Hallo,

has anyone recommendations ore experiences concerning changing intervall of the drive belt. Fiat says in user manual it should be changed every 120000 km.
Should it be changed more often then recommendated by Fiat?

Thank you in advance

Hstampi

I think the intervalls recommendates give you a sufficient margin of safety, anyway if you like to drive at high revsD) usually, the belt could have a shorter life!In conclusion change it before the 120'000km and not after!

Hi, i would agree with previous post. I have a 2.0 20v and particularly enjoy the higher end of the rev scale, some of the time.
At approx. 62k there was a distinct "tight" sound to the belt(s) on tickover. Having had a cam belt bust twice on a vauxhall killing 3 valves i wasn't going to contemplate even 1 of the 20.

Now the bad news!

Fiat shoe-horned the 20v out of the coupe into the marea which means it has to come out of the engine bay to replace the belts.
Just a week before i put it in for the replacement it needed a new clutch slave cylinder, easier to do with the engine out, so get that checked as well!

cheers
James

Just got my Marea on Tuesday so I'm new here. :I

Manual says 72k miles or 72 months whichever comes first. I've only got 52K on the clock but as it's a P97 looks like I need a belt.

Prices checked so far between £677.00 and £849.00. [V]

Ouch.

Anyone found a cheaper dealer in the NE area?

Dave


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

Whereabouts in the North East are ya?? £677 is not too bad, but I have heard of cheaper.

CP

The quote was from Gainmanor a new Fiat Dealer on the Silverlink Estate near Wallsend. 0191 272 8877.

I'm getting a 48K service and Timing belt for £857.

It hurts but knowing my luck I'd start dropping valves all over the road if I tried to stretch it any longer.

I'll let you know how they do.


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

The recommendation from Fiat is 72,000 miles (115,000k ish) OR 5 years. However this recommendation is ONLY if you know the full history of the car and have driven it sensibly. If you do not know the full history or have driven the balls off it then the recommendation is 48,000 miles or 4 years.

Grays of Warwick (Fiat dealer) will do a full 24,000 mile service and Cambelt and importantly both Tensioners for £730.

The jobs is a day to day and a half as it is an engine out job. There are people in Auto Italia that say thay can do it without taking the engine out, but I dont beleive that is the tensioner as well (which is the bit that fails!)

The good news is that I have only had one 5 cylinder cambelt failure reported to me from the Bravo lot and none from any Marea owners.

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

Nige

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

Oh Yes it can be done, But you need to drop subframe as well to get tensioner out.[!]

mmm
i'll have to check that they have included tensioners.


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

FE, how many hours work do you reacon to drop the subframe? If this is done surely the old labour costs are getting up near the engine out job. I have seen as little as £200 quoted which to mean just seems a bit yeehah - whats your take?

Nige

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

Garage says tensioners are included in timing belt kit and not to worry.... mmm i'm worried now, is that right?

The first quote I got was for £150 until the guy felt me biting his hand off, then he suddenly remembered that they didn't do fiats anymore.

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

Put it this way i seen them done in just under 3 hours, and you just drop frame down not out...!!!

You Can Learn Something New Everyday Of Your Life

Well total cost was £1035.94. [:0] Still need new front discs.

That's put back the mods by a few months.

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

I've got a 2.00 20v that's just reached it's 5th anniversay but only done 44k. By what has been said the cambelt is due to be changed. Does anyone know of a garage in South East Essex who would do the job by dropping the sub frame rather than take the engine out?

Sorry, wrong end of the world.

Try posting in the 'garage' section. More people likely to read that.

Good luck, hope you do better than me.

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

My 1997 model is just getting towards the 72,000 miles. I have just been quoted £950 for the Belt and service only, Or £2000 for all the belts, Service, Clutch and water pump as these need to be done whith the engine out and it is apperently normal practice to have these done whilst they are doing the belts.
Has anyone got any advice, Can it be done DIY. Does anyone know of anywhere cheeper in the Manchester Area. These prices are comparable to a Rolls Royce, its only a Fiat
Thanks
[!]

Dave

In Italy Fiat solds a lot of car because of spare parts' lowest prices among the other brands, and easily to find, but I think it's not the same all around Europe[xx(]!I advice you to buy a copy of the manual, for example an Haynes and to do the jobs by yourself, if you're experienced enough!Regarding the cambelt on the 2.0 20v Marea: don't know if it's necessary to put the engine out of the bay...I'll ask a mechanic to know the truth!

Enzo,
Haynes do not do the manual for the 2.0 20v.

Dave

Same with Porters, every model except 2.0 20v. You might find some info on the coupe web sites.
£2000 sounds a bit high, it ONLY cost me £1035 for a service, belts and rear shocks, and they wanted extra to change the anti-freeze.
Shop around, there should be more dealers in the Manchester area.

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

I've had the clutch done in mine and it is no way an engine out job. Local FIAT dealer told me that it was and to get it done with the big service...........Anyway thrust bearing gave up, so I had to get it done before the Cambelt etc. Woodcocks in Hull did it, they specialise in FIATs but are independent, probably not THE cheapest, but not expensive and a great level of service.........