Hey - looking for word from any Ireland-based Stilo owners:

What's the going rate for getting the timing belt changed? I've just been advised by my local FIAT dealership that my '02 Stilo Active 1.2 is due a new timing belt very soon (it's not quite at 49K yet)...

(Let's ignore for the moment that they rang to tell me this after I'd left it in for it's annual service - why couldn't they tell me two weeks ago when I phoned and booked!?)

Anyone had this done / know what it's likely to cost? I got a quote from themselves of ~€275, just want to do a sanity check...!!!

Cheers

Timing belt change = 72,000 miles or after 5 years (whichever comes first)

Bit early isn't it

Argonought said:

Bit early isn't it

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That's what I thought, but I've heard (and read around here) that it's not unheard of, dealers quoting earlier times...

I'd like to defer to the experts on this, but something ain't sitting right......

I'm not sure what your warranty situation is but I take the view that if you keep to the service schedule then your warranty will cover you if the worst happens anyway.

Have they suggested the belt is damaged after inspection?

The word on the warranty is that there ain't one!!! I bought the car from a secondhand dealership - it didn't have a service history, so I've no idea how it spent the first 3 years of its life!!!

Since then (in an effort to offset any previous abuse), I've only brought it to FIAT for work.

The suggestion for a change didn't come from any inspection they told me about - they simply said (while they had it in for a routine service) that it is an advisory to get it changed by 50K...!!!

Manufacturers tend to bring the time for cambelt changes down from the recommended ones when the car is released. 50k sounds about right

My Punto is getting done soon and it's only done 42k

gscalzo said:

I've no idea how it spent the first 3 years of its life!!!

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Your dealership can tell you this just give them the chassis No and they can tell you all the work that has been done since it was built

Can someone give the official line on this:

Is it 72k or 50k ?

Argonought said:

Can someone give the official line on this:

Is it 72k or 50k ?

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In my hand book the mileage is Kilometers but it says change cambelt 120,000 km

PNL said:

Your dealership can tell you this just give them the chassis No and they can tell you all the work that has been done since it was built

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I had thought of doing this, and was curious to find out what kind of info they'd have, but I am almost certain the first time FIAT saw the car after selling it was last October, when I drove it straight from the second-hand dealers to a FIAT garage for a service!!!

In other words, I'm convinced the previous owner never brought it back to a FIAT dealer - if this is the case, would they still be able to trace previous history...?!

gscalzo said:

The word on the warranty is that there ain't one!!! I bought the car from a secondhand dealership - it didn't have a service history, so I've no idea how it spent the first 3 years of its life!!!

Since then (in an effort to offset any previous abuse), I've only brought it to FIAT for work.

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In your position, I'd make sure it gets a full service and concentrate on trying to get a service book for it with stamps etc. Maybe your Fiat dealer can help you with this (with some inducement if you get my drift ). After that you should be in a position to pick up a 3rd party warranty for say £150 or so (few threads on here about that). I would NOT pay for a cam belt change unless I could be shown proof that it was damaged.

Argonought said:

Can someone give the official line on this:

Is it 72k or 50k ?

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D. Salmon in Colchester quotes 72k or 5 years which ever comes first, when I asked isnt it 60k now they said no.

jut1972 said:

D. Salmon in Colchester quotes 72k or 5 years which ever comes first, when I asked isnt it 60k now they said no.

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Wouldn't trust that lot; my car was "fully expertly maintained by [them] for the last 3 years"; that's why I've got a snapped battery box, incorrectly routed wiring on the steering column causing errors; all had to be rectified by my dealer!

Official Cambelt change is 72K miles (6yrs), however if you thrash the car it will be sooner than that.

My car has had 2 cambelts so far, once around 20K and the last one was done at 36K; all because of the variator issue (which D Salmon were supposed to have cured before I bought it!!).

rroope said:

Official Cambelt change is 72K miles (6yrs), however if you thrash the car it will be sooner than that.

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Rich, I know that 72k = 6 x 12k but I'm sure you shouldn't leave the belt change for longer than 5 years.

Just to update, I've checked two other FIAT dealers in the Dublin area - Tractamotors said 60K, and added that they'd never recommend 72K over the phone, as they'd be "holding out their hand to be slapped" in case one went before that! Ambrose Glass FIAT quoted 72K straight out of the service book...!

Neither of them had ever heard of a 50K change, or any advisories on the subject!!!

New question - does the tensioner need to be replaced at the same time as the belt (blatently showing my ignorance here!) - I got the impression that this was a recommended, yet optional extra when getting a timing belt changed - Tractamotors quoted ~$400 for the pleasure...!

Argonought said:

Rich, I know that 72k = 6 x 12k but I'm sure you shouldn't leave the belt change for longer than 5 years.

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I agree, I'd say 60K or 5 years at most, and that all tensioners / variators should be done at the same time. Ever since the Brava's tensioner went at 36K/6yrs (granted FIAT paid the bill ), I've been very pro early timing belt change!

Have to say I've never had timing belt failure on any car I've owned or driven.

Nearest I came to it was on an early VW Scirocco. I was skiing in Scotland with some friends when on the way to the lifts came across 20 foot drift to the height of the bonnet (snowed overnight). It would have taken forever to dig so I decided to boot it. The car made quite good headway but came to a sudden stop about 5 feet from the end of the drift. Lifted the bonnet and thought I'd found why it had stopped so quickly. Every cm² of the engine bay was filled with compressed snow including the air intake

We painstakingly removed the snow from the bay but the motor just refused to start. Eventually I managed to get a local farmer to pull the car out of the drift and take it back to a barn at his farm.

With temperatures close to zero and using only my emergency toolkit I stripped back to the timing belt and saw the problem. Snow had forced itself under the belt causing it to slip until it was something like 180º out of phase. I aligned everything up again (it’s a lot easier if you’ve done it before), tightened the belt and the motor started on the first turn of the key Remarkably we were mobile again by lunchtime although we never made it to the slopes on that day as the roads closer to the lifts were impassible