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Please help. Getting quotes for can belt replacement. I have read that the water pump should also be changed but my local independent garage tell me that on the 2007 model it isn't necessary because its not driven by the pump. They have quoted £195.
My Vauxhall dealer quoted me £259 and then when I mentioned a water pump he said oh yes we always recommend a new pump as it drives thecambelt. He then added £127 to the price. Why he didn't do this with out asking if it is required begs another question.
So who is right? I want it done properly but don't want to pay for unnecessary parts. My local guy did say that most other models would need a pump.
Its only done 46 k but don't want to take any chances.
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It depends really. Even if the pump is not driven by the timing belt (which it appears not to be), It might be such that to change the pump afterwards would mean having to remove the timing belt and excess labour charges. A pump cost less than £40 for this engine so I think I'd probably do it at the same time.
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These days the school of thought is to change the cambelt and all rollers and tensioner as a kit. This would also include the water pump if it's driven by the toothed belt. There are reasons for toothed belt failure, and the most common are incorrect tension and contamination. Years ago we didn't change the rollers and tensioner as a matter of routine and no-one thought any more of it. These components are bearings, and no different from any other roller type bearing. If the bearing is sound, smooth and has no play, and its seal is property intact then in all probability there will be no need to change it.
The other thing is you need to weigh up the cost of the job against the value of the car. You could have the cambelt replaced at a cost of several hundred pounds and the next day someone could run up the back of you and write the car off. Personally unless the rollers, tensioner and water pump were showing signs of wear I'd just change the belt. That's the way it used to be done. Sadly garages these days are only interested in scaremongering for their own gain.
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"Personally unless the rollers, tensioner and water pump were showing signs of wear I'd just change the belt. That's the way it used to be done. Sadly garages these days are only interested in scaremongering for their own gain."
Hmm I nearly fell fowl of this myself a few (er many) years ago changed the cambelt on a 2.0 Ford Capri but a couple of thousand miles later the tensioner collapsed and threw the belt. However got lucky that time as I then discovered that it didn't have an "inteference " engine - Simply replaced the cambelt and tensioner to restore normal service.
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That could've happened with a new tensioner though. As I said, as long as they're showing no signs of deterioration they're most likely perfectly serviceable. Bearings fail due to excessive load or lack of lubrication. Incorrect tensioning is a major cause of toothed belt failure. I'd accept that is would be best to renew all components in the drive train but it's equally important to ensure the belt is fitted and tensioned correctly.
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You will need to confirm what engine you have fitted.Some of the 1.8 models have the water pump driven by the cambelt,and some later versions don't.Model year 2007 is the change point.If it is the earlier version,then the pump most definitely will need to be renewed,foolish not to.
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Thanks guys. It was registered July 2007. The garage I use have checked the reg number and say it doesn't need a water pump I was just checking that this is correct as everything I have read about says to change the pump.
Do you think the water pump is likely to fail anyway and if it was to be changed at a later date due to malfunction would this be difficult or expensive to do?
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Years ago we didn't change the rollers and tensioner as a matter of routine and no-one thought any more of it. These components are bearings, and no different from any other roller type bearing. If the bearing is sound, smooth and has no play, and its seal is property intact then in all probability there will be no need to change it. The other thing is you need to weigh up the cost of the job against the value of the car. You could have the cambelt replaced at a cost of several hundred pounds and the next day someone could run up the back of you and write the car off. Personally unless the rollers, tensioner and water pump were showing signs of wear I'd just change the belt. That's the way it used to be done. Sadly garages these days are only interested in scaremongering for their own gain.
And on such a young car with such a low mileage if the belt looked good I wouldn't change that either, as those who know my posts on this matter would expect me to say. BUT this engine looks like a disaster waiting to happen because for some reason I cannot think of, the tensioner pulleys are apparently coated with plastic!! Bits of discarded plastic and the belt driving the resulting irregular surface means lots of work for the garage and an empty wallet for the punter. Perhaps this is why V'hall advise such short change intervals, compared with, say, our Focus [103,000m, 14yrs old, going nicely, thanks - gave it another squirt of belt dressing this summer]. Choose your engine wisely!
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BUT this engine looks like a disaster waiting to happen because for some reason I cannot think of, the tensioner pulleys are apparently coated with plastic!! Bits of discarded plastic and the belt driving the resulting irregular surface means lots of work for the garage and an empty wallet for the punter. Perhaps this is why V'hall advise such short change intervals, compared with, say, our Focus [103,000m, 14yrs old, going nicely, thanks - gave it another squirt of belt dressing this summer]. Choose your engine wisely!
Your Focus also has a plastic wheeled belt tensioner!
If your Focus has never had a belt change, I can only hope you have some breakdown recovery package for when it lets go on a motorway sometime.
I've never advise a person not to change a timing belt especially on a Vauxhall after the problems they had with Ecotec timing belt tensioners breaking. Vauxhalls wonderful answer was to change the interval for replacement to 40,000miles from 80,000miles and then to 60,000miles for the revised kit with a better tensioner.
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Your Focus also has a plastic wheeled belt tensioner!
Aaaarrggh!! I shall listen carefully for signs of failure. Many years ago I heard our old Passat tensioner pulley whining and managed to change it before it seized. It was easy to do but difficult to change the belt which looked perfectly OK, so I left it alone. It was still doing its job at 240,000m +. Now that our Focus is apparently worth about the price of a cambelt change I can afford the interesting gamble to see how long it lasts. Perhaps my ancient belt dressing has provided a protective coat for the plastic. Anyway, Ford has never to my knowledge reduced the interval from 10yrs/100,000m for this engine so I think the odds of surviving much longer are good, especially with a careful driver and a protective autobox.
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Its only done 46 k but don't want to take any chances.
If this is the Z18XER engine then the replacement interval is 100000 miles or 10 years so at 7 years and 46k you should have a couple more years left in it yet.
Also the schedule for the tensioner and idler roller is the same so best to replace them at the same time. And no, the water pump isn't driven by the cambelt so no need to replace it unless it's worn or leaking.
Autodata state a replacement time of 1.10 hours so it's not a very involved job to change it with the correct locking/setting tools. At the end of the day, if you want piece of mind and change it now, do so but personally I'd leave it for another 12 months at least.
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