Cambelt cost…



  • Good news! Mechanic says my cam belt is new! That's a major relief lol

    DJ, you were right about the fan belt though, its on its way out. Oh well, better a fan belt than a cam belt :P

    I had to hold the key in the ignition position for quite a while today (6-8 seconds…) I hadn't driven the car since Saturday. Is that normal? Will the fan belt change fix that or do I need a new battery you think??

    Thanks anyway for all the info :)



  • Right to start, the mechanic you took your car to, never go back he is a waster, no mechanic in their right mind would open the cam case and say it looks like new because they all look like new until they suddenly snap, you can tell with a fan belt because they crack but cam belts will just go.

    He obviously doesnt want the job so he has fobbed you off, I would get out there and shop around again. The fan belt slipping, depending on which one it could be that its not charging the battery properly. usually to tell, if you leave the car ticking over and turn the steering hard over to full lock and it squeals its the rear belt, if you put everything electrical on fully and it squeals its the alternator but its worth just doing both anyway.

    If the car hasnt been run for a while or it takes a while to start, get some new plugs in it, they will make it start first time and try and get some new leads for it, it all helps :wink:

    If you can turn it over and it takes ages to start, its not the battery because its turning it over :P



  • like dj said, blokes no good, as my mechanic said when I asked him if my cambelt looked ok, "what does a cambelt look like before it snaps?"

    Theyre in a cover, and protected by a bonnet on top, they wont ever see UV rays, salt or rain, so theyll always look like new, but would a dirty one be sign of failure?.

    If in doubt, swap it out. Do it now and you can rest at ease for the next 6-7 years / 60k miles, youll have probably sold the car before that due to uneconomical MOT repairs

    Fix stuff when it becomes a concern and it wont ever become a problem, my car started knocking going round roundabouts, went to garage, outer CV joint on its way out, booked in the same day, if the cv goes, the driveshaft will drop out while driving, not before smacking the hell out of the engine bay or ripping off my brake line on that side. £65 inc parts and labour, cheaper than totaling my car or dying cos I cant brake.

    If your belt snaps, you engine stops, if your engine stops, your brakes fail to work as theyre driven from the vacuum inlet manifold.



  • :O

    Thanks a lot guys, I'm glad I'm getting info from a lot more knowledgeable folks :)

    Pretty lousy that the guy didn't wanna do the job, its not like I was gonna ask him to do it for free :-/ some people are just not into it I guess lol

    DJ! I think I'm gonna take you up on your offer after all :P let me just find a good time and I'll message you to check when's convenient :)

    Thanks again folks, I really appreciate all the info :)



  • tbh Im not surprised he doesnt want to do the job, theres not a whole lot of space in there, and itll be a lot harder than a simple sohc or even dohc i4 engine. But like you said, your going to pay him, itd have made more sense if he just gave you an over the top quote for doing it



  • @911bffa906=nikeah:

    Pretty lousy that the guy didn't wanna do the job

    its not that rare unfortunatley, loads of garagrs ive been to say similar things so i end up learning how to do it myself and saving a pretty penny, just buy a halfords advance toolkit for 100 quid and your sorted :D

    oh and a chiltons of couse!



  • @a0f5839305=barrywhite21:

    @a0f5839305=nikeah:

    Pretty lousy that the guy didn't wanna do the job

    its not that rare unfortunatley, loads of garagrs ive been to say similar things so i end up learning how to do it myself and saving a pretty penny, just buy a halfords advance toolkit for 100 quid and your sorted :D

    oh and a chiltons of couse!

    WHATEVER EVER YOU DO… ONLY BUY THE TOOLS FROM HALFORDS - NEVER GET THE MUPPETS TO WORK ON YOUR CAR.
    You wouldnt ask an employee of macdonalds to cook you dinner :wink:
    Thnk about that statement :!:



  • I done my KLZE swap with a halfords toolbox! My mechanic mate took the piss but it did the job!



  • @ebe5867ede=djmarcopolo:

    @ebe5867ede=barrywhite21:

    @ebe5867ede=nikeah:

    Pretty lousy that the guy didn't wanna do the job

    its not that rare unfortunatley, loads of garagrs ive been to say similar things so i end up learning how to do it myself and saving a pretty penny, just buy a halfords advance toolkit for 100 quid and your sorted :D

    oh and a chiltons of couse!

    WHATEVER EVER YOU DO… ONLY BUY THE TOOLS FROM HALFORDS - NEVER GET THE MUPPETS TO WORK ON YOUR CAR.
    You wouldnt ask an employee of macdonalds to cook you dinner :wink:
    Thnk about that statement :!:

    100% agreed



  • @9cfe66d0a6=djmarcopolo:

    WHATEVER EVER YOU DO… ONLY BUY THE TOOLS FROM HALFORDS - NEVER GET THE MUPPETS TO WORK ON YOUR CAR.
    You wouldnt ask an employee of macdonalds to cook you dinner :wink:

    Philosophy of the month!



