Focus timing belt charge

marcarm

Took my 2005 focus in for a service today, on collecting the chap said there was no record of the timing belt being done so will have to start thinking about it.

He gave a ballpark of £350 or so, would that seem reasonable?

AdrianC

Which engine?
What's included - just belt, tensioners, water pump, serpentine?

marcarm

1.6 ghia, and I think it would be everything included to do the job.

Obviously it's not a quote, it was more a chat in passing so,would find out all the details before going ahead.

AdrianC

"Everything to do the job" depends. The water pump is wise to change at the same time.

Quick look on a typical parts website suggests there was an engine change in about April/May production. If it's the older engine, then £60 for a full kit, £80 if it's the more recent.

Take VAT off £350, and you're down to £290. Remove the parts, you're down to £200. Four hours at £50/hr? Seems a tad slow, off the top of my head, but not ridiculously so, bit of contingency for any problems, coolant change and bleed - it's probably a fair guesstimate.

gabitzul

Not sure about the 1.6 diesel but on the petrol one is a fairly straightforward job. Had mine done for £275.

On these engines the timing belt does not run anything else like water pump, so no need to budget for those unless they are needed.

The setup on them is actually quite a reliable one and they are not know to fail that often.

See one of my previous posts about a high level procedure - the timing needs to be done correctly using a cam locking kit.

dlm

Feel free to shop around - ask him what is included. I know people have guestimated for you. Ask the garage! Coolant isn't cheap anymore as it isn't the old Glycol stuff - it is wheat bran based which is a little more expensive than cheap chemical antifreeze.

Just make sure that belt, water pump and tensioners are replaced and DON'T rely on auction sites as a price guide for parts as many of these are crud anyway. Bought a ball joint off one which was a tenner cheaper - threads weren't long enough to tighten it up!

Ask the garage for a breakdown, but £250-£350 is around normal.

jimjames

Had cambelt done on my Ford 1.7 engine, slightly different to this but cost was £230. Ended up needing a new pulley which added a bit to the price but you don't need to do water pump at the same time on every engine.

DominicH

Mr Clutch will do a twin-cam 1.6 engine for £250 all in, according to their website. That won't include the water pump though. I asked my local indie and he said £400 for a Focus 1.6 petrol! That's London prices though, which IME tend to be higher.

AdrianC

dlm wrote: »

Coolant isn't cheap anymore as it isn't the old Glycol stuff - it is wheat bran based which is a little more expensive than cheap chemical antifreeze.

OAT doesn't mean it's made of porridge... It's an acronym for Organic Acid Technology.
http://www.coolantexperts.com/coolant_overview/oat_coolant

konark

Does it really take 4 hours to change a cambelt,, and why do you have to mess around with the cooling system? If the engine was out of the car it would take 15 minutes, most of the time will be spent contorted under the car getting at hard -to -reach bolts, but 4 hours seems a bit slow for people who do this for a living.

mcjordi

konark wrote: »

Does it really take 4 hours to change a cambelt,, and why do you have to mess around with the cooling system? If the engine was out of the car it would take 15 minutes, most of the time will be spent contorted under the car getting at hard -to -reach bolts, but 4 hours seems a bit slow for people who do this for a living.

if you change water pump then you need to bleed up the coolant system...