Page 1 of any car mechanics give me advice on my sick astra td :-( ?

hi there i bought a shand astra td 1.7 gm engine estate in march only had it 4 weeks out one day camshaft snapped on it anyway my dad does a bit on cars we took the cylhead off the car luckly valves where ok etc anyway got a new cshaft headgasket hbolts tbelt new oil in filter etc got it set up timing wise been ok for 4 weeks coverd 600+ miles in it the same fault has happend again cam snapped snapped 4 of the followers and the cams snapped on the second cylinder last time it snapped on the third the car starts ok and runs ok no weired noises from the car while running etc could it be a oil shortage fault a manufacture fault its doing my heed in can anyone give me any advice on this if i get another cam etc the sames only gonna happen again when i started the car after we had fitted the cam there seemed plenty of oil getting to cam ??? the saga continues :-( any ideas ??

Only a guess but here goes.
If the camshaft has snapped twice after relatively low mileage I can only guess that it may be down to a warped cylinder head. Any slight misalignment would put quite severe pressure on the point where the misalignment was eccessive. I am not exactly sure but I believe the majority of Cylinder heads are alloy now and as such the heads can develop a warp if the exact torque is not applied to the head bolts in the correct sequence when the head is removed and refitted.
The only common thread is the cylinder head so that may be it.
As I said , just a guess.

HTH

Choagy :-)

This item was edited on Saturday, 24th May 2003, 22:34

head was torqued down to manufacturers spec also using a dial gauge although guy i bough it off said it had a recon head fitted to it @ christmas because the last 1 had warped when hgasket went

just a thought but i had a similar problem with my 1600 diesel engine that was caused by me fitting a cheep oil filter ie all oil filters nowadays have the pressure relief valve fitted in the bottom of the filter so if the pressure rises it is dispursed by the filter but if you have a cheep motor factor filter on the valve is not set like an original filter so wont stop the pressure from damageing the engine my 1600 had hydraulic lifters & that was my problem the pressure built up & snapped the cam it happened 3 times to me then i saw a vauxhall mechanic & he told me about it
remember it costs nothing to go to your local dealer & ask a mechanic
hope you get it sorted m8

cheers bud