General CAM belt change - how much?

[mikiec]

Hi,
I'm new to the world of FIAT ownership and this forum's been very helpful to me, so I was hoping I could ask for your collective opinions...

My newly bought 98(S) Marea Weekend TD75 SX has done 72k. I knew this when I bought it and that the FIAT recommendation is to change the CAM belt at 72k. After doing a lot of research on t'internet I found that the cost of changing the CAM belt would be about £150-ish on a four-cylinder diesel to about £450-ish for the 5 cylinder JTDs.... this affected my choice of car (along with a range of other factors), given that it was likely that a new cam-belt would be required not long after I bought any Marea to be on the safe side.

However, I'm now being quoted £320+ for this work and given that I also need to have some work done on the front wishbone bushes, it's going to end up being expensive... I say expensive, relative to the cost of the actual car itself.

Am I being shafted or is this a reasonable price to pay for this work and was my original information duff?

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me.

Thanks

 

[bandido41]

Im getting mine done on my brava for £250 and thats including the water pump how good are you with a set of spanners, cos wishbones is something that can be done by yourself and is about £30-40 delivered (cheaper if you go to your local motor factor)

 

[Hellcat]

£250 tends to be a good price for the cam belt change + waterpump and tensioners.

Where are you based - obviously location has some influence on price.

 

[mikiec]

Im getting mine done on my brava for £250 and thats including the water pump how good are you with a set of spanners, cos wishbones is something that can be done by yourself and is about £30-40 delivered (cheaper if you go to your local motor factor)

Well, I've been quoted about £230 (inc VAT) at that place in Woolwich that you recommended. He's also quoted me £75 each for the arms + labour, so about £165 per side.

Just did a check on the MOT at the VOSA website cos it's only been tested 2 weeks ago, and although it passed, it had an advisory that "[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-serif,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Offside Inner Front Lower suspension arm has slight play in a pin/bush (2.4.G.3)". Also found that the seller (perhaps knowlingly) omitted to give me the MOT checklist for this test (although there was one for 2006) which would have shown that to be a fault.

Oh well, live and learn!

EDIT: Do you need a ramp or anything to do the wishbones? I'm not really that mechanically minded... I can do the basics but anything that involves getting under the car is over my head (sorry, no pun intended). I don't have a garage or drive so it would have to be done in a very busy street.
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[bandido41]

Ask him how long it will take to change the wishbones, then take him the wishbones it will work out much cheaper he should have it all done in a day (cam belt and wishbones)

Here is a price including delivery for the wishbones

http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/wishbone_display.php?txtmodel=Marea&Submit=Next&txtmake=FIAT

 

[mikiec]

Well, the prices I've been quoted are for genuine FIAT parts (I'd prefer these for particularly for the cam belt).

£96.80 for the cam belt

 

[bandido41]

Fair enough, each to their own i suppose.

 

[Hellcat]

Those wishbones are fine. I've a pair in my shed!

 

[mikiec]

Well, I've been quoted about £230 (inc VAT) at that place in Woolwich that you recommended. [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-serif,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]
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That's WITHOUT the water pump - he said he'd check it when he did the belt but it may or may not need changing.

 

[mikiec]

Thanks for the advice.