Price of timing belt replacement - excessive ?

bonzodog2 · 03-09-2009 7:31pm #1

A friend has a diesel VW, maybe a Bora,prob about 5-10 years old, and has been quoted e500 to have the timing belt changed, at some garage. This seems ridiculously expensive to me, last year I paid e40 for a belt for a car and e20 for a tensioning tool. I don't want to do the job myself, but what does anyone else think ?

Drummerboy08 · 03-09-2009 8:05pm

It sounds to me as if you have absolutely no idea what your talking about to be honest.

500e sounds about right, if the water pump and tensioners are included. If its for the belt only, call it around 300e.

Its a time consuming job on certain cars, and I certainly would not recommend anyone but a mechanic to attempt the job. If you get it wrong you could destroy the engine completely.

seanybiker · 03-09-2009 8:08pm

if you dont know exactly what you are doing I wouldnt even lift the bonnet on the car. If you do this wrong you will be fooked. It is a very time consuming job as someone already said. Not 100% sure on a price to be honest. It depends on how much mechanic charges for labour basically.

JHMEG · 03-09-2009 8:24pm

Shop around. The brother is getting his (petrol engined) car done for €50 labour. Belt is €36.

Drummerboy08 · 03-09-2009 8:30pm

One hours labour to change a timing belt? Fifty euro? Sounds like a favour he's getting to me, because most places would charge more than fifty euro on a service, never mind changing the T/belt. The price for the belt is also only for the belt, and not the T/belt kit and waterpump, or so it sounds.

colm_mcm · 03-09-2009 8:31pm

JHMEG wrote: »

Shop around. The brother is getting his (petrol engined) car done for €50 labour. Belt is €36.

What sort of car is that ?

_Buck Rogers · 03-09-2009 8:33pm

200 yoyo would be about right. very complicated job.

On another note didnt 10 year old boras have the chain not the belt?

Drummerboy08 · 03-09-2009 8:34pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

What sort of car is that ?

A golf cart by the sounds of things...

colm_mcm · 03-09-2009 8:35pm

_Buck Rogers wrote: »

200 yoyo would be about right. very complicated job.

On another note didnt 10 year old boras have the chain not the belt?

Nah, they're a belt, and I'd do them at 40k cos of plastic tensioners.

_Buck Rogers · 03-09-2009 8:42pm

maybe it was only passats then.

bonzodog2 · 03-09-2009 8:50pm

In this particular case I am not sure of the model(and the exact model isn't really important to this discussion). I just know its a belt. I know where it is and what it does......

Thanks for your input anyway lads

It just seems to me that say e50 max for the belt and a couple of hours of labour (why would it take any longer ?) shouldn't come to anywhere near e500. Why would you want to change the waterpump unless it was giving trouble ?

Stephen · 03-09-2009 8:54pm

because changing the water pump at the same time as the timing belt requires very little extra labour compared to changing the water pump by itself down the line.

colm_mcm · 03-09-2009 8:54pm

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Why would you want to change the waterpump unless it was giving trouble ?

Because the timing belt drives the pump, if the pump does fail worst case scenario it could throw the belt off, best case, you have to remove the belt to change it. a water pump is dirt cheap, labour isn't.

That's why you change the water pump, and tensioners along with the belt.

bonzodog2 · 03-09-2009 9:04pm

OK thanks, that makes a bit more sense now; I still think its expensive tho ! I will advise my friend to make sure those things are included if she is going to pay that much, and to shop around .....

JHMEG · 03-09-2009 9:06pm

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

One hours labour to change a timing belt? Fifty euro?

The mechanic charges around 25 an hour (he's not rigid on his pricing tho). The brother has been using him for 3 years or so now.

Drummerboy08 wrote:

The price for the belt is also only for the belt, and not the T/belt kit and waterpump, or so it sounds.

What's in the kit depends on the car, and not all cars require the pump and tensioner to be changed. 14400-PDA-E01, which is a timing belt kit, consists of a belt in a plastic bag.

colm_mcm wrote:

What sort of car is that ?

Accord Coupe. Lovely engine to work on as it's a 2.0 in an engine bay designed to accommodate a 3.0 V6.

colm_mcm · 03-09-2009 9:07pm

Nice car too, bit of a rarity around here.

JHMEG · 03-09-2009 9:11pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Nice car too, bit of a rarity around here.

Yeah, used to be mine! Very comfy - full leather and loads of extras as standard. It's American origins show tho as it's quite a heavy wallowy car. Nothing sporting about it.

The Muppet · 03-09-2009 9:11pm

bonzodog2 wrote: »

OK thanks, that makes a bit more sense now; I still think its expensive tho ! I will advise my friend to make sure those things are included if she is going to pay that much, and to shop around .....

