how long should a cam belt last????

nursemolly

i have just had my car serviced and have been advised i shouledhave a new cam belt.
my last one was fitted aug 02. i only do about 5-6 thousand miles a year.
they have quoted me about £275 inclusive.

what sort of milage can i do on a cam belt??
sorry i am not mechanically minded
thanks
molly
xx

headcovers

Be careful - it can depend on the make of car and there are other factors to take into consideration such as heat, cold, rain, chemical, salt, etc all of which can affect the lifespan of any belt.

I believe there is a difference between petrol and diesel as well.

Bossyboots

mollytrundle wrote:

i have just had my car serviced and have been advised i shouledhave a new cam belt.
my last one was fitted aug 02. i only do about 5-6 thousand miles a year.
they have quoted me about £275 inclusive.

what sort of milage can i do on a cam belt??
sorry i am not mechanically minded
thanks
molly
xx

What a coincidence. I am in exactly the same position. I have a four year old car with 20,000 on the clock and I have been told the manufacturer issued a recommendation in October that cam belts should be done every four years or 50,000 miles. I only do 4000 a year and my quote was £337.50 inclusive.

Apparently the concern now is not just the mileage but the affect of weather conditions on the belts so that they deteriorate over time, not just usage.


Edit: Cross posted with headcovers. I thought my garage were trying to rip me off (they did for the service IMO) but perhaps they are not totally lying to me.

northern_munky

Every car is different, Vauxhalls reduced the time between belt changes because they had so many failures on the other hand Ford Zetec engines seem to last well. Even if you dont do many miles, you have to take the time between changes into consideration, lots of stop start type driving puts more strain on the belt than driving up and down motorways.

What car have you got? The garage are probably quoting for the belt, new pulleys/tensioners and maybe a new waterpump too and thats why its so pricey but you would be advised to have those done depending on make/model of car.

kaya

"if it aint broke then dont fix it"

aurora_borealis_2

How about a Hyundai Accent with 87000 miles?
DD1 has just put a deposit down on one but was warned that this might be needed.

Raksha

The reason Vauxhall changed their schedule was down to the runners disintergrating, not the belts IIRC.....

'If it ain't broke......' if you don't change it, then something even more expensive will break...

tee_pee_2

my dad reckons 50k+

Wig

kaya wrote:

"if it aint broke then dont fix it"

Terrible advise when talking about timing belts !!!!!! If you wait for a TB to fail it could mean the car is worth nothing and has to be scrapped.

OP,

You don't say what car it is. some belts are designed to last 40,000 some belts are designed to last 80,000. You can buy short life ones and longlife ones for some (if not all cars).

What you are saying is that you have done 20 -25K on this belt if that is accurate, I would visually check the belt and the cover, covering the belt, if the belt is clean and tidy and has no fraying on it, I would (regardless of age of belt) drive on it for another 2 - 3 years before I changed it (assuming it is a 40,000 mile belt). The cover should have no cracks or holes (having said that my cover on my carlton and my Omega were both cracked and had holes, and I never had any hassle, but I changed my TB on those cars every 2 - 3 years due to high mileage anyway.

If the belt looks ok it's not going to suddenly fail, if you keep an eye on it (every 6 months) I'm sure you will be fine. Learn from someone or work it out yourself, how to take the cover off and look at the belt.

Plus I can't believe the prices people come here saying they have been quoted, unless that involves removing the engine! I wouldn't pay anywhere near that price. I would consider 80 pounds all in (labour & parts) reasonable. Max 100 pounds.

**You also have to know are they quoting just the belt or are they quoting the belt and all the pulleys and water pump?

If it's just the belt it's a 15 min job (if acess is not restricted). If it's all the pulleys, then it is arguable if that is necessary (I wouldn't bother but I would check all the pulleys when the belt is off) and will take 30 - 60 mins.

Wig

aurora_borealis wrote:

How about a Hyundai Accent with 87000 miles?
DD1 has just put a deposit down on one but was warned that this might be needed.

Depends when it was last done (probably never done) so this would be a MUST.

Bossyboots

Thank you Wig, that is really helpful information. We weren't told it needed changing imminently. The car is due for MOT in a couple of weeks which will be done at a different garage so we will speak to the guy there who we trust (although we trusted the dealer too so we will be having words with the owner of the dealership tomorrow) to check it again and if necessary give a quote.

If he says it is okay then we can do as suggested and keep a regular eye on it.