Glad I did that. Cambelt change.

Phew. That was a close shave!

After getting a new car usually I get the cambelt done or at least checked, tyres, battery all that sort of stuff if I cant verify its age or integrity.

Extremely close I would say. :o)

Been there with a Rover 214 (old shape), G reg, one careful female owner. Used for pottering around in Beckenham (London), taking the kids to school. In visual good nick, looked OK, looked sound. Early K series engine, before they started using plastic dowels. Turned out to be a real stormer once some remedial work was carried out.

Got the car, all the service details..... nice. Even the bills.

Hmmmm, cambelt? Nowt in the bulging service folder.

I usually, on getting any new car, change the cambelt as a matter of course. Good thing too, remember that the manufacturers instructions say so many miles or so many years. Well, the previous owners thinking was that it has done the so many years but had not done the so many miles, so it was OK to run like that until the miles caught up with the manufacturers recommendation. I knew the garage in question quite well (can recommend) and they poppd the cover off and found the belt on it's last leggies (silly cow, never believe the one careful female owner nowadays).

Felt a lot better once I had the thing done and the performance was noticable.

PDH

A similar thing happened a major vauxhall dealership. No mention of a water pump change when one cambelt was changed. Then no mention of tensioners and rollers being changed on the next one. When questioned I was told to look at the invoice which stated - "if required" in one clause describing work done as part of a service. Lookers were not willing to confirm or deny they had changed tensioners and rollers, or indeed the water pump, so it was done again at a different garage and they were given the bill. It was paid after Trading Standards got involved. All they had been doing was changing the belt and that was it. I think the cost was around £135. That is one place I would never go back to again as I simply couldn't trust them. Trading Standards said on their test cars they sent in - a number of faults had never been corrected, parts were never fitted but charged for and one car passed the MOT with defective brakes. On another the brake fluid was meant to have been changed but wasn't.

You really have to watch who you take a car to. Never trust a sales person as in my experience they lie to make a living.

Nope. Cambelt changes are extra for a lot of servicing schedules. Whereas you think "40,000 mile service WHICH INCLUDES cambelt change" it isn't. It usually goes:

"Here's your car sir. The cambelt is due for changing." "How much will that be?" "£300" "OK, is it urgent?" "No, you'll be OK for a little while yet." "Thankyou very much."

...and it never gets done because they can't see it and the car is working.

Surprised Octavia still using a belt, not a chain, seems like the drift is to chains now. Really timing belts are 'not fit for purpose' with modern cars higher mileages. The average user isn't aware of the calamity waiting them if not checked.

Unless of course belts could be improved to last the life of the car-or as covered before a dual-belt system maybe with a sensor system to detect failure (the maker would probably go for a chain instead).

Manufacturers probably find them cheaper, won't fail within warranty and not a selling point for most people. (It would be interesting to see a list of cars / models with chain / belt--I think at least Nissan/Toyota moved to chains)

I think belts are still used because:

1 They are cheap

2 Quieter than a chain

& if you change them when you're supposed to they're fine. Snag is a lot of people don't.

Likewise. But you can be suprised.

A few years ago I bought a Micra K10 off ebay for =A3100 for my daughter. No service record, been parked in a yard for 9 months so flat tyres and battery. Bit of a mess all round but it ran and I gave it a thorough service and made sure it was safe. But she kept it longer than I'd intended and the thought of the cambelt kept nagging me. In the end I decided I had to change it. Got the old one off... brand spanking new!!!! All that work for nothing!!! But my mind would never have rested if I hadn't done it.

BobC

3 Give added service work to them in the future when it needs changing

4 Increase the sale of new cars following unexpected failures

Am I a cynic?

D

Likewise. But you can be suprised.

A few years ago I bought a Micra K10 off ebay for £100 for my daughter. No service record, been parked in a yard for 9 months so flat tyres and battery. Bit of a mess all round but it ran and I gave it a thorough service and made sure it was safe. But she kept it longer than I'd intended and the thought of the cambelt kept nagging me. In the end I decided I had to change it. Got the old one off... brand spanking new!!!! All that work for nothing!!! But my mind would never have rested if I hadn't done it.

BobC

In this day and age you would have thought there would be an easier way of checking it than having to dismantle things!

Most of the time thats true, but when you buy second hand and the cars been driven by a prat wheelspinning and skidding every 5 minutes and when it comes to sale time its there dad selling it you think hmmm nice guy looks like he looked after it. Then snap! hehe

nah I'd say your a realist

[...]

Also, the change interval for many belts is now 100,000 miles. That's longer than many cars last for other reasons.

Bear in mind that chain drive is not infallible; my brother's dealer-maintained 3 year old Corolla (chain cam) shredded the crankshaft sprocket with predictable results. It had less than 50k on the clock. The dealer didn't seem that surprised...

Chris

Yes it's amazing that for something which is so imperative to replace at regular intervals, why the majority appear to be designed to be such a PIA to replace. I often used to think about my last vehicle, if only it would have had a removable plate behind the wheel arch, and a couple of precision locating holes for some locking studs, it could have been a 30 minute doddle, instead of the fiddly several hours of work (requiring special tools) that it was.

I think the interval used to be 100k miles, but they started failing on

5 years so its now 5 years or 100k whichever comes 1st.

A lot of the dealers don't seem to be aware of that though which beggers belief really.

VW Group TDI engines are recommended to have the belt changed at 40,000miles or 4 (four) years whichever comes sooner used to be 60,000miles and I believe 6 (six) years, obviously older belts were shredding at the longer gap.

Are you sure ? All the hearsay I come across suggests that recommended intervals have been coming down as manufacturers got caught by "premature" failures. The one on my Honda, however, is 72K or 75K, iirc, and a tech who hangs around these parts told me that was conservative, so I didn't worry about it before getting it replaced on time.

An old car I had (1981) was almost like that and also nothing would go bang if the belt did let go. All my other cars have had chains.

According to the service history that came with my recently-acquired Ford focus, the timing belt was last changed 30,000 miles ago, by all accounts when this is done Ford stipulate that the original belt tensioner should be replaced with a modified automatic type (apparently due to instances of premature failure).

However the only mention in the service history is that the 'belt' was replaced as a routine service item at 99,000 miles.

Being a bit of a paranoid soul I asked my local Ford agent if they could check to make sure if the updated part had been replaced along with the belt, but they said that it involves so much work just it check it out, that they might as well replace the whole kit anyway, at a cost of £280 plus Vat!.. worth paying for peace of mind? or if the item 'was' fitted along with the belt then apparently it should be good for another 70,000 miles.