Laguna IDE cambelt change
Discussion
I have an 02 Laguna IDE with 58K on the clock which I think is on it's original cambelt. Firstly how much would you estimate a replacement this should cost at an independent?
Secondly my dad is actually a mechanic (albeit on trucks now although he did work for a Range Rover main dealer a few years ago) so how hard is it to change yourself? I have seen the locking tool on ebay and you can get a gates cambelt kit for about £80 so I am tempted for us to do it.
Any tips when changing a cambelt on this engine?
Secondly my dad is actually a mechanic (albeit on trucks now although he did work for a Range Rover main dealer a few years ago) so how hard is it to change yourself? I have seen the locking tool on ebay and you can get a gates cambelt kit for about £80 so I am tempted for us to do it.
Any tips when changing a cambelt on this engine?
I've done about 200 cambelts on Renaults, on everything apart from a V6 Clio (and the very modern range).
Not once have I seen a snapped cambelt as the reason for it failing. It's always been down to an exploded idler bearing, the plastic on an idler failing, a water pump bearing letting go, or the tentioner wheel breaking up.
At my Renault dealer, we get at least 1 customer a month, who has had a quote from us for a cambelt change then got a quote much cheaper from an independant. Half of the reason why the price comes in a lot cheaper at an independant, is because of labour rate being less, but also because quite often they just change the cambelt itself. Regardless, some are lucky and bring it to us a year later with a whining noise/bearing sound and sure enough, there's a nice shiny belt behind the timing covers but any one of those other rotating parts have begun to fail.
In 8 years of Renault experience, I can honestly say you may aswell not bother at all if you're not going to replace every single tentioner, idler including the auxillary belt kit with genuine parts.
You could be lucky, but for an extra couple of hundred quid, the peace of mind alone is money well spent in my opinion.
The job itself is easy if you've done them before. With the fully floating pulley's it's not your normal belt replacement though. The locking tools do work well, but a little know how is vital I'd say.
If local to Bucks, give us a shout.
Not once have I seen a snapped cambelt as the reason for it failing. It's always been down to an exploded idler bearing, the plastic on an idler failing, a water pump bearing letting go, or the tentioner wheel breaking up.
At my Renault dealer, we get at least 1 customer a month, who has had a quote from us for a cambelt change then got a quote much cheaper from an independant. Half of the reason why the price comes in a lot cheaper at an independant, is because of labour rate being less, but also because quite often they just change the cambelt itself. Regardless, some are lucky and bring it to us a year later with a whining noise/bearing sound and sure enough, there's a nice shiny belt behind the timing covers but any one of those other rotating parts have begun to fail.
In 8 years of Renault experience, I can honestly say you may aswell not bother at all if you're not going to replace every single tentioner, idler including the auxillary belt kit with genuine parts.
You could be lucky, but for an extra couple of hundred quid, the peace of mind alone is money well spent in my opinion.
The job itself is easy if you've done them before. With the fully floating pulley's it's not your normal belt replacement though. The locking tools do work well, but a little know how is vital I'd say.
If local to Bucks, give us a shout.
Very interesting, many thanks for the info. Just out of interest how much would your dealership charge for this? I had a cambelt changed on my Audi A6 at an independent and it cost £450. 3 years later I had a massive coolant leak and in trying to find it I had to take the whole front end apart. Scary thing was I could find no evidence that this had been done before....
My car is probably worth just over £2K so as you can understand I am loathed to spend £500 getting the cambelt changed. Also my experience at two renault dealers has been bad to say the least so I am loathed to let them loose on it.
from what you say I am wondering if it is just worth taking a gamble on it and if it goes just selling it on ebay.
My car is probably worth just over £2K so as you can understand I am loathed to spend £500 getting the cambelt changed. Also my experience at two renault dealers has been bad to say the least so I am loathed to let them loose on it.
from what you say I am wondering if it is just worth taking a gamble on it and if it goes just selling it on ebay.
Joey Deacon said:
Very interesting, many thanks for the info. Just out of interest how much would your dealership charge for this? I had a cambelt changed on my Audi A6 at an independent and it cost £450. 3 years later I had a massive coolant leak and in trying to find it I had to take the whole front end apart. Scary thing was I could find no evidence that this had been done before....
My car is probably worth just over £2K so as you can understand I am loathed to spend £500 getting the cambelt changed. Also my experience at two renault dealers has been bad to say the least so I am loathed to let them loose on it.
from what you say I am wondering if it is just worth taking a gamble on it and if it goes just selling it on ebay.
I can get a quote for you if you like, but it won't be cheap. My car is probably worth just over £2K so as you can understand I am loathed to spend £500 getting the cambelt changed. Also my experience at two renault dealers has been bad to say the least so I am loathed to let them loose on it.
from what you say I am wondering if it is just worth taking a gamble on it and if it goes just selling it on ebay.
If you intend on keeping the car for a good few years, it's worth looking after. But you need to start looking at the likelyhood of other area's of the car deteriorating...?
It is something I'd lend a hand at though, could do it on a drive-way drinking someone elses coffee whilst occasionally pointing out what to do in about 4hours! Got a decent battery gun that'll hack the bottom pulley off, which is invaluable in private jobs.
Your choice really, no doubt there are cars out there that have never had a cambelt changed and are likely to be scraped before they fail
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