Hi all

my skoda octavia elegance 1.9tdi estae (04 Plate) is due for its next sevice, so i went to book it in and get a quote.

i nearly wet myself when he said it needed a timeing belt change and that it would cost £358 (including fitting) less vat, this is on top of the £220 for the service (total cost including vat £679) and dosnt include any "extras" that may need done.

i have no doubts that it needs done but would i be cheaper going to another garage (kwik fit pos) or am i better going to skoda especialy as it is not under warrenty and i will be keeping it till i die or it dies (hopefuly not at the same time).

basic questions are:

1. is it going to be cheaper.

2. what if any draw backs are there to doing this.

3. anyone know of any garages in the edinburgh?lothian area?

sorry for the spelling.

I have just been quoted £240+VAT fitted for cambelt and water pump (Fabia 1.9TDi), so £358 seems about right for me - is the price quoted from a main dealer as I was quoted £404 from Simpsons in Preston

Edited 22 February, 201016 yr by chrisw880

If you don't go to a dealer, make sure that you go to a VAG specialist who is familiar with the engine and knows how to set the timing up properly. I had the belt on SWMBOs Fabia 1.4 TDI done by a little garage who I normally use and is generally very good. After a while we got the warning lights on the dash and to cut a long story short finished up spending over £200 trying to trace the fault which I now believe was down to the cam timing being set incorrectly. I have reset it myself and there are currently no warning lights or fault codes (touch wood).

A decent independent Garage should do the cambelt for less than £250. I only had mine done a couple of months ago, and with a new Fan belt and Water pump the bill was £265. This was however a cash job.

As for the service do it yourself, there's lots of online info regarding how too carry out a service, and if you buy a Pela extraction pump the jobs a doddle. Did mine last Friday afternoon and including all filters and oil it cost less than £80.

thanks guys

i think it was a main dealer (only two that i know of in edinburgh/lothian)

the thought of doing it myself scares the crap out of me, do they not (they do in germany) have a garantee with the service from skoda for the period that the sevice covers?

I paid 290 at my local(ish) Skoda dealer for cambelt and water pump. Seemed quite a good price I thought.

Well, A for Audi (Clydebank, so not that handy for you) quoted me £300, including changing the water pump, coolant top up and