Sounds a tad expensive to me too. A good mechanic should do it in two and a half hours to three hours.

remotesensor · 03-09-2009 11:26pm

Bora diesel??

1.9TDI so. I think the whole front of the car has to be removed to get at it so there is more labour involved. I got mine done for 550 and I thought that was a good price compared to the dealer quotes I got.

galwaytt · 03-09-2009 11:40pm

I got 2 quotes for my 9-3 lately. No, actually, 3.

669, 800, or 325.

All garages, all legit.

mmmmmm..........

beachlife · 04-09-2009 9:11am

galwaytt wrote: »

I got 2 quotes for my 9-3 lately. No, actually, 3.

669, 800, or 325.

All garages, all legit.

mmmmmm..........

Did you walk in or ring them and say how much for the timing belt? Or did you ask for a written quote?
The reason i ask is because some just price the belt and some price the job as specified by the manufacturer.
For example: hyundai 2.0 crd timing belt 50 euro. plus labour.
to do job as per manufacturer spec : belt 50 euro
hydraulic tensioner 98 euro
idler bearing 42 euro
waterpump 65 euro
tensioner bolt 3 euro
idler bolt 3 euro
crankshaft bolts 6 euro
plus labour
two different jobs two different prices.
the manufacturer will advise you to change the part that run on the belt i.e idlers,water pumps,tensioners,etc. because most of the time it's a failure in one of these componets that CAUSES the belt to break or skip a tooth.
So changing the belt on it's own is a waste of money....

voxpop · 04-09-2009 9:18am

remotesensor wrote: »

Bora diesel??

1.9TDI so. I think the whole front of the car has to be removed to get at it so there is more labour involved. I got mine done for 550 and I thought that was a good price compared to the dealer quotes I got.

Paid about the same myself for my Golf - for vag cars, its a kit - not just a belt. The kit has tensioners and water pump too. It is expensive because the whole front has to be removed. Def do the water pump at the same time as if it gives trouble your probably looking close to the same price (most of the cost is labour)

OldmanMondeo · 04-09-2009 9:47am

voxpop wrote: »

The kit has tensioners and water pump too.

Not all timing belt kits include the water pump. It is considered a seperate part and should be requested as such.

€500 to change timing belt kit on god knows what car and engine type is hard to tell. A petrol engine vag could be cheaper than a 1.9tdi vag. All depends on where the belt is. As said already on some VAG the front end needs to be removed to change the belt. And I would also recommend getting the Water pump changed at the same time. Also some timing belt kits retail around the €350.00 mark, depending on the application.

alias no.9 · 04-09-2009 10:19am

The prices of belt changes vary quite a bit depending on the engine. A SOHC petrol engine will generally be a quick and easy job a DHOC will be more complicated and expensive due to extra idlers and generally more expensive tensioners. If the water pump is driven by the timing belt, that adds extra cost. Diesels tend to cost more and sometimes have two belts, one driving the camshaft and another driving the injector pump off the other end of the camshaft.

Interesting to note JHMEG's brothers car is a Honda, one of the few manufacturers who remember why manufacturers started using belts in the first place, quieter running, no stretching and quick and easy to change. Complex engines really should have duplex chains.

bonzodog2 · 13-09-2009 3:50pm

My friend who owns the car ended up getting it done for 300 euro. Not so bad eh ?

stevie.enright · 13-09-2009 6:18pm

I had to get a headgasket done on a petrol opel vectra recently. Shopped around and it was quite staggering the difference in prices I was quoted between various garages. For labour only I was quoted various prices from 250 euro to 650 euro. Went with the chap who quoted me 250 euro in the end including skimming the head. Even though there was little over 20k miles since last timing belt change (40k mile intervals on these cars) he advised me to change it also as he would be taking it off anyway to do headgasket and no real extra labour as far as he was concerned. Went on ebay and then got the parts for 170 STG delivered from the UK. Parts I got included a complete head gasket set and headbolts, complete timing belt kit including tensioner pulleys and a water pump. I think I would have easily being paying 300 euro for the same parts here. Now I may/ may not have got away without changing the tensioner pulleys until next time round but best not to take any chances either and as the kit was very little extra on ebay. Job done for circa 450 euro in the end...parts and labour. A few 1,000 miles done since and no problems to report.

You may say my post is off little relevance to somebody doing a timing belt change but its just to give an indication of the differing prices you will be quoted between various garages and why it is worth shopping around for parts also. I will say though if buying parts on ebay make sure it is acceptable to the garage you are going to as not all will allow this and make double sure you get the correct parts for your engine. Also if sending a draft allow for postage each way and up to 5 working days for draft to clear....Don't be too eager booking your car into the gargage if you may not have received the parts before this date. I would advise that you definately change the complete kit and waterpump if advised by the manufacturer as skimping on these parts may very well prove to be a false economy.

Price of timing belt replacement - excessive ?

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