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

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

 

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.