Cambelt Kit & Waterpump Replacement

[Foufdog]

:thumbsup: Hi peeps, after much deliberating and ringing around I have finally decided to get the Cambelt and Waterpump replaced in my Audi A3 1.8T 2001. I thought I would write a quick post as this maybe helpful to others as deciding whether to get the work carried out or not can be quite a saga.

So basically I bought the car on around 78,000 miles and although there was some history with the car, no mention of a Cambelt change being done. (2 previous owners the last owner had it for 8 years)

The service manual does say to be changed at 112,000 miles! However as most people know and recommend it is probably best to change at around 75,000 miles.

I decided to contact the previous owner and luckily he was kind enough to reply and advised he had never had the cam belt replaced, this was great as it confirmed my decision to get it done asap. (Although now I had to find the best price!)

So after much ringing around here is a list of quotes for you for Cambelt kit and Waterpump;

Audi main dealer - £499 Inclusive VAT
Indi no1 - £417 Inclusive VAT
Indi no2 - £353 Inclusive VAT
Indi no3 - £360 Inclusive VAT
Indi no4 - £300 Inclusive VAT

Well the last price seemed like the winner and I was going for them, but then my dad spoke with his local garage who basically said they would beat the £300 price as he was a good customer and I had also used them in the past and they gave me a price of £240 which I think is pretty damn good thus yesterday I left the car with them and work will commence this week!

Now after reading all the posts on here I have also asked for the Thermostat to be replaced whilst the cam belt kit and water pump is being done, on top of that they will be doing an oil and oil filter change and also checking all pipes for me as I do have a couple of error codes up at the moment regarding incorrect pressure somewhere.

I will post the total bill for this incase anyone is interested. Bye the way I do not have a driveway unfortunately and that is why I have asked for the oil change to be done as I just have no where to do it myself.

So many questions have come up and I wish I had a workshop to do everything myself, but probably best to let the professionals do it. I still have not decided whether to tell them to replace the pump with one that has a metal impeller and will probably leave it up to them, I would like to know which oil they use, but you know, it's hard to find out all this without pestering them too much. Also I was actually going to ask them to keep the old water pump for me as I was interested to see what condition it was in, but to be honest I'm not sure if garages still do that sort of thing anymore.

Okay hope I didn't bore you too much and I will write again hopefully happy once all the works have been completed.

I now have the loaner car, Renault Clio!

"Nicole!"

"Papa"

 

[Gmac]

Thanks for posting up! Always good to see prices. How many hours work are they talking about for the Cambelt job? And thanks for the reminder about the metal pump, getting my local vag guy to do mine on Tuesday. I wonder how many hours the 'book' says for a Cambelt job?

 

[Freeman_1986]

Mine cost 350. And had a loner car of a 63 plate a3 2l tdi s-line with less than 2k on the clock. Needless to say I didn't want to give it back....

 

[Foufdog]

Hi Gmac,

I think most places say around 4 hours labour for cambelt and water pump, not sure what my garage will be putting down, I will post the details when I get the bill. I'm sure some people say it can be done in less than 4 hours.

Funny thing was when the Audi centre quoted me £499 I actually wrote back and asked them if they can do it cheaper as I had better quotes and here is their reply.

Unfortunately the £499 is the best price we can do, this is already discounted down and the labour rate is discounted down also, the standard price works out as £620.80

 

[Foufdog]

Hey Freeman,

that is still a pretty good price from what I have seen and nice touch having the S-line in the meantime, I bet you didn't want to give it back alright

 

[too hot]

Can you just confirm that the £240 price is including parts ???
Seems very cheap if it does

 

[Foufdog]

Hi too hot, yes it is including parts, but the garage are basically doing me a really good deal to keep my custom, as I said my dad has used them for a long time and also that's why I am getting them to do a few more bits for me as I know they are looking after me. (Well hopefully, I have not seen the end bill yet!)

 

[Nilz]

Where abouts are you based??

My first cambelt was £270 all in, then the second and third were the same, so thats about right, mine was done with all genuine parts too at local independants.

 

[Foufdog]

Where abouts are you based??

My first cambelt was £270 all in, then the second and third were the same, so thats about right, mine was done with all genuine parts too at local independants.

hi Nilz,

that's a great price mate. Specially for genuine parts. Do you know if they did metal or plastic impeller?

I'm in Essex to answer your question.

 

[<tuffty/>]

hi Nilz,

that's a great price mate. Specially for genuine parts. Do you know if they did metal or plastic impeller?

I'm in Essex to answer your question.

the metal vs plastic impeller debate is flawed... all the break ups I have seen are due to the original pumps not being changed as cam belt services... all the metal impeller ones I have seen leak through the shaft after only a few 1000 miles..

<tuffty/>

 

[Nilz]

Im not sure mate to be honest, it was fine for about 50k miles, then it started leaking, so im not too sure.

I can see if i can get a part number tonight if that helps to identify whether it was plastic or metal.

I normally get my cambelt done every 50-60k miles, hence why I am on my 3rd one now.

 

[Gmac]

Ive just ordered a metal one for the garage to do with the cambelt tomorrow, thought that was the advisable thing to do?

 

[Foufdog]

Im not sure mate to be honest, it was fine for about 50k miles, then it started leaking, so im not too sure.

I can see if i can get a part number tonight if that helps to identify whether it was plastic or metal.

I normally get my cambelt done every 50-60k miles, hence why I am on my 3rd one now.

No probs mate, i'm throwing caution to the wind and will let the garage choose. I think they will go for plastic as it is cheaper and after reading the other dudes post (tuffty) maybe plastic is the way to go!

Wow 3 cambelt changes the old girl must have spent many miles with you then

 

[Foufdog]

Gmac,

I'm sure that it will be fine, i think there is for and against issues on both

 

[Foufdog]

Well got my car back today woohoo! So far so good, only had a short run about 10 miles, but it seems much smoother and the engine more quiet. I also noticed the MPG creeping up, used to get around 24.2MPG around town, tonight it rose to 26MPG (and hopefully it will get better). Also my temperature rose to 90d after about 5 mins and stayed there at all times (previously it only rose to that if sitting in traffic then about 70 when moving).

So the damage was £400 - here is the breakdown on works carried out and parts for anyone interested (Please note it will not add up to £400 as I got a good deal sorted out before hand the real grand total should have been around £645)

Parts
Antifreeze 5ltr - £17.17
Oil Filter £5.74
Waterpump £26
Timing belt kit £110
Thermostat £36
Consumable £3
Total = £197.91

Labour
Renew Engine Timing Belt Kit - £196.29
Renew Coolant thermostat - £49.31
Total = £245.60

Fixed price Oil and Filter change - £49.99
Specialist Diagnostics - £49.95 (I asked for all Vacuum hoses and pipes to be checked as Engine management light on)
Total = £99.94

Well, I will see how she runs over the coming weeks and look forward to some good motoring.

 

[Nilz]

Thats not bad mate, sounds pretty decent and as long as you are happy

 

[Foufdog]

Cheers Nilz

yes, so far so good.