Timing belt + Water pump change

[RICH2JOSH]

Rang up for a quote on getting this done at my local stealership and was quoted £750.00 all in. Rang another one cos they couldnt fit me in this week and was quoted £395.70 for the same job.

Could'nt believe it so dropped it off yesterday with the hope of picking it up after work today.

Why the difference in prices?

(Dealer names withheld but will spill the beans if anyone needs a similar job done)

Rich

 

[hutchybee]

Last time I visited a stealer their labour rate was £140 per hour.......

 

[RICH2JOSH]

Whaaaat!!!, were you having the car rebuilt from scratch?

 

[Geeman]

I did my own timing belt on Saturday. Bummer of a job, but not too difficult if you've got the right tools and a ramp. Helps if you have the instructions from this forum too!

I can see why garages charge so much though... there's lot to get off to be able to get at it!

 

[rasA4]

make sure you get the water pump changed, tensioner etc even if not worn at the time. got mine done at a audi specialist in croydon even though i dont live anywhere near there, they dropped me to and from morden station. it was a bit dear however mine is a V6 at just under £500 was cheaper than Audi, however it was recommended. Mastertechs, think they give a small discount if you mention audisport.net forum.

 

[Geeman]

Agreed... pointless not getting the water-pump and tensioners done at the same time. At least you then have full piece of mind that (hopefully) nothing major will go wrong.

 

[RICH2JOSH]

Yep, the water pump is a must - picked it up last night and realised that they also changed the water pump belt for £7.50 but forgot to put it on the bill. The guy at the workshop said there was nothing wrong with the old water pump but still insisted it was a good change as there was only about 500miles left on the timing belt.

I was thinking of going to a specialist but Chingford Audi currently have a deal which also gaurantees the work for 2 years.

They still tried to fob me off with the "indicator bulbs need changing" played out line which I immediately turned down.

 

[audinary]

My water pump failed within 50 miles of getting home from a 4000 mile cross european jaunt, I was only 10 miles from home but had to stop every 3 miles or so as it kept boiling over!

The job itself is terrifying when you look at it in the Haynes manual, but with enough beer on hand it was easy enough. But DIY does mean having the car layed up for a while. I changed Cambelt, Tensioner and pulley and waterpump. Cost me about £150 in parts and about £20 in beer.

But it was a brilliant way to get a feeling for my car, I now have less fear under the bonnet!

 

[RICH2JOSH]

I know how you feel once completed a big job like that but I would be so gutted if I did it myself and something went wrong.

However, i'm gonna try changing the heater matrix myself as worse case scenario i'll have no heat for a while.

 

[aragorn]

On a 1.8T its not quite so critical doing the WP with the timing belt as the pump is external.

On the V6's however the pump is in the timing belt casing so it all needs to come back off to change it.