opinions please

Short version of events,
Ute purchased from dealer Oct 10th 24
Report squeaky belt and told to just use crc, which worked. As it was only the aircon drive i was not concerned.
Boxing day evening heading home from work, come out of roundabout at low speed and BANG.
Belt snapped and car wont start. Towed to dealers workshop for appraisal.
They find broken belt plus blade broken off of cooling fan and a sensor broken off ( cause of non starting).

They are saying the FAN broke and, and cut the belt, so not a warranty issue and I have to claim on mechanical insurance.
I find it hard to believe the fan blade would of cut the belt and feel the belt was the primary issue .

What say the experts in the field please.

Because I know someone will ask ;)

Holden colorado, 2010 with 214km on clock

Fans don't just break, and auto-tensioned belts shouldn't squeak, "Use CRC" is not a fix. Blade could have been damaged as belt said cheerio

Belt came off likely from misalined pulleys (often the cause of the squeak)

Then it lasoos a fan blade and holds it ransom, then the blade breaks

But as it’s all flying around it takes out sensors etc


The belt will have come off first

Seen it happen before when the early 3.8 Buick v6 in the commodores fooled lazy mechanics into thinking they could refit alternators without checking pulley alignment with a straight edge

I’m pretty sure the 2010 Colorado has chain driven cams so maybe snapped alternater belt? Highly unlikely it was the fan breaking off that caused the belt to snap so I call bullsh** and the dealer is trying to cover their tracks. Could get it evaluated by a seperate company and start getting together some evidence that it might not have been caused by fan then go back to your dealer and tell em to sort it lol. Edit, just read it was a sensor causing the non start, as said by another member quite common for misaligned pulleys to make the belt spit off and destroy everything in its path

Any dealer that claims

"crc will fix" is full of shit.

would have asked him to fix, or returned the car then...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by STC

Any dealer that claims

"crc will fix" is full of shit.

would have asked him to fix, or returned the car then...

---

As I said, I am not mechanically minded in the least, so took it as job done once squeak stopped. My bad

Well if you already notifies them about a squeak issue and they chose not to look at then I reckon you have some ground to stand on to get cranky

There is a duty of care issue here. If a person holds themself out to be an expert or professional they have a duty to act accordingly.

If they don't provide a remedy for you you could argue this in the Disputes Tribunal (AKA small claims court). Basically, objectively viewed by an ordinary person, it was shit advice.


What is an ordinary duty of care?
Due care, also referred to as ordinary care and reasonable care, is the standard of care where a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation or under similar circumstances. This standard of care is used in a tort action to determine whether a person was negligent.

Ask them if you can have the vehicle and the parts because you are taking it for a second opinion. You are not, you are just asking them that to see what the reaction is. Mention that the place you are taking it to would have very definitely not suggested the use of CRC for a squeaky belt. String it out get them talking (Do it all in writing, email or the like) they will dig their own hole. You will find some inconsistency at which point just threaten court action. You may have to go through with the court action, it is 50/50 with most of these dealers. There are a heap of things that would be taken into account, what you paid for the car, how many k's you have put on it etc etc, but there would be a reasonable expectation that a 14 year old car would keep going for longer than 3 - 4 months. DO have have the crc in writing? If you don't that won't help.

Basically, with everything, with everyone, get everything in writing. Tell them you are deaf and it is the only option for communication.

Anyways, there may be some ideas there for you.

They need to fix it...can argue the fine print afterwards... CRC will fix it!!!! Yip I did that years ago on forks of motorbike,rode from Hamilton to marton. Then spotted the wee plate that holds front axel onto said fork was missing completely...tyre had been changed. CRC is not a fix.they should have looked for issue.

theres many different crc products, ranging from lubes, water displacements theu to paint and everything between.
if you have squeaks it means friction of some sort.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by inglishill

Ask them if you can have the vehicle and the parts because you are taking it for a second opinion. You are not, you are just asking them that to see what the reaction is. Mention that the place you are taking it to would have very definitely not suggested the use of CRC for a squeaky belt. String it out get them talking (Do it all in writing, email or the like) they will dig their own hole. You will find some inconsistency at which point just threaten court action. You may have to go through with the court action, it is 50/50 with most of these dealers. There are a heap of things that would be taken into account, what you paid for the car, how many k's you have put on it etc etc, but there would be a reasonable expectation that a 14 year old car would keep going for longer than 3 - 4 months. DO have have the crc in writing? If you don't that won't help.

Basically, with everything, with everyone, get everything in writing. Tell them you are deaf and it is the only option for communication.

Anyways, there may be some ideas there for you.

---

Dealer has fixed the ute, despite me not having lodged a claim on mech insurance, so I think they have put themselves in a tight spot.
Will see what happens on Monday when I try to collect it

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pengy

Dealer has fixed the ute, despite me not having lodged a claim on mech insurance, so I think they have put themselves in a tight spot.
Will see what happens on Monday when I try to collect it

---

First thing you need to do when you get it back, is get it looked at by someone else. If their initial recommendation was CRC, then they could well have boogied it up as a 'repair'. Not saying they have, but it's worth checking they haven't

Ask to see the old belt and see what condition it is in. If its super cracked it probably broke and took out the fan .
You should be able to see if it had been slipping and causing the squeek.
CRC actually makes a 'dry lube' which is a stick of soap like material which lubes the belt but in no way is a permanent fix , the belt either needs to be replaced or tightend if it making a noise.

Depends what crc you used. 556 or brakleen are not for belts. If the dealer meant belt grip they should have said so.
I don't think the fan would have broken first.

