Renault Clio servicing

toasterman

Hi all,
My Renault Clio has just reached 140,000 miles, and I panicked slightly at the sudden thought it might need a cam belt change.
I've never had one (or a service) before so not sure where to go.

Can I take it to any garage and have this done, or is there some benefit to going to a Renault dealership? Are cam belts vastly different between models?

I've only owned the car since 125,000, and according to the service book, the cam belt was changed at 72,000.
It's had all main dealer Renault servicing so far, but it's now 5.5 years old. Does it matter as much for resale purposes when it's not new anymore? (I have no current plans to sell it)

A local(ish) Renault dealership have a service for £99, but it includes loads of things like checking lights, brakes, tyres etc, which seems like a waste of time, as it only had it's MOT 6 weeks ago (local independent garage).
The Renault garage does list as part of the service: "Check condition of auxiliary drive belts" - is an auxiliary drive belt, a cam belt? And do you think they'll change it for the £99 fee, while they're at it?
If not, any idea how much a reasonable cost is to change a cam belt?

Thanks a lot for your help.
It's only the second car I've owned, and the first was an old banger I ran for 10,000 miles and traded up from.

AdrianHi

You don't have to use a Renault dealership though £99 seems reasonable. If taking it somewhere else I would still insist on genuine Renault parts though.
Auxiliary belts include things like alternator, water and oil pumps if they have a belt to drive them and most certainly the cam belt.
If the cam belt does need changing (highly likely by the sounds of it) it will not be covered under the £99. I think a friend of mine paid somewhere between £200 and £300 at Renault dealer on his Clio. He doesn't service his car (foolish false economy) and the cam belt snapped. Fortunately the engine he has, has clearance between valves and pistons so his engine was not destroyed when the belt went.
An MOT is not the same as a service, do both.

kolin_2

cam belts usually need changing at around the 80,000 mile mark in my experience, so it'll definitely be coming around. basically what adrian said, it'll be around £2-300, and the £99 will just be to "check" the condition, not actually fix it.

datostar

I doubt that 'checking condition of auxiliary belts' will include the cambelt. Auxiliary belts are visible and can be visually checked. You can't get at the cambelt without some dismantling and a £99 service won't include that. I reckon every 4 years for a cambelt, regardless of mileage. Maybe I'm unduly pessimistic but failure can be catastrophic.

cyclonebri1

Ok not a popular post I'm sure, but at that mileage the clio is pretty much worthless in insurance terms, sorry, small run of the mill car with mega mileage, the form book goes out of the window. The value to you however, balanced against what you paid for it matters. Keep all the detail you have for use later.


The stuff you have listed is 1st form mechanics, sorry but true. No one could ever confuse a cambelt withan auxilliary belt drive. If you have been c0nvinced of that take a step back then erupt,:eek:

toasterman

Thanks for all your advice everyone.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Ok not a popular post I'm sure, but at that mileage the clio is pretty much worthless in insurance terms, sorry, small run of the mill car with mega mileage, the form book goes out of the window. The value to you however, balanced against what you paid for it matters. Keep all the detail you have for use later.

That's ok - it is a cheap runaround.
I bought it cheap because of the high mileage, and it's got air conditioning and electric windows (neither of which I had on my old car) so it does the job. Also does 50+mpg, so doesn't cost much to run either.

That is partly what I was asking.. when you see a car advertised for sale that says all it's servicing has been done at a main dealer, that sounds good. But when it says it's got 150,000 miles on it, does anyone care who did it, so long as it's not going to fall apart on the drive home?
Not that I have any plans to sell it currently.

cyclonebri1

Ok, to try and help more fully;

The cambelt is the most likely component to fail and destroy the engine, fact.

Yours is (over)due for replacement, (2nd time).

Any money spent on a standard service cannot buy the cam belt "time".

My advice would be, based on your comment that you are keeping it, forget Main Renault dealers and go to an independant, recomended garage. Get them to offset the standard service against the cambelt change, as many over laps will occure.

We had at least 4 Clio's in the family over the years, no 5, some new, and some nothing like new. Mk1 and Mk2. Have a soft spot for them as apart from a couple of blown core plugs on the oldest, (lack of anti freeze), we had virtually zero issues.

I'm 6ft 3". The clio was the 1st small car I drove, this was when I picked it up for my daughter, that had a tardis like charachter. It felt bigger and better on the inside than I ever expected,;)

Turnip_Edd

Hiya... My car [PROTON Savvy] has the Renault Twingo/Clio 16V 1.2 motor in it.

It is a 57 with 45k on it... I'm going into the Dealer for a Warranty HeadGasket... some sort of oil leak has been spotted??

I have told the dealer I want the Belt & tensioner replaced (parts only, at my cost), as the engine is to be stripped anyway. I have heard that OLD(pre-tensioned) belts do not like being REtensioned...;)bit like a guitar string which repeatedly goes out of tune - by stretching - and then SnaP!

45k is a BIT soon.... but, as has been said, [and PROTON will not take this position] leaving it, and PERHAPS it snapping & me then claiming under Warranty is not really the most sensible way forward:eek:.

....just my 2cents, hope it makes cents:o

Turnip_Edd