cam belt change recomended garage nr Glos?

[simonnite]

have an elise S1 S reg with 22k, can anyone recommend a good local'ish'garage to carry out this work which I assume needs to be done due to age of car.

thanks
simon

[jez_s]

Probably Brooke-Kensington in Bicester,

[Mutant Rat]

...or a quick blast up the M5/M42 to Paul Matty?

[sethlj]

Had mine done with full C service for £383 at Webbs just o/s Bristol. Great guys - thoroughly reccomend them.

S.

[sethlj]

... and yes if you haven't had one yet the car deffo needs on now!

S.

[jig]

If you speak with Simon at Brooke Kensington, he'll probably tell you not to bother. As far as he's concerned, they should be done on mileage, not age and he reckons it's all scare mongering. He assured me that they don't deteriorate significantly with age (within reason), just use.

[simonnite]

thanks for the info, interesting comment from jig, which is what i was thinking, anyone else agree on the age element?

[S Works]

Get it done - will affect your ability to sell if you come to get rid.

I saw a 2000 car last night which had only been serviced twice in it's life, last time in 2002. Whilst it drove well and seemed mechanically sound, that (and a few other things), did not convince me that it had been properly looked after in a way I believe these cars should be.

It's not going to cost you a fortune to get done at a specialist and for the peace of mind and good service record it's worth it.

All IMvHO of course

[simonnite]

yep I'd agree if I want to sell the car it might be an issue, but had an interesting chat with simon from B/K re the age factor; he had recently spoken to Rover re belts; apparently there is no date stamp or year of manufacture speced when the become a 'lotus part', so in reality your 'new' belt could be of indeterminable age when you have it fitted.... sure they do wear out through fatigue....dont we all.
Also does synthetic oil degrade to such an extent after a year that it needs replacing?

[S Works]

I suspect that the answer to both the above is 'depends'.

[sethlj]

From the horses mouth, and I quote...

The synthetic cam belt used on Rover powertrain Elise models is subject to age, as well as usage degradation, and will be adversely affected by any contamination with oil or coolant. In order to bring cam-belt time servicing in line with current Rover recommendations the Service Schedule for all Rover powertrain Elise models was revised in October 2003 to stipulate a cam belt replacement time interval of 4 years (54,000miles/90,000km), with an inspection every 2 years (27,000miles/45,000km). For 340R/Sport 160/Exige models, the corresponding distance intervals are 36,000miles/60,000km, and 18,000miles/30,000km.

Check out the Lotus Cars technical board here

S.