General 2014 66k mileage Panda service schedule

[Claredale]

Hi just wondering if someone could help.
I have a 2014 reg Panda pop 1.2 that I've owned from new and has 66k miles on clock.
It's been serviced every year to eighteen months until COVID and need to book it in v soon as it's been probably two years since last one.
The independent small garage I asked for service price quote said that for age and mileage it now needs new 1) time belt 2) water pump 3) coolant 4) drive belt together with a normal full service and quoted me £554

I genuinely know nothing about cars, have tried to find my owners handbook and look up service schedules online but I'm not having much success.

Any advice on if I do need all of these replacement parts. I love my panda so much, want to treat it well and keep it until the end of its days and realise this involves spending money to maintain it. But £554 seems quite a lot. I just am not sure if the garage realises I'm a bit clueless and have cottoned on to that (which might not be the case at all, I've taken it there for several mots)
Many thanks and any advice gratefully received

 

[IanWalrus]

The timing belt is your expensive bit - changing it takes several hours, so it's the labour charge mostly (I've got a Twin Air, so no timing belt ). £554 does seem a bit on the pricey side though - I'm sure someone will come along with an alternative garage reccomendation for S.Wales directly...

 

[Claredale]

The timing belt is your expensive bit - changing it takes several hours, so it's the labour charge mostly (I've got a Twin Air, so no timing belt ). £554 does seem a bit on the pricey side though - I'm sure someone will come along with an alternative garage reccomendation for S.Wales directly...

Thanks, Ian that's really helpful

 

[KPat]

I have attached an extract from the owners handbook service schedule. Your timing belt is over 6 years old anyway so should be replaced. The water pump, coolant and and accessory drive belt are all related and should be changed at the same time.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

£554 for a decent service and replace timing belt - inc water pump - doesn't seem too bad to me. Changing the Timing belt and water pump (inc coolant) would be somewhere around £350 or more so just shy of £200 for a decent service seems pretty average to me? I would strongly recommend getting the water pump done because it's part of the drive train for the timing belt so if it's bearing fails the consequences can be expensive. Most of the manufacturer's now supply timing belt kits which include the water pump and they wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't a popular option. Renewing the aux (fan) belt at the same time - it has to come off anyway to get at the timing belt covers - is just a "no brainer".

To give you some idea what's involved here's a link to Andy Monty's excellent guide on how to renew timing belts on these engines (the engine is used in many of Fiat's models so don't be put off that this is a Punto guide): https://www.fiatforum.com/guides/1-2-8v-evo-2-engine-cam-belt-replacement.732/

Your 2014 engine will be what's called an "interference" engine, which basically means that if the cam belt breaks a lot of very expensive damage will be done to the engine so yes, absolutely, at this age and mileage, the garage are correct to recommend a timing belt. I change the belt on our panda 1.2 and my boy's Punto 1.4 (both basically the same engine) at 5 years and always do the pump for peace of mind - neither car does great mileages per year so time is more relevant for us. The coolant should be renewed at around 5 years old anyway so, as the water pump has to be removed which means quite a lot of the coolant is lost anyway, I think a five year regime works well.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

To give you a price comparison, this is from an independent Fiat and Also Romeo specialist in North Hertfordshire. They are very good, and seem 'cheap' compared to some places. You'll see the prices for the Panda 1.2 services in the centre column, and the big number is for the service which includes theh timing belt (which will also include water pump etc as its all part of the job). So your garage's figures isn't too far off... (the garage is a fair way from Swansea though! https://www.fiatworkshop.co.uk/fiat_Panda_fixed_price_servicing.shtml )

 

[UKRMedic]

Money is tight these days, it's possibly the labour putting the price up a little, but, I feel the price isn't tooooooo bad.
As you're in Swansea, if I can pitch my preferred choice (Even on vehicles just out of warranty), and kept some of our local fleet working during lockdown - Facebook search for: "Swansea Mobile Mechanic - 07863 547388".
Really Really good guy. Mobile mechanic - comes to you, or your workplace.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

To give you a price comparison, this is from an independent Fiat and Also Romeo specialist in North Hertfordshire. They are very good, and seem 'cheap' compared to some places. You'll see the prices for the Panda 1.2 services in the centre column, and the big number is for the service which includes theh timing belt (which will also include water pump etc as its all part of the job). So your garage's figures isn't too far off... (the garage is a fair way from Swansea though! https://www.fiatworkshop.co.uk/fiat_Panda_fixed_price_servicing.shtml )

View attachment 407306

One thing I think anybody looking at garage prices for a cam belt change is whether it includes the water pump or not. In my "humble" opinion the water pump should always be part of this job because if it fails on the later type engines the possibility of serious engine damage is very real.

