Hi All

I've just had the 3 year service and MOT carried out on my 147 1.6 Lusso.
The official line from my dealer is that the belts and tensioner are
inspected at this time, but as the car has only done 23500 miles, it was a
bit of a shock to be told that they needed replacement!

To be fair to the dealer (Norhtgate in Canterbury) there was no fuss or
argument about doing the work under warranty. If I've understood them
correctly, the problem was that the tensioner had stopped working and,
although the belt itself was ok at this point, it wouldn't be kept tensioned
properly and would get too slack or possibly jump off if left until the
official change time (5 years or 72000 miles).

Anyway, the car passed the MOT ok, only requiring a new rear number plate
(why do plates delaminate like that these days?). The only other extra work
required was replacing the heat shield over the manifold and exhaust branch
at the front, some idiot (that would be me!) had cracked and dented it on a
high kerb stone. At £50 odd for the part and fitting that wasn't too
painful, certainly a lot cheaper than the one that broke on my previous
Honda!

Regards
Ross