Timing belt change on 97 Astra 1.4

tlyons

Lads,

Missus just went and bought a 97 Astra 1.4 117k miles on the clock for €1k. Nice enough body work and engine sounds relatively ok, obviously not as sweet as could be but ok to my ear.

Anyway the owner, missus mate, couldn't confirm when the Timing belt was last changed. So time to get the spanners out!

Did a belt & water pump on a 98 Escort 1.4 recently so no issues with the spannering ability but this will be the first Opel. Been reading a few posts about the bad GF50 tensioner pulleys compared to the good GF25 pulleys so have a couple of questions

Note: no haynes manual for the Astra yet, thats on the shopping list
1. Timing belt change interval 40k miles?
2. Since the car has done 117k miles, the belt must have been changes once if not twice. Would the better GF25's have been installed by now?
3. The belt kit for the Ford was just that a belt, memory tells me it was about €20. Whats in the Astra kit and how much?
4. Like the ford I plan to change the water pump, got a guide to how much that will cost?
5. I'll do a bit of a service while I'm at it, eg plugs, filters (Oil & air), Oil. Any suggestions on other things to do?

alias no.9

If it's the 16v ecotec engine do it ASAP. They were fitted to some of the later old model astra and are known for premature timing belt failure. If it's the older 8v, I don't think it's as much of a panic, but apparently it's a much easier job.

tlyons

Its an older 8v. Thanks for the advice