I've mentioned this elsewhere but I think it's worth repeating it here. Although I'd always intended to carry out the belt changes on both our Panda and my boy's Punto, just as a matter of interest I asked around my local garages and main dealer as to what they would charge to do the job. All quoted roughly the same prices which surprised me slightly as I'd expected the main dealer to be noticeably more expensive (from past experience). I made a point of then asking them all whether the water pump was included and all the indies were quoting for this but the main dealer told me they would only change the pump "if it's needed". It's a mystery to me how anyone can look at a water pump - which has done perhaps 50,000 or more miles (and may seem to be perfectly serviceable at that time - and be able to say "yes that pump is definitely going to last another 50,000 miles/5 years". Of course some will, but many won't. So, with my luck, I'd rather just not risk it. As we know, changing the pump as part of the belt change involves very little extra labour so there's really only the price of the pump (which is not expensive) compared to having to later replace the pump if you don't do it, which means repeating the labour costs of the strip down of all the parts that had to be removed to do the belt anyway. If it fails after maybe just a year or two, say, then I'd be chucking another belt on as well because it's not good practice to reuse a belt which has measurable running time on it. Interestingly, perhaps? the Fiat dealers price went up significantly when the pump was included and I believe this was because they were using a menu pricing system which showed the belt change and the pump change as two separate jobs. I believe they were adding the two menu prices together to get the total rather than factoring in that the labour for both operations is not doubled. So, folks, be careful to establish exactly what you're paying for and just get the pump done unless you know for sure that a new pump has been very recently fitted anyway. Of course it's a "no brainer" to get the coolant renewed at the same time.

 

[Claredale]

£554 for a decent service and replace timing belt - inc water pump - doesn't seem too bad to me. Changing the Timing belt and water pump (inc coolant) would be somewhere around £350 or more so just shy of £200 for a decent service seems pretty average to me? I would strongly recommend getting the water pump done because it's part of the drive train for the timing belt so if it's bearing fails the consequences can be expensive. Most of the manufacturer's now supply timing belt kits which include the water pump and they wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't a popular option. Renewing the aux (fan) belt at the same time - it has to come off anyway to get at the timing belt covers - is just a "no brainer".

To give you some idea what's involved here's a link to Andy Monty's excellent guide on how to renew timing belts on these engines (the engine is used in many of Fiat's models so don't be put off that this is a Punto guide): https://www.fiatforum.com/guides/1-2-8v-evo-2-engine-cam-belt-replacement.732/

Your 2014 engine will be what's called an "interference" engine, which basically means that if the cam belt breaks a lot of very expensive damage will be done to the engine so yes, absolutely, at this age and mileage, the garage are correct to recommend a timing belt. I change the belt on our panda 1.2 and my boy's Punto 1.4 (both basically the same engine) at 5 years and always do the pump for peace of mind - neither car does great mileages per year so time is more relevant for us. The coolant should be renewed at around 5 years old anyway so, as the water pump has to be removed which means quite a lot of the coolant is lost anyway, I think a five year regime works well.

Thank you so much this is really helpful advice, I feel much more confident now reading this and I've just booked but in at the garage

 

[Claredale]

Money is tight these days, it's possibly the labour putting the price up a little, but, I feel the price isn't tooooooo bad.
As you're in Swansea, if I can pitch my preferred choice (Even on vehicles just out of warranty), and kept some of our local fleet working during lockdown - Facebook search for: "Swansea Mobile Mechanic - 07863 547388".
Really Really good guy. Mobile mechanic - comes to you, or your workplace.

Thank you so much, I've saved that number

 

[Claredale]

I have attached an extract from the owners handbook service schedule. Your timing belt is over 6 years old anyway so should be replaced. The water pump, coolant and and accessory drive belt are all related and should be changed at the same time.

Thank you for looking that up, I feel much more reassured now that everyone is recommended getting these parts replaced and I've booked it in

 

[Claredale]

To give you a price comparison, this is from an independent Fiat and Also Romeo specialist in North Hertfordshire. They are very good, and seem 'cheap' compared to some places. You'll see the prices for the Panda 1.2 services in the centre column, and the big number is for the service which includes theh timing belt (which will also include water pump etc as its all part of the job). So your garage's figures isn't too far off... (the garage is a fair way from Swansea though! https://www.fiatworkshop.co.uk/fiat_Panda_fixed_price_servicing.shtml )

View attachment 407306

Thank you v much for that, that's really helpful. V much appreciated

 

[The Panda Nut]

One thing I think anybody looking at garage prices for a cam belt change is whether it includes the water pump or not. In my "humble" opinion the water pump should always be part of this job because if it fails on the later type engines the possibility of serious engine damage is very real.

I had the water pump fail a week after a cam belt, and was fuming as specifically instructed the garage to change the water pump the first time so I agree that do all of these things as advised. Ask for the old parts back would also be my advice. You can see what the state of these bits was and it gives you a good feel as to the overall state of the engine.