Cam Belt + Water Pump
 

I'm doing a 3,500 mile trip through France and Spain next month so thought I would get the cam belt changed on my 2007 GV 2.8 that has 73,000 miles on the clock.
I booked it in at my local independant garage and, because of the amount of labour they recommended replacing the water pump at the same time. Total cost with vat would be £330.00. I gave them the go ahead and dropped the car off with them yesterday. Today they phoned me to say that replacing the water pump is a bigger job than they anticipated and that they would need to by a special Chrysler tool to remove/re-align the pulleys at a cost of £90.00. As mine is the only diesel GV they service they asked if I would fork out the £90.00. I told them to forget the water pump and just do the cam belt.

My question is, does all this sound genuine. I've used the garage for a few years and they also look after my wife's and my daughter's cars. I've always had complete faith in them previously but on this occasion I get the feeling they are stringing me along.

I would think that they would be able to hire the tools. But you could always buy them and sell them afterwards.

This is a tough one...
My own "tame" mechanic I have a suspicion he's ripped me off with the last job he did for me. Unfortunately, you can have a reliable and reasonable tradesman working for you for a number of years, and then, mysteriously, it seems to change. I got all my fruit and veg. from one partic. guy (english) in Leeds market until I suspected him of giving me short weight over a few weeks. So I acquired a spring balance, checked it with a 1Kg. test-weight, and established he WAS in fact giving me short weight. I stopped trading with him and went to asians a few stalls away and not so far had cause to grumble -- for about 5 years now.
C'est la vie.

Leedsman.

When my belt went, I had to invest in an injector puller and the locking set (about £400 all in at that time).
That was the only specialist tools that were needed, and the guy that done the work replaced the water pump/pulleys at the same time.
Someone posted up the locking kit for £20 odd on a thread recently.

(obviously you don't need the puller :) )

Funny, I had my distribution belt changed today, together with all pullies and tensioner and both V strings.

I bought the parts online and my Turkish mechanic charged me only €150,- for all the work.
I also ordered the water pump to replace during the belt change but I seem to have bought the wrong version of pump >.<
The mechanic told me he had to make the choice to stop working and wait (maybe days) for another pump to arrive or keep on assembling and keep the old pump in place.
He told me the pump looked as new and at 100% condition to him and he was willing to take the risk to keep on driving with it. He assured me that IF the pump would malfunction within a year or so he would replace the pump for 50 bucks :D

Well I've got my new clutch and new belts, I'm ready for the next 100K km.
And I like my mechanic :cool:

Hmm..the only extra tool you would need is the camshaft sprocket holding tool, but most mechanics if they didn't have one would make one.

Regards
Richard

Thanks to everybody for your input. This, more or less confirms my suspicions, time to look for another garage. I'm expecting a call to say my car is ready for collection so I'll find out then what they plan on charging for the cam belt replacement.

If they haven't got the correct tool for the job then they shouldn't quote in the first place. If their air compressor goes faulty would they charge it to the next customer who wants a new tyre. Seems a ridiculous excuse to get more money.

A year ago I had the coolant radiator replaced as it had plugged-up withe antifreeze not being replaced (I had just acquired the vehicle). The 1st quote was £350 for labor alone.
By fortunate happenchance, Northern radiators in Leeds on Jack lane had a polish "tame" mechanic next door. He did a perfect job and charged me £150 labor. He got quite a big tip from me...

Leedsman.

I've never had reason to doubt the garage until now. All previous work they have done for me has been first class at a competitive price. As of now they still haven't phoned me to say the car is ready so either they have given up on it or one of the mechanics is doing airport runs with it. When I left the car with them I asked them to check out a small oil leak it seems to have developed since they fitted a new filter and fresh oil to the auto box about 4 weeks ago. I'd already looked under the car myself and seen drips of oil on some of the gearbox sump bolts. I'll feed them a bit more rope tomorrow and see if they come clean or hang themselves.

And Chrysler quotes 4 hours for Cambelt job...at £120+ per hour...smaller garages £70/hr...

My Turkish mechanic did it just under 4 hours (including the serpentine belts) and charged €40,- per hour :)
I watched him working and the guy is very professional, he knew exactly what he was doing (experienced on Chrysler Voyagers).

Chrysler dealer here in my area charges €100,- per hour :rolleyes:
And "original" Mopar parts are apparently made of pure gold and platinum according to the prices the dealer charges.. Dashboard lights, €6,- each :eek:

So the £330 they quoted stacks up, even without the water pump.

Hi Alan

I did my own belt change see link below.

https://www.chryslerforum.com/forum/...-change-20832/

I think what might have happened is they were going to do the belt change without using the locking pins (crankshaft/camshafts) and you can do it this way. If I remember correctly to get the waterpump off you have to remove the timing chest backplate, which means you have to remove the camshaft pulleys (they are a taper fit not keyed to the shaft) and that means you then have to use the locking pins or you lose the camshaft timing.

So in short, they were going to do it the quick way and then discovered they couldn't and that they needed the timing pins.

Hope this helps.

Rodger

Hi Rodger, that probably explains their actions, thanks for your input. They finally phoned me this morning, Friday, to say the car was ready so I went to collect it. As I half expected, when the lady in the office presented me with the invoice it was for £367 so I had to explain, very politely, that the head mechanic had originally quoted £330 for the belt, water pump and vat so after a few words behind closed doors a new invoice was produced totalling £300.

I may give them the benefit of the doubt on this one (better the devil you know as they say) but in future I'll get all quotations itemised in writing.

Hi Alan

I think £300 for a cambelt an waterpump change is a very good price, it's not a particuarly easy job.

Rodger

Last year I was quoted £750 from Chrysler garage for kit, labour £500, kit £250. But got it for £480 odds from small garage.
So I think you've done them.

They didn't do the water pump Rodger. £300 was just the cambelt and vat.

Was that just the cambelt goggsy or did that price include the water pump?

They've made plenty out of me in the past :) and besides, it was them that quoted £330 including the water pump, I didn't twist their arm and I know that they don't need the work.

My quotes and job was for Kit: Belt with Wheels.

Where abouts are you Rodger?

About 8 miles south of Maidstone, Kent.

Wish you were closed to cardiff mate :(