Thread: Timing Belt

Been having car problems

Rattling coming from front fo car, garage checked out exhaust and heat shield and said they are OK.

Said it looked like the Timing Belt, so I've booked it in.

Cost is around £300.

I looked up ebay and found at kit for £50.

Phoned the Garage and they said they would only fit own parts as could not guarantee quality of my parts.

Does this all sound right?

If so, how do I find a garage that will fit the parts at a reasonable cost for me?

One guy I contacted said that my car needed specific tools to fit the belt kit so I would probably need a main dealer.

Any help?

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it sounds fair really, as they will deal with their own supplier and if the kit is incorrect or any parts are missing then they will be able to sort it out directly, what car is it?

Hi Lancer, thanks for the reply.

The car is a Renault Megane 1.9dti.

I've found a garage who will fit, but I can t get over the labour charge. The kit is £50, but I'm getting hammered for £200 + vat for labour!

Unfortunately that is probably about right for a garage, even a non-dealership would be a similar price and I would normally budget around £300 for a timing belt - cheaper than not doing so and having the head off to replace the valves when the belt goes :cry:

On my own car the kit is £80 (for belt and the tensioners which need replacing at the same time) but the book time for the job is 2 and a half hours. With labour rates at £80 per hour and upwards of £100 per hour for some dealerships (in this part of the country at least) the £200 plus parts is probably fairly accurate.

The alternative is to find a good private mechanic, which should cut the labour cost down, but make sure that the work is guaranteed for the normal belt replacement interval. Renault can be a bit funny for tools on some jobs but mechanics can often hire them or may have them anyway if they are working on Renaults regularly.

The parts sourced by the garage will be warranted by their supplier or their supplier's underwriters. The cost of damage to your vehicle due to failure of that part will be met by the part supplier. Can you honestly say that joe bloggs, who would sell you a timing kit on ebay is going to fork out 2k for an engine overhaul when that kit fails? I don't think so. When a timing belt fails then the resulting damage is usually any or all of the following:- bent valves, bent conrods, smashed pistons, wrecked cylinder head(s), snapped camshaft(s). In short, a new engine. If that were to happen, would you be expecting the garage to put right any damage? Now , do you blame the garage for not fitting third party kits to vehicles?

I would get a quote from a mobile mechanic & buy the belt/pulley kit from your local motorfactors.
Us mobile mechanics are much cheaper than that garage & a pretty honest bunch