That belt grip is amazing. It turns an old squeaky belt into a mess that takes ages to clean out, and still needs another belt

originally breaklen was basically dry cleaning fluid and just dissolved oil and grease. i used to buy the pure stuff and use it on belts/rollers/ etc in cassette decks and turntables (look it up you young guys)
then it turned into a detergent based product.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tommy

That belt grip is amazing. It turns an old squeaky belt into a mess that takes ages to clean out, and still needs another belt

---

We used to put golden syrup on the belt drive of the overhead shaft driven shearing plants if they were slipping. Then later on in years you could buy cardboard wrapped tubes of some sort of hard silicone stuff that you put onto the belt when it was running.

My 2 cents . I would say there was possibly damage already. Spraying things on belts to stop squeaks is a temp fix imo. If its squeaking that's your warning .

Just to clarify. The pulley was sprayed with CRC 5-56 Marine, not the belt itself.
It stopped the squeak in a nano second, which is why I dismissed it as a minor

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gonetropo

originally breaklen was basically dry cleaning fluid and just dissolved oil and grease. i used to buy the pure stuff and use it on belts/rollers/ etc in cassette decks and turntables (look it up you young guys)
then it turned into a detergent based product.

---

Yeah pretty evil shit. Main ingredient was tetrachloroethylene, not something you want in your eyes.
When we were manufacturing the brakleen 600g aerosols they would have 586 grams of liquid product in the can then had 16-18 grams of CO2 gas pressed into it. That CO2 was around 300cc and if it wasn't warm enough it would be a liquid instead of gas and the cans exploded in the filling machine rather spectacularly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pengy

Just to clarify. The pulley was sprayed with CRC 5-56 Marine, not the belt itself.
It stopped the squeak in a nano second, which is why I dismissed it as a minor

---

If it was squeaking probably the belt was on the way out....the 556 definitely finished it.
Don't spray 5.56 on belts....it's a lubricant.....and it fucks the rubber.
If you sprayed the pully you sprayed the belt...same same

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

If it was squeaking probably the belt was on the way out....the 556 definitely finished it.
Don't spray 5.56 on belts....it's a lubricant.....and it fucks the rubber.
If you sprayed the pully you sprayed the belt...same same

---

Yup what Cam said
556 destroys rubber in no time

If the belt disintegrated most likely it would have simply exited stage left and would not have had anything in it to catch a fan blade to destroy anything.

More likely scenario, is it simply threw the belt which got hooked up between the sensor and the fan blade which destroyed both at the same time. If the pulley/belt is squealing, the cause could be worn belt, worn pulley, buggered tensioner, stuffed bearings, misalignment, stretched belt meaning low tension, or something more arcane. Either way, a dealer saying squirt it with CRC is a dealer who doesn't want to spend any money on fixing it properly and hoping you'll go away - duty of care issue as I think someone else suggested.

Mate, get the old belt back, I recon the fan will be plastic, a blade will never in its wildest dreams have enough kinetic energy too slash a reinforced fan belt. IF the fan broke, centrifical force would have shot/trown it away from the fan and the belt, if it hit something and got directed back into the fanbelt the kinetic energy would have been even lower so the chances of the blade slashing the belt will be very low.

If by some magical event the blade managed to lodge itself behind the belt and then ended up pushing against the belt wearing it down, you'll see some pretty clear wear marks on the blade. Inspect the blade.

Fanbelts squeck for 2 reasons: misalignment and slippage.

If I were to quess what happoned Id say the belt failed, got pulled in by the fan, snapped the blade and either the blade that shot away or the loose hanging pieces of the belt wrapped itself around the sensor and ripped it out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tahr

We used to put golden syrup on the belt drive of the overhead shaft driven shearing plants if they were slipping. Then later on in years you could buy cardboard wrapped tubes of some sort of hard silicone stuff that you put onto the belt when it was running.

---

Golden syrup on the overhead shaft drive brings back memories of some awesome times for me.
Sorry it doesn't help your problem Pengy.

UPDATE:
I picked the ute up a week ago, with parting comment to the workshop manager that I would follow up as a warranty claim with his boss.
Heard nothing from them until yesterday when I received an email with nothing other than an attached invoice for $840.
This was followed one minute later by a further invoice with an attached credit note for $840, so I guess they decided to bite the bullet and cover it.

Now I just have to get them to correct the stated mileage on the paper work for mech insurance as it is currently 4000 km off of the actual distance showing when I drove off the yard in october :wtfsmilie:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

If it was squeaking probably the belt was on the way out....the 556 definitely finished it.
Don't spray 5.56 on belts....it's a lubricant.....and it fucks the rubber.
If you sprayed the pully you sprayed the belt...same same

---

Finally someone said it. I second it, don’t spray anything on a belt.
If it’s loose, replace it, if it’s worn replace it, if it squeaks, replace it.

Most modern cars use micro V belts, if they they squeak they are slipping and worn out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pengy

UPDATE:
I picked the ute up a week ago, with parting comment to the workshop manager that I would follow up as a warranty claim with his boss.
Heard nothing from them until yesterday when I received an email with nothing other than an attached invoice for $840.
This was followed one minute later by a further invoice with an attached credit note for $840, so I guess they decided to bite the bullet and cover it.

Now I just have to get them to correct the stated mileage on the paper work for mech insurance as it is currently 4000 km off of the actual distance showing when I drove off the yard in october :wtfsmilie:

---

Good news I guess then.