Just rang Dougie and it appears the cambelt hs gone on the Pajero - someone told him it would cost him 700lev to fix it - Are they taking the michael now Just checked on Ebay and a cambelt is under £10. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Hi Berni, you have to bear in mind that a cambelt is not as easy as a fanbelt to change (nor can you rig up a temporary fix with a pair of ladies stockings).

The actual part is quite cheap, but the amount of labour will be high.

Most pajeros ( if not all?) have an interference engine, this means that if timing is not exact the valves hit the pistons when the belt snaps, very rare to get away with it , valves usualy bend, or rockers snap etc , puts the bills up, most garages quote automaticaly for the worst ( most usual )case , sometimes they will look ok and a bit of a bent valve when rebuilt will take out the valve guide and bits fall in the engine....so many people repair the lot when its snapped
Vauxall cars are the same and wen mine went i got away with it as i was running slowly, my engine is very bad for bending valves and it was fine

I think on an interference engine its best to try a cambelt only repair and see if it works, then after that its usualy easier to get a scrap engine as you doint know whats broken, it depends wether scrap engine that runs is cheaper than a cylnder head rebuild ( and possibly pistons )

Chris wrote:

Hi Berni, you have to bear in mind that a cambelt is not as easy as a fanbelt to change (nor can you rig up a temporary fix with a pair of ladies stockings).

The actual part is quite cheap, but the amount of labour will be high.

Plus if the belt went when the engine was running it would have caused damage else where

It can work out quite expensive even if no damage was done to the motor. Last year I had exactly the same thing happen to me whilst idling across a speedbump in Kotel. Cambelt cost me around 18 pounds [genuine Nissan] but the engine rebuild was over 5000 and took about six days to have done. Hope that's not the case with yours!

Hi Guys

Thanks for your comments I am kinda expecting the worse scenario especially when it comes to cars Well it appears that one of the local chaps has decided he will help Dougie out and got his uncle to come along and pick up the jeep and take it to his garage - He also gave Dougie another jeep to use whilst he is fixing ours - So as yet, have no idea what the damage is or what the cost will be Will keep my fingers.