Timing Belts, Tensioners and The AA

[Subby]

This is a reminder to all of you guys who have been putting off getting your Timing belts changed to get off your arses and get them done.

I had been putting off getting my car serviced and made the mistake of lending my car to my parents. Came home to find a note saying my car was in the local garage and the engine had gone bang.

What would have cost a max of £100 to replace at the time is now going to cost me £600 - £700. Its a very expensive lesson which has been learnt.

Dont be cheap and only get the belt renewed, remember to get the whole kit, Belt,Tensioners and Pulleys. The downfall of mine was caused when one of the pulleys disintergrated and tore up the belt. This then caused the pistons to turn most of the valves in to pancakes.

Car was a Vauxhall Vectra 2.0l 16v Petrol btw,

Please say a prayer as tomorrow the head comes off to show the full extent of the damage.

[Nikki]

is it a 2002 - 2003 model?

yeah service the vhcle as if it goes and service is really late they will charge you the earch

i got a 2003 corsa which had to have new timing chain, abc rework done, lookey enough mine still under warrenty and not long had it serviced.

i beleive there was a national recall on these months, and if no1 takes any notice or the not every driver hears about it, the dealers / the aa who got the vauxhall contract cream the money

[AJ_007]

Ask Cyprus and OB1 about theres going and another mate of ours Macca all went within about 3 months, I got mine changed as soon as the garage was open! f*ck if Im paying as much as OB1 paid well over a 1k on his Audi A4

[Subby]

its the 2000 model so its only the Vectra-B, got my eyes set on a v6 2.5l now!

[Subby]

just got back from the garage. I've been quoted £630ish to get the following done:

Cambelt and tensioner kit
Waterpump
10 valve replacements
Skimming and prep of the head
New bolts for the head
Welding a crack on the exhaust manifold

watcha think, good price or have i been over charged?

[Over Carl]

What car, sounds reasonable to me tho,

On my alfa 156 v6, I've heard of prices varying from £5something to over a grand just for timing belt and tensioners being changed!

On my car, the belt costs about £40, the adjustable tensioner nearly £100, and the two fixed ones in at I think £60 each. The head gasket set cost me £150, and a mate says he can get the head skimmed for £25, and I think the water pump comes in near a ton!

I've already come to not far off your price, and I didn't need any new valves, and my bill is parts only!. Admiteddly alfa stuff ain't cheap, but I remember us paying £300 (this was on the cheap as a favour to my dad) to get the top end sorted on a Sierra 1.8 years ago, that also didn't need valves being done.

[Subby]

woahhh alfas are expensive, the waterpump on the vectra is only about £45 and the belt kit comes in just under a ton. Well under what your parts would cost.

[Over Carl]

Sorry, just noticed the top few posts. Still, there will be a big labour bill, as the top end of the engine has to be taken off, sorted, and put together, some stages are definitely the sort of thing you want want to entrust to a cowboy.

[urbsy]

Have you looked into buying a low mileage engine from a breakers m8 and fitting the whole unit, it might save you some money on labour costs etc.

urbsy

[Subby]

yeah i took a shot at that but none of the breakers round here had the engine i need in a decent condition, all of them were either high mileage or had been removed from the cars.

Don't really want to buy an engine that i cant see running or one that has been sitting in a puddle rusting away.

The breakers that did have the engine were a fair distance away and wanted around £350 for it which meant the total cost would fall around the £700 mark.

[DEC2K]

do timing chains need doin ?

corsa 1ltr w reg 45.000 miles ish ?

[Subby]

Apparently they're supposed to last the life of the engine unlike belts which need changing around every 40k.
Saying that though if the chain goes then you're engines dead =/

Best to get them checked and be on the safe side.

[DEC2K]

will get it looked at cheers m8

to b on safe side

[Nikki]

will get it looked at cheers m8

to b on safe side

yeah dont blame you.

when mine was going the engine sounded noisier once been driven for a while. when going to dealer it sounded like a diesal

[Over Carl]

Even if you got a 2nd hand engine, it would still be advisable to get the belt and tensioners changed, which pushes up the cost again.

[simo2k]

subby just a quickie you didnt mention valve guides in the price ask the repairer if the guides are being changed as these engines smash everything up valves bend and break the guides the last 1 we did broke all of em costing the customer over 1k ....

thats if its not already back together...

[chubblies]

do timing chains need doin ?

corsa 1ltr w reg 45.000 miles ish ?

Timing chains will rarely snap like a belt, but they do stretch over time, and if they sound rattley, it is usually because the links and pins are a little worn and there is a bit of play in the chain. You also tend to have poor performance with a worn chain, as the timing of the valves advances or retards slightly as the chain stretches.
They are more prone to debris wearing them too, because of the grease on the chain which attracts loads of crap from the engine bay, causing more wear and tear in the linkages

[Subby]

just got the car back and my wallet is £650 lighter

Cambelt and tensioner kit
Waterpump
12 valves
8 guides
Skimming and prep of the head
New bolts for the head
Welding a crack on the exhaust manifold

All in all its a bloody good job and the cars running sweet, way more responsive than before the tensioner decided to part company with the engine. AA guy who towed it back even popped in to the garage and commented on the work.

If anyones in the Redditch/Bromsgrove area pm me for details of the garage.

[dsmuk1]

my timing belt and tensions are being done tomorrow...only 12 months late!!!

[rahadfield]

Hope everythhing is ok with your car now. The price seemed fair.