Approx. cost for timing belt replacement

MrsBartolozzi

Hi there guys,
My car (Renault Megane 05 Diesel) needs its timing belt replaced. My local, trusted garage doesn't have the needed equipment so I have to look elsewhere for this. Can anyone give me a ballpark figure I should be expecting to pay please? I've been told its a time-costly procedure and could be expensive - I have £500 saved for this purpose, it is likely to be anywhere near enough?
It's the first time I'm taking the car for more than an MOT, my ex OH used to do this and I don't want to be ripped off if they see me as a mechanically clueless female approaching .

Thanks in advance for any input,
MrsB.

johnfarquhar74

Like you, I needed a timing belt(5 year old car) for my Laguna. My local and trusted garage didn't have the necessary tools so used yell.com to find a local renault specialist(in Edinburgh). Got my belts & associated pulleys replaced with renault parts for £250 which I though was reasonable!
Hopefully there will be someone near you that can do similar!

MrsBartolozzi

Thanks for replying, John. I'm not that far away from you, could you give me the name of the garage that did yours as they may have a branch near me?
It's good to hear it wasn't as expensive as I'd imagined too.

johnfarquhar74

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

Thanks for replying, John. I'm not that far away from you, could you give me the name of the garage that did yours as they may have a branch near me?
It's good to hear it wasn't as expensive as I'd imagined too.

No worries, the garage I used were Rentec Autocare(google it), off Portobello Road, Edinburgh. They are the far side of Edinburgh from where I stay but I phoned a few garages and they came out the cheapest and guaranteed me they would use genuine, not pattern parts. If you do decide to phone around, make sure you tell the garage you want a timing belt kit, not just the belt swapped out. A kit comes with all the associated pullleys which should be replaced at the same time. Not ALL garages do this!

MrsBartolozzi

Thanks again for great advice. I had no idea there was more to it than just replacing the belt, I will use this info when I phone around on Monday. Oh is your car petrol or diesel? I probably should have mentioned this before, but mine is diesel - are they more expensive to fit? I seem to remember a thing about the engine positioning being more fiddly to work around and therefore costs more in labour.

johnfarquhar74

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

Oh is your car petrol or diesel?

Mines was a 2.0L petrol, the kits would I assume cost the same, the labour is the question. Best thing to do is phone around some garages near you, and use the web to find french car specialists in the local vicinity. Make sure the quotes you receive are for the complete(belts & pulleys) job using genuine parts so that they are comparable. As an aside, I was told by Rentec that they would look at the water pump as this is something that may need replacing as well, I'm not a mechanic but apparently the water pump is driven by one of these belts. My car did not need this but just something to bear in mind!

MrsBartolozzi

Thanks, I'd read on another site about the water pump so noted it down, apparently the cam belt needs removing to replace the pump so it's as well getting it done then.