Monday, April 08, 2002
Kam’s Column - 08/04/02
Hello Again!
I had a really entertaining weekend. Being the cosmopolitan chap that I am (lifestyle not magazine!) I decided to go and watch Manchester United take on Liverpool. It was a good game, but that wasn’t what made my weekend. Just as I went into the stadium, I noticed a line of people in Man U match kit shaking peoples’ hands. OK, so they were wearing masks, but that was probably just some internal team joke. Eager to be part of the action, I shook my way down part of the line before taking my seat.
It wasn’t until I saw it in a national paper that I realised I’d been hoaxed! Mandy gleefully showed me the article that said that one of the country’s most famous hoaxers had been escorted out of the stadium – wearing full match kit – after making people believe that he was part of the Man U team. I can’t remember his name, but he is the guy who crops up at everything from Formula One to Rugby matches… At least we all got a good laugh out of it – and thank goodness my face wasn’t in the paper as well!
Another kind of deception was sorted out recently as well – the Major and the Millionaire scandal. I know that the Major, his wife and the lecturer did a very bad thing in obtaining the TV show winnings by deception, but you have to admire the planning that went into it. It could have all fallen apart so easily, but amazingly their plans paid off. Well, sort of! Cunning and devious deception, quite unlike the one that was practised on me.
This week, I’ve got another cautionary tale about timing belts for you. Mr Hall (name changed to protect his innocence) gave me a call to say that his Ford Mondeo TDI wouldn’t start – and that he thought it was the timing belt.
“Kev, I only had the belt replaced four months ago by a Ford garage down south,” he wailed. “It’s covered under the guarantee, but I really need the car now!”
“No worries,” I replied, “I’ll lend you a courtesy car while we attend to yours. The Rescue team will be down in a few minutes.”
The first thing to do when the car arrived was take a look at the paperwork that came from the garage who replaced the belt. And it was here that I saw the potential problem. The service manager had highlighted certain advisory areas – namely the roller gear pulleys and bearings and the tensioners. In this man’s opinion, they should have been replaced along with the belt – but Mr Hall had signed the disclaimer to say that he would do them at a later date. Not a good idea.
Once the belt covers where taken off, the extent of the problems became clear. One of the bearings had collapsed. This in turn had jammed the belt, sheared a number of teeth and no doubt caused untold damage in the head. It was time to go in deeper.
It’s worth mentioning here that Kam will always check the pulleys and bearings at the same time as doing the belts – and advise you if they need replacing. We’ve seen too many cases like this and don’t believe that the small short term saving is worth the large later expense.
Anyway, once we’d got the head off, the true scale of the damage became clear. As well as needing new pulleys, bearings and a belt, the Mondeo required brand new valves and guides. In addition, we had to check that the mishap hadn’t damaged the head itself in any way – and in this respect Mr Hall was quite lucky. It was time to get the camera out and record the evidence for any other motorist who didn’t want to get the full job done!
Once I’d assessed the full amount of damage, I gave the southern Ford garage a call.
“I appreciate what you are saying, Mr Allen,” said the service manager, “but you yourself said that Mr Hall signed the disclaimer stating that he didn’t want the pulleys changed with the belt. And since the belt itself wasn’t the cause of the damage, I am afraid that there is nothing we can do.”
The man was right, of course, but I thought that it had to be worth a try. If Mr Hall had agreed to spend a little extra and have all the bearings and pulleys changed it would have been a different (less expensive) story.
The job was completed in record time – just three days! Even we were impressed with that and Mr Hall was grateful to get his car back in a fully functioning state. The moral of the story is that, even if you don’t bring your car to Kam, always ask for your pulleys and bearings to be check when you get your belt done. It will save a lot of heart ache later!
Until next week,
