Well, another tale of woe to add to the already long list of ‘failed cam chain’ stories…
My car (a May 2001 ‘Y’ CDX) has been main-dealer serviced every 12 months since I bought the car with 9000 miles on the clock and has religiously had the oil and filter changed at no more than 6000miles in between services. These additional oil and filter changes were done on the recommendation of Honest John.
All to no avail, though as on the motorway 30th Oct the Traction Control and Engine Management light came on, I lost all power and nursed the car to the hard shoulder. I feared the worst, but hoped it wasn’t the chain as I didn’t hear any noise to indicate that anything untoward had happened under the bonnet, no oily smell from the exhaust, etc..
Got the bad news yesterday that the engine has suffered a catastrophic failure due to the cam chain breaking.
The dealership to their credit have been excellent, and informed me that they had already asked if Vauxhall were willing to contribute and they have offered to pay 60% of the costs. The total bill is nearer £2900 for a new engine including fitting, so that leaves me with around £1100 to fork out, but it’s still money I could do with spending elsewhere.
Does this seem a good deal? The car is May 2001 registered so is well out of the warranty and at 77,000 miles, a good amount over the 60,000 mile limit imposed by Vauxhall. I think it's reasonable, but the underlying issue is that no matter how often I changed the oil, or drove the car sympathetically (I come from the old school where I never rev. to more than 3000 before the engine is fully warm) the chain would fail.
I feel that any attempt by the owner to improve the longevity of the cam chain by changing oil more regularly seems to be all in vain. I suppose the bottom line is that all Vectra B engine cam chains will fail at some point. The only issue unknown is when.
I have been worried for some time that there was a time bomb ticking in the engine bay, but without stripping the whole case cover off to inspect the nozzle how do you know? And who has the time to do this anyway.
I have probably been fortunate in the respect that Vauxhall have made a contribution and I don’t want to push my luck on this in case I end up with nothing. £1100 for a new engine isn’t bad I suppose.
Anyone who hasn’t had their chain replaced should do so at the earliest opportunity. My engine was in absolute tip-top shape before this happened – it was running totally smooth and there was nothing to indicate that anything was wrong. I am annoyed (and that is putting it mildly) that for a piece of impossibly bad design a perfectly good, probably over-serviced engine that should have been good for another 100,000 is now completely ruined.
If anybody thinks they can do something with the engine, they are welcome to salvage it from the dealership – if there isn’t too much damage then you won’t find a better looked-after engine than this.
Mark.