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Can anyone tell me if £360 quoted by my local Ford dealer is a fair price to charge for a cam belt replacement? Also, my manual says 100k or ten years for cam belt replacement, my 1.6 Zetec hatchback has done 81k. On my last service the dealer said I should look at getting the belt changed asap. When I mentioned the hand book I just got a shrug of the shoulders and a "best be on the safe side mate". If the belt requires changing at 80k, then why doesn't the manual say '80k'and not 100k?
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Personally, i would always change a cam belt at 5 years or 50000 whichever came first, whatever vehicle it is on. Thats based on my 20 odd years experience working in the motor trade - but as i say it is just my opinion !
A good indie would probably do just as good a job for a lot less than £360, but if you want to use a Ford dealer get quotes from 2 or 3, they dont all charge the same prices !
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I asked the service advisor at my Ford dealer about cambelt replacement at about 80,000 miles on my 1999 2 litre Focus and he said that the recommended 100,000 mile interval was satisfactory. He said that the earliest their dealership had known a cambelt fail on a Focus was at 125,000 miles.
Edited by L'escargot on 10/07/2009 at 08:38
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Thanks for that L'escargot, it's just I hear so many conflicting opinions about cam belt replacement, that I have just got to the stage now where I don't know who to believe anymore. Like I said before, if Ford stimulate 10 years or 100,000 miles then why change it before.
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"Like I said before, if Ford stimulate 10 years or 100,000 miles then why change it before. "
Because some do go early, like a colleague's whose went at 54,000 - his car was 6 years old.
If you intend keeping the car for many years from now it may be worth doing. If you intend getting rid soon why bother, but remember if it goes it's a lot more than £350.
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Having done a fair few of these now I would heed the advice of the Ford Service advisor and have it done a little earlier. I advise my customers to have it changed at around 85-90k miles and the tensioner and guide roller bearings have been very slack and noisy. Renew the water pump while you are at it, although not driven by the belt its easier to do it now. Using genuine ford parts an an indie will charge around 250
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i think that £360 is probibly about right for fords. but a good independant garage will be cheaper. it would be even cheaper if you bought the kit and got them to fit it as you save on the mark up money. I got a genuine ford belt kit for £79.85 which includes idlers etc and got it fitted for £150 at a garage. If you get the ford one, it again is guarenteed for another 100000 miles so long as its fitted correctly. but i would reccomend doing the belt at 85 - 90 thousand miles. i did mine at 87000 and the pulleys were knackered. yes, get the water pump done as well if you can as it saves a lot of work later on. Possibly if you get the parts your self get a new drivebelt (about a £10) as then they can do it all whlist its stripped once.
hth michael
Edited by clewsy01 on 12/07/2009 at 14:55
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i wouldnt recommend you supply your own kit to be fitted as if anything goes wrong you will have problems in the future
let the independant supply fit and guarantee all the bits together,they have a working agreement with their suppliers if things ever go wrong
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Taken from : www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=116
"Some fleets reckon on just 60,000 miles for Zetec E timing belts and idler pulleys. 35,000 miles still max for diesel timing belts. (Later 1.8 TDCi diesel engine is belt cam, not chain cam like 2.0 Mondeo TDCi.) On 1.8 petrol engines, timing belt tensioners are failing over 80,000 miles and 5 years old."
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