28-08-13, 02:24 PM
After getting me to the South of France without missing a beat, and then resting up for a couple of days, my bike wouldn't start. It turned over fine, but wouldn't catch and bump starting didn't work either. I had breakdown cover with the AA as part of my Carol Nash insurance policy the arranged a local engineer who collected it and took it to his shop. He passed it on to a Yamaha dealer who told the insurance company that it should be repatriated rather then fixed there. The bike is an '04 gen 1 and would have passed 50,000 miles somewhere on the return journey.
The message I got from the insurance company was seriously garbled and the only bit that made any sense was 'timing belt'. (Yes, I do know it is a chain not a belt). Hence my question, if is was the timing, and the chain had stretched past the ability of the auto-tensioner, what would the symptoms be, and is there any test that could confirm it or rule it out?
My concern at the moment is that I am financially strained. If the timing belt needs changing, it will cost at least a grand to replace, possibly quite a bit more, and it may not be the end of my troubles. I can buy a similar Fazer (at much lower milage) for about €3,500 but it would be struggle. How much should I spend trying to fix this bike (remembering that money is no longer available to buy its replacement) and at what point do I say, "this bike is not worth fixing"?
The message I got from the insurance company was seriously garbled and the only bit that made any sense was 'timing belt'. (Yes, I do know it is a chain not a belt). Hence my question, if is was the timing, and the chain had stretched past the ability of the auto-tensioner, what would the symptoms be, and is there any test that could confirm it or rule it out?
My concern at the moment is that I am financially strained. If the timing belt needs changing, it will cost at least a grand to replace, possibly quite a bit more, and it may not be the end of my troubles. I can buy a similar Fazer (at much lower milage) for about €3,500 but it would be struggle. How much should I spend trying to fix this bike (remembering that money is no longer available to buy its replacement) and at what point do I say, "this bike is not worth fixing"?