a number of things seem to be happening lately just to piss me off! this being half way down the list

i had my car booked in today to have the bonnet release fixed under waranty.. (plastic had broken) common fault apparantly. anyhow so i had the inconvenince of dropping my car off before work at titan ford and having my mother drive me from there to work, which was ok coz it needs to be done somtime right. anyway they ring me in the afternoon saying that my drive belt (alternator belt) is hanging on by a thread and if i want them to replace it. first of all i was confused coz i wondered why they were even looking at that. anyhow they said it was $80 and me not knowing much about mechanics and what things cost thought $80 sounds like alot for a belt so i said no just leave it. the guy laughed a bit and hung up. then i rang my mechanic and he said he could do it while i wait tomorrow for 55. so i felt fine with that. later ford rings back again and says "the belt broke as we were driving it out of the garage". the mechanic made it sound like an easy as job so i figured i could prob just buy one and do it myself. so i said not to worry. so i went to supercheap they had none.. autopro had none but could get one in for $59 so i figured 80 wouldnt have been so bad after all. anyhow too late now because its 5.10 and ford closes at 5.30 so i dont realy know what to do. i ring up ford again and ask again what time they close and say well i cant drive it with no belt right they say no. i say well are u open tomorrow? they say no. right so i cant have my car for the weekend. i ask them if they could fit it eary monday morning so i can pick it up before work. they said ok.


anyway so the question is is it true i can not drive it even a short distance without the belt? (for example from the dealer to my mechanic) i feel a quite anoyed for one that the service deprartment isnt open on saturdays. but it sounds a little unlikely that the belt would break that quickly even if it was worn. or that they had already replaced it before they called me and were just covering their asses.

i miss my car

oh its a ba falcon

i find it weird that it's a BA and your drive belt has snapped already? thats weird as, how many kms are on it, and no i don't think you can drive it as u need that for your alternator to work and if that dont work ur car dont work.. i think..? correct me if im wrong

its done 65,000 i think that wouldnt be a problem because the battery would have a bit of charge. more things like the power steering would be a problem

how far to your mechanics?

Everything would be fine to drive without an alternator, or without power steering, or aircon for that matter. But with aluminium heads, from a cold start, it took my EB roughly 40 seconds to go from cold to overheating. So in short, NO, you cannot drive your car without a waterpump

BA's only have one belt dont they, when it stop raining here ill go have a look at my parents

BA's have the alternator, air con etc all off the one belt. Mine also had the bonnet release broken when I bought it, didn't realize it was a common fault. I just assumed some idiot at the car yard broke it (cause I bought it from Holden). Titan Ford were good with my car though, even repaired my punctured tire free of charge which I was very impressed with.

This doesn't sound right mate. Sounds like Ford doing a dodgy run around. These belts are piss-easy to change and should be about $50 or less from Repco especially if you tell them that Ford tried to rip you off.

This doesn't sound right mate. Sounds like Ford doing a dodgy run around. These belts are piss-easy to change and should be about $50 or less from Repco especially if you tell them that Ford tried to rip you off.

all over now $ 80 later.. i cant belive their solution to the bonnet release appears to be to glue it on with some very strong glue.. can tell coz i can still see cracks in the plastic.

geez, i thought the belt should be under warrenty... specially after 65,000km?

shoulda gone with the approach, it wasnt broken when i took it in, you must have broken it, you pay for it.