't need telling that its probably going to cost twice the value of the car to have it mended?

 

I can offer the unmissable opportunity to purchase a 1996 Nissan Almera with 115k on the clock. 1400cc, 45 to the gallon, some tax and more MOT and most importantly a CHAIN DRIVEN CAM for OMGNEVERGONNASNAP action. It doesn't even rattle. Negatives are limited to a rusty sill which will want plating at its next test, a bit before christmas. I could be tempted to release this rare beast for a consideration, PM me if interested (though I won't be hurt if you don't want it!) because I want to buy a Hyundai Sonata and pretend to be a banana republic despot.

[Cavcraft]

If it's not a 'safe' engine then if the belt going didn't knacker it up, turning it over afterwards will have, I wager.

 

Now, what are you going to get for £800? A 'reconditioned' engine will probably be a scrapyard job with a clean up and some engine paint and a half-arsed warranty. If the original engine is being repaired then it might be worth asking a competent shiter to do it for you.

[Cavcraft]

*Or just buy the first cheap, 1994 Corsa 1.4GLS you can find. Outside my house. 

[mat_the_cat]

A girl I knew snapped the belt on the same engine/car a few years back, and I stuck a new belt on more out of hope than expectation. Sure enough, it was down on compression on a couple of pots, although still ran.

[Bren]

If she likes the Clio then a decent one could be had for the cost of repair.

 

Whatever she buys, get the timing belt done.

[New POD]

I guess you don't need telling that its probably going to cost twice the value of the car to have it mended?

So what? If she's missed 3 cam belt changes at £300 each, she's saved herself £100 by only paying £800 to have it fixed.

 

I never look at the value of the car when deciding if the cost of repair is worth it. I look at the cost to get back on the road options, and what you have when you've done it.

 

In this case you spend £1000 with the Vat, and get a 50K low mileage car, that you know the history of, vs spending what ? £1000 on something that could be bread (PITA)? £2000 on something that needs a few 'things' to be perfect ? £5K on a nearly new piece of shite ? £8K on a new piece of shite.

 

If it was my mother, and she had the money, I'd point her towards a new small car that I want to inherit in about 15 years (She's 76), and take the clio off her, and fix it, and give it to a nephew or niece as they pass their driving test.

[theorganist]

I have no technical advice but I agree with new POD above if the car is decent but worth little it may be worth repairing. If she then gets five trouble free years out of it then I would say it's worth fixing. You could spend 1,000 on a replacement car and find it is a worse car than the car she owns now.

 

I'm sure if most of us on here never spent more on a car than its worth half our cars would have been crushed. Certainly most of mine would!

[alf892]

Fix it! If you replace at cost of repair you could be buying far worse.......and I despise renaults!

 

I have only ever done one of these and it was the 1.4 8 valve. Only needed two valves, headset and belt. I did all idlers as we'll but it was still only about £200 all in. There are no difficult bits to the job.

[twosmoke300]

Bring it down to cornwall , have a holiday while i fix it for less than 800

[fordperv]

Take the above advice or Buy a Haynes bol and fix it for her, wcpgw

[Vince70]

It's a better car than any newer Renault and has low mileage plus MK1 clio's are getting hard to find in good nick and if your mum likes the car then it's £800 well spent to get a decent car back in ship shape condition.

 

To keep the cost down it maybe worth looking on eBay for some genuine NOS parts for the old girl (car not mum).

 

£800 is the price of a service and a couple of tyres at a main dealer for some boring lease car (which would still be owned by a lease company ) so when you put it into perspective it's a bargain to basically have a top end rebuild and a new belt for the money.

 

Also remember if you booked your car in for a new belt it would still be in the region of £250 and is a service item on any car so you could still end up buying a car that needed a belt change anyway and this way you know it's been done rather than buying a car not knowing for sure if it needs another belt anytime soon.

[lisbon_road]

This is autoshite.  Fix it.

 

Good luck looks a decent enough car in the picture (fine words!)

[Cavcraft]

Scrap it and buy the first 2004 VW Polo you see. Outside my house.

[Split_Pin]

Have to agree with your mum here. If the cars been otherwise reliable then her notion about other people's problems is spot on.

[Lord Sterling]

I say get it fixed man. You could do a lot worse for £800. Also your Mum sounds like she is rather reluctant to part with the car. Yes it will cost twice or maybe 3 times what the car is worth in monetry terms but sentimentality or being comfortable/happy with what you've got is worth a great deal more than any amount of money.

[Split_Pin]

Plus my local garage had a similarly afflicted Clio in some time ago and the bill was coming to a grand. He showed me the work involved and wished that the owner would come and see too sohe could explain the cost involved.

[BigMac]

Thanks for the input and offers guys, cheered my mum up no end! The car is going into her local on Tuesday so they can whip the head off so we will have a clearer idea of how borked it really is. Typical it had to happen over a four day holiday.

 

I'm also off to see this as a possible replacement as it's not far away from me. If it's any good we'll swap the good bits, mostly the interior by the sounds of things and run for a couple of years.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/1997-renault-clio-diesel-5-door-375/1056635576#photo-content

Can see my mum chucking sunflower and the like in the tank and smoking about like a true shitter.