Cam belt change

[Rob Morley]

Or if you're selling a car you can buy a sticker and pretend the timing chain was replaced. People are scummy.

[Rob Morley]

Just the belt? As an example the random Zafira kit I searched for is here

for about £100 delivered. That's belt, water pump, idlers and fitting hardware. The same place will do a Bosch belt for £30 delivered. That's not the cheapest, just the first Google result I clicked on.

[ajh]

That'd the 1.6 tdci isn't it, a bit more involved than a dry belt but good for 10 years or 100k miles.

[NY]

As a matter of interest, why is it that the water pump on modern cars is usually/always driven from the cambelt, which makes replacement very expensive, when the alternator and power steering pump are still driven from the "fan belt" (*)? In the days of cars with a belt-driven fan, the fan belt usually/always drove the water pump as well as the alternator.

(*) Which never actually drives the fan now that all (?) cars have an electric fan.

[Tim Lamb]

Yes. Annoyingly it has only done 40,000 mainly *shopping* miles.

Angela had a knee replaced and we seriously considered buying an electric car. We differed on how big (hence costly) it needed to be and the moment passed..

[SteveW]

Belt and idler. The water pump (at least on my model) is driven off the auxiliary belt and can be removed and replaced without much effort and without disturbing the timing belt.

[Andrew]

Suspiciously cheap actually. I paid £132.48 for parts and £121.50 Labour when the local Vauxhall dealer replaced the belt, idler and tensioner on my 59 reg Astra 1.6 Petrol, and that was with the 25% MyVauxhaull discount.

VAT on top of those prices.

[Fredxx]

Your post reminded me of the Viagra thread!

[Andrew]

VW chains are known to snap because VW forced price cuts on their suppliers who then made the stamping tools do more operations before replacement. This resulted in chain links that developed stress fractures in use.

[Andrew]

A common problem with that pushrod engine. He must have ignored the slapping noise though, before the loose chain finally made a hole in the cover.

[SteveW]

I know this garage and they are trustworthy and extremely helpful. I have only used them a few times, as I do most things myself, but my parents, uncles and aunts have all used them for some time.

[tony sayer]

Family relative had the timing gear or chain break on their Renault Captur, bloody poxy thing cost 1900 bloody quid to rebuild!!..

Garage she used to go to never mentioned it or advised to replace!

[tony sayer]

In article [e-mail]>, Joe [e-mail] scribeth thus

On my olde Jerry tank they have a very nice notable sticker stating the date of change!..

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just took a friend to see a VW advertised as rust free. well if you count the hand sprayed fibreglass patch on the sills as rust free, possibly. He didnt. We walked away.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I don't think that's necessarily true. In fact most cars seem to have a serpentine belt that drives everything EXCEPT the camshafts. Its just that to get to either unit requires (the same) huge swathes of engine to be removed...

[Rob Morley]

Doesn't mean they actually did the work though ...

[bert]

Indeed. My VW Transporter recommended is every 4 years which at dealer price of c£500 is an extra £125 per annum approx on annual running cost even though I'm doing less than 6000 miles in it.

[ajh]

Is yours an auto?

I'm up to 105k miles on my manual, still very economical albeit lower than average ground clearance for rough tracks. My wife only drives autos and we do very few miles nowadays. I would like an EV but could never justify the capital cost and the two cars we have may see us out.

[Tim Lamb]

Manual. Sensible gear ratios and a responsive engine.

I suspect it is overdue for an exhaust filter clean but nothing on the dashboard and performance remains the same.

[tony sayer]

In article <20220808182444.5c75ac3d@Mars>, Rob Morley [e-mail] scribeth thus

Trust me they did, saw them doing it and i could have done it but don't like getting my hands any more dirty than i have to these days;)..