cambelt replacement price

robconnors1977 · Post by **robconnors1977** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:37 pm

I need to have my cambelt replaced on my hdi again. Does the price below seem fair?

Price quoted by an independant Bosch registered garage.-

To replace cambelt, tensioners and water pump.-

Labour £230 (4.5h)
Parts £75.91

Total £305.91 inc

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:15 pm

Where's that quote from?

Its like a 3h job max to do that !

Sounds like they are using the autodata book and its really accurate timings ................. NOT ! !

Its not a bad price, but if you pop into another french dealer (Citroen) you may find its quoted as a 3 hour job ! *cough* *cough*

Who said that name....... *looks around and see's no ones looking... yay I got away with it !

munfred · Post by **munfred** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:46 pm

Paid £200 to have my Cam belt and tensioners changed, and a couple of fuel pipes to be replaced.
labour does seem a little excessive

Fuz · Post by **Fuz** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:12 pm

Garage labour is excessive, my main dealer charges 69.00 + VAT, If I could get away with that I wouldn't be on this forum at all, I would be able to take my pick of any replacement car !

robconnors1977 · Post by **robconnors1977** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:00 am

Thanks for the advice, i thought it did seem excessive but the garage concerned has a very good reputation.

I had the belt done 35,000 miles ago with tensioners and now the belt is noisey and rubbing. I paid £220 fitted.
But as the car is a taxi it carries no warranty!! - hence why i want the job done properly this time.

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:30 am

Have you contacted the main dealers to find out how much they would charge, do you have a local french car specialists? Play them off each other for the cheapest price

robconnors1977 · Post by **robconnors1977** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:29 am

Yes the main dealer price is £493 inc (pooles peugeot, gosport). Not paying that!!.

I think i will have to bite the bullett and pay for the specialist. They are using a Dayco belt kit which iam told is the same as original.

At the end of the day i guess its cheaper than an engine rebuild!!, trust me the belt thats on there dont sound too clever and its still got to do 800 miles as wednesday is the earlist i can book it in. It does still grieve me that its only lasted 35000 miles - and that was a good year cambelt kit so hardly a cheap one!.

Foxy · Post by **Foxy** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:22 pm

I can put you in touch with a guy who will do it for about £150 give or take.

Just waiting for him to finish my car first!

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:45 pm

is it the same guy putting the front end back on ?

he he he he he

robconnors1977 · Post by **robconnors1977** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:08 pm

Dont talk to me about bottom pulleys - had that replaced at last cambelt change (even though old one not noisey but advised) - The garage fitted a solid modified pulley - car then ran lumpy and there was a rumble from the pulley area untill revved. Took car back not interested, so went to the main stealers who charged me a whopping £220 to fit a damper type pulley and new alternator belt!!.

Unfortunatley down here in leigh park its hard to find a decent garage, and to be honest aftter the last cambelt episode which was cheap i really dont mind paying a bit more to know its done properly. After all i am doing 1000 miles a week at night and the last thing i need is to break down with a car full of drunk hooligans!!!

=|[PsychoPoet406]|= · Post by **=|[PsychoPoet406]|=** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:12 pm

I paid £250 to have my entire timing system replaced, plus HT leads which I realised a couple of days later that I didn't need! (They took my old ones out and put holes in them to make it look like they were damaged!)

Malachy · Post by **Malachy** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:33 pm

i have now changed pug cambelts a total of 5 times on various xu engines. This includes tensioners + waterpumps i can do the job with engine in car in less than 2 hours.
how can "skilled mechanics" justify saying it takes them 4.5 hours in perfect conditions to do a job to the same standard as me, a non trained mechanic takes 2 hours in the street?
disgusting tbh

niz406 · Post by **niz406** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:55 pm

LOL.... quality response Andy ! ! !

Its far too true though.... why are the paid so much and yet they work so slow ! ! !

Malachy · Post by **Malachy** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:07 pm

Niz406 wrote:LOL.... quality response Andy ! ! !

Its far too true though.... why are the paid so much and yet they work so slow ! ! !

but the dealer mechanics are not paid that well, I think average wage is 17k-20k.

i do have a hatred towards mechanics though thats why when i get my own premisis i will train my own people.
Mechanics seem to think they know everything about every car they are not willing to read books and learn and if anything is wrong with the car, the fault is always what the ecu fault code says, there is no possibility for it to be anything else :/

In my opinions "car mechanics" are not mechanics these days half of them dont know how the ecu system works and how an engine works, they are just simple fitters. Part swappers.

I spoke to an mot tester the other day saying about how i might be bringing some buisiness his way and told him about my car, he said there was no way in hell it would pass, And actually started to make fun of me saying it will never pass and was a stupid idea. i asked why he said because it has a 2l turbo engine in, he then told me how his mates evo would "smoke" me. I didnt feel the need to tell him i had a Beng in mechanical stress materials and have designed and manufactured parts for various satelites and numerous space projects when i done my aprenticeship ( at cclrc), i didnt feel the need to tell him i have 8 years machine shop/fitting experiance, and that my current job envolves me stripping plant and fault finding.
I left laughing at his complete lack of knowledge on the mot test even though he claims to be a tester at least i got a smile out of it. I think i might print of a copy of the mot test regulations etc from vosa website and slip it to him assuming he can read :/

robconnors1977 · Post by **robconnors1977** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:44 pm

You must work loads of hours a day!!
I work 60 hours a week and i thought that was bad enough!!