Hi there, i'm just about to get rid of my 93' Honda Legend 3.2 v6 24v and seriously looking at a 97' R reg Marea 1.8 elx as a straight swap. The Honda is a beautiful beast, it has air-con with climate control, leather, cruise control, 6 disc cd, electric seats with memory, elec windows, roof, mirrors (heated).... BUT the dealer I got it from has offered me this swap which, looking at the Marea seems like a good deal.

I have one concern however, According to stuff I've read, the cambelt needs changing at 72,000 miles (got 55,000 on the clock atm) and it's an engine out job to change the cambelt which would be mega expensive at a dealers.

Any more info anyone?? - Thanks

OK. spoke to 2 different Fiat mechanics (one is a workshop foreman). It seems that to change the cambelt on a 20 valve engine used to be an engine out job and cost in the region of £1000, however they have refined the process somewhat and now it's only £700!! - If you have a 16 valve engine it's £440 but both these prices include the 72000 mile service. The actual cost of having a new cambelt fitted is £183 (on a 16v). These are the prices from a fiat main dealer quoted by fiat service reception on 5th September 2003.

Hi, sorry for the late reply. Got the same problem only mine's on 69k at the moment. Found a place in Birmingham that'll do a coupe (same engine) for £295 (see www.motor-mech.co.uk) waiting for an e-mail back, but as I live in Portsmouth I'm trying to find one nearer.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

I spoke to a pal of mine who works with land rover/range rover. He looked in his cambelt book and it quotes something like 1.8 hours to change the cambelt. The need for fiats "special tool" can be overcome with a few dabs of tippex to mark pulleys etc...It's not a major heartache to do these and any competent garage should be able to do it, £295 seems a little excessive tho, specially as fiat only quoted £183 - I reckon a smaller one man band type garage would possibly do it for £120-£150.

My Marea actually only has 43,000 miles on the clock atm so i'm not too fussed.

(all my info is based on the 1.8 16v engine - I assume the coupe is the 20v 2.0 so £295 dont sound bad)

just in case there is some confusion here- the outrageous price for replacement cambelt on the 20v (£800?) relates to the Marea and not the Coupe even though the same engine. This is because the Coupe belt can be changed in situ whereas the engine being jammed into the Marea has to come out! The engine removal does not apply to the other engined Mareas. Shows Fiat's contempt for their customers I think[. Who'd buy a Fiat? I bet no 20v owners were warned of this cost when purchasing!!

CA

The Marea is exaclty the same as the Bravo/a so check out the cambelt guide

http://www.bravo-guide.co.uk

Nige

Alfa Romeo 156 2.4 JTD (210BHP)
Fiat Punto JTD (130BHP)
Fiat Barchetta

http://www.angeltuning.co.uk
http://www.bravo-guide.co.uk THE Fiat Bravo site

Car spending tonight in garage. 48K service and timing belt.
Quoted £857.00. Latest phone call approaching £1k. Dreading tomorrow.[:0][!][xx(]

85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.

Marea 1.8 elx. Never have to take engine out to do those. Only 2.0 litre engines, And thats to what garage is doing job. You only get about 2 hours for the complete job.. P.s why is everybody compairing it to a 2.0 litre 20 vavle engine???

You Can Learn Something New Everyday Of Your Life

Hi everyone,
I have a fiat coupe 16v, and it looks like at the same time, my alternator died and I need to change the cambelt. I'm scared .....as I have no idea how mich these repairs could cost me ....anyone can help? (the car is from 1996 and has 55k miles)
also....do you guys reckon I should get it repair in a fiat garage or in a smaller private one?
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first car in the uk, the first time i have to get one repaired...and i'm a bit lost!
thanks ever so much!

Hi and welcome to our site.

I'm not sure if the engine needs to be dropped in the coupe so it shouldn't be too costly. Just ring round a few garages and ask for a quote.

I'm from the wrong end of the country so I don't know of any private garages down there.

You could also try this site http://www.fiat-coupe.com/ I have used them as I have a coupe engine fitted into my beast. Obviously not as good as this site [}], but not bad info.

Good luck.

P.S. The final cost on my belt was £1035, but that is only because the engine is so big you have to drop it out to top up the wiper bottle.

85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.