  • Here is further evidence that you should not take your car to halfrauds.

    This is a post from the alfa forum, thread is called "Am i being ripped off" well….. what do you think

    my 147 started misfiring so i took it to halfords auto center as i've got a warranty with them. i had AA tow the car there and before they done i used my alfa diag to check the probem which said cylider 2 misfire. i asked them to check if my coil pack needed replacement and to check if there was any oil at places it wasn't meant to be. i left my car there with the assurance that it will be taken care of and i wouldnt av to pay for it as i've got a warranty. i recieved a phone call today from the garage, i was told my car was done and it will cost me 1400 to get it back as the warranty company wont pay for it. when i asked then what happened with the warranty and simply changing my coil pack, they went on to explain to me that they change all sixteen valves, replaced cylinder, drained sixteen lifter, ressembled cylinder, head bolt change, timming belt kit and other stuff i cant recall.
    i asked them why they didnt ask me before all of this was done if the warranty is not paying for it and he went on to tell it had to be done as i would've changed it anyway.
    what i wanna know is, can misfiring lead to all of this being changed? i keep a very close eye to my car and make sure nothing goes wrong so i was quite suprised with them telling me all these was not working in my car.
    I told them i wasnt paying 1400 and they've asked me to get a cheaper quote and they'll match it.

    I REALLY NEED SOME HELP FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS A LOT ABOUT ALFAS

    I would say they are taking the piss a bit lol



  • I doubt its even been done anyway, all that stuff cant be checked, new and old cambelts look the same, your not gonna tell the diff between lifters and valves beside carbon build up on the valves, and no ones gonna take the car apart to check that. Id have refused to pay, but then, I dont deal with warranties or garages like that. Warranties arent worth the paper their written on, its always someone elses problem, I took out 3 years protection with argos when I bought an xbox 360, when I got 3 red lights I though I would be able to just take it in store and get an immediate replacement, nope, had to go to microsoft because microsoft extended the warranty to 3 years, despite that, argos should still have honoured the agreement as it was paid for, come to think of it Im gonna look into this as surely they should refund my extended warranty money?



  • I am sure you could get the warranty back if they refused to honour it. you may need to fight for it. I bought a USED xbox 360 from GAME and i got the red ring of death and still managed to get it sent back to microsoft for free as they sent a courier to pick it up and a courier dropped it off again. (P.S microsoft have extended the red ring to 5 years now :) ) so as long as your xbox is under 5 years old (should be a date on the plate on the back of the xbox) i wouldnt even bother with warranty as the red ring seems to be all that goes wrong with them which is covered anyway



  • 5 years now is it? blimey thats a corker of a warranty! cant fault them for that, sure they made a mistake, but by god theyre doing the best they can to put that right, what if you have to take them up on it, do they send you one of the new ones out? My mrs has got one of the old platinum ones before they fitted them with HDMI, warranty is out on 23rd June, tempted to overheat it on purpose if she can get a new shiny one :D



  • My dad went in and had a massive row with them in hedge end branch when a friend of his took her car in for a new battery and then it broke down a little while later, turned out the battery was twice the size it should be and both terminals had worn through the sound proofing on the bonnet and just shorted out.

    Just so you know most halfords technicians are not qualified mechanics, they are all taught in house on their own training scheme :evil:



  • Its like that Jiffy Lube in america, they did a investigation thing on the news about it, charging for filters and not fitting or not even putting in oil but draining it out lol



  • In house training is never a good thing, especially when it comes to mechanics. I have "in house" forklift training and I hit a few things in my old job lol.

    Yeah its 5 years now jesta. I dont know if they replace them but saying that when my xbox got the red ring i was so pissed off with it that i pulled the disk tray out of the xbox (ooops) and when i got it back it looked like a brand new xbox but i couldnt tell you. I did the "towel" trick about 3 times and that wouldnt work anymore so i had to call microsoft. You could always try it and see what happens. I might have to pursuade my misses that we need an xbox (sold it before i met her) as i have never played Forza 3 :shock:



  • if you want one, missus is selling hers for £40, had bugger all use since I bought it for her, its a 2006, 20gb, microsoft seal still intact, thats how little its been used, its never been on long enough to get a red ring lol



  • hmmmm keep hold of that for a week or so and i may well take you up on that. do you have paypal and how much delivered? is the controller cable or wireless. :D



  • oh yeah and is there any games? cheers. the misses said she might buy it for me :D


 

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