Does my cambelt need changing now? 74,000 miles

the182guy

Morning all. I think my cambelt needs doing. It's a 2002 1.2 Clio with 74k on the clock. I've had it since 35k and as far as I know it's never been done.

Should I get it replaced ASAP? Also, what are the other bits that should be done aswell, pulleys? Can this job be done in a day?

Thanks in advance.

da1seggy

I'd get it done. All cars are different but mine (Vauxhall Astra) is recommended to be changed every 40k miles. It won't take more than a few hours if the mechanic knows what they're doing

LandyAndy

Yes you should get it done. Usually sensible to have the water pump changed at the same time as it involves a lot of the same, considerable, labour but the pump itself is relatively cheap..

the182guy

Booked in and dropped off. £197 for the kit: belt, pulleys, tensions the whole 9 yards.

Now I'm wondering about the water pump. They never mentioned it.

Edit: Phoned and asked and they said they will check it when stripped down, if it's noisey or something or leaky and will phone me if they think it needs doing.

LandyAndy

the182guy wrote: »

Booked in and dropped off. £197 for the kit: belt, pulleys, tensions the whole 9 yards.

Now I'm wondering about the water pump. They never mentioned it.

Edit: Phoned and asked and they said they will check it when stripped down, if it's noisey or something or leaky and will phone me if they think it needs doing.

I would have it done anyway.

Hintza

LandyAndy wrote: »

I would have it done anyway.

Just get it done as Andy suggests.

thescouselander

I'm not sure you should just jump into getting the water pump changed. Usually the reliability of a component follows what is called the bathtub curve (look it up on google). At 75K miles you should be in the middle of that curve so you can be reasonably confident you have a good water pump. If you move to a new pump (statistically speaking) you risk having a less reliable pump fitted if there have been any quality issues at manufacture which could lead to early failures.


The exeption to this might be if your particular model has a history of water pump failures at the milages you are approaching or if there are obvious signes the pump is on its way out (noise, play etc).

I'd let the garage look at it and advise you on the condition of the pump.

vikingaero

thescouselander wrote: »

I'm not sure you should just jump into getting the water pump changed. Usually the reliability of a component follows what is called the bathtub curve (look it up on google). At 75K miles you should be in the middle of that curve so you can be reasonably confident you have a good water pump. If you move to a new pump you risk having a less reliable pump fitted if there have been any quality issues at manufacture.


The exeption to this might be if your particular model has a history of water pump failures at the milages you are approaching or if there are obvious signes the pump is on its way out (noise, play etc).

I'd let the garage look at it and advise you on the condition of the pump.

It's always been belt and braces for me - change cambelt, change the water pump.

Main reason being that 90% of the labour is already taken care of when the cambelt assemblies/covers/housings are removed.

It's like putting in a new gearbox at 74k, you may as well fit a new clutch at the same time.

thescouselander

vikingaero wrote: »

It's always been belt and braces for me - change cambelt, change the water pump.

Main reason being that 90% of the labour is already taken care of when the cambelt assemblies/covers/housings are removed.

It's like putting in a new gearbox at 74k, you may as well fit a new clutch at the same time.

Yes but from an reliability engineering point of view fitting a new pump could actually make the car more unreliable - thats just how the statistics come out.

Clutches are a different matter because you can see how much it has worn but predicting bearing failures is somewhat more difficult.

jd82

I thought it was because if the water pump siezes it could throw the cambelt of with it.

KillerWatt

jd82 wrote: »

I thought it was because if the water pump siezes it could throw the cambelt of with it.

Not all engines use the water pump as the cambelt tensioner, I suspect folk here are saying change the water pump at the same time as it is very easy to do when the cambelt is being done due to already being part stripped.