Thread: K-cars
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Old 05-08-2018, 02:40 AM
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MadMan MadMan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Hmm, I've seen cars written off (by their owners) for this, when there was plenty of value left in the rest of the car. Maybe a good way to get a cheap car, if there's a little luck involved!
You might get lucky sometimes. I've been the own who's written off a lot of those cars. It's still a big expensive job, the head being at the machinist's is about $400 by itself, then all the R&R at a decent shop is another $600-$1000. So yeah, depends on the car's value.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
I guess it's becoming less relevant, with the industry moving away from timing belts. The main problem is how darn annoying front wheel drive cars are to work on.. I had the timing belt off in my RWD pickup in a few hours.
Oh yes... much less relevant. Now more cars are using timing chains... riding on plastic guides that become brittle in the heat and oil of an engine by 100k miles and break and destroy the valves just like a broken timing belt. I've already dealt with several of those. In general, they're much more labor intensive. You're honestly better off with a rubber belt. You'll have to do the maintenance either way, and a belt is typically easier. I suppose the one advantage a chain design has is the absence of camshaft oil seals.

On occasion I've been able to do a chain job preventatively. It's hard to catch though, because it's not as easy as just peeking behind a plastic cover to look at the condition of a belt. :/ It's also not a 'recommended' maintenance, nor is it something the ordinary motorist (or indeed, mechanic) would even consider to be a maintenance item.

Last edited by MadMan; 05-08-2018 at 02:45 AM.
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