Old timing belt risky - do they deteriorate?

TrickyWicky

I've been there.. had a car that was years over and 20k over too. Got it out, also covered in little cracks all over. It still did a 400 mile trip for a dirty weekend away before i did the belt though

martyp

I think mine is about 6k overdue so not too bad. My garage has quoted £85 to fit if I supply the belt. They tend to swear by QH and some other brand but I like to try and source the parts cheaper. I'm not sure how much if anything the garage makes on parts when they source them themselves.

mikey72

martyp wrote: »

I think mine is about 6k overdue so not too bad. My garage has quoted £85 to fit if I supply the belt. They tend to swear by QH and some other brand but I like to try and source the parts cheaper. I'm not sure how much if anything the garage makes on parts when they source them themselves.

Problem with that is if it goes wrong it's always a fight between you, with the garage and the belt supllier blaming each other.

property.advert

mikey72 wrote: »

Problem with that is if it goes wrong it's always a fight between you, with the garage and the belt supllier blaming each other.

My thoughts exactly, for the sake of a couple of quid.

TrickyWicky

martyp wrote: »

My garage has quoted £85 to fit if I supply the belt.

A good price you may think except you'll run into serious trouble if you don't do the water pump and tensioners/rollers at the same time. If you don't do them the odds are one will fail and then your new cambelt will just jump teeth and get shredded. Then you'll have the cost of a new engine along with a new belt, tensioners/rollers, pump etc.

Just pay the extra and save yourself the hassle of paying even more.

mcjordi

yeah while they have the old belt off replace the water pump and the pulleys shouldnt charge too much extra labour. after all its only a couple of bolts holding it in..

Strider590

If the belt has a sticky liquidy substance on it, then stay well clear. This is the phthalate esters (plasticiser) leaking from the rubber. This binds the rubber together and keeps it flexible.... Once it starts to sweat out, the belt will crack.

martyp

mikey72 wrote: »

Problem with that is if it goes wrong it's always a fight between you, with the garage and the belt supllier blaming each other.

I did experience that with a clutch, I bought the part cheap but brand new from a good shop. The clutch failed within a week or so and the shop refunded the price of the clutch which was good but the clutch mfr refused to refund the labour saying it was fitted incorrectly. The mechanic was willing to speak direct to the mfr about it and wasn't happy with them suggesting he didn't know hot to fit a clutch when he had fitted many of them and was a specialist in my model of car at the time having worked previously at a dealer. He said there was only one real way to fit the clutch using the dowel (?) provided which he did and insisted it was a faulty clutch.

martyp

property.advert wrote: »

My thoughts exactly, for the sake of a couple of quid.

I would be saving about £40 from the price the garage could get the belt kit for, would it still be too much risk to take?

martyp

TrickyWicky wrote: »

A good price you may think except you'll run into serious trouble if you don't do the water pump and tensioners/rollers at the same time. If you don't do them the odds are one will fail and then your new cambelt will just jump teeth and get shredded. Then you'll have the cost of a new engine along with a new belt, tensioners/rollers, pump etc.

Just pay the extra and save yourself the hassle of paying even more.

Sorry, should have mentioned it would be the belt and tensioners being replaced but didn't plan to do the water pump as well. I do have a new water pump which I bought a while ago, I could maybe supply that to be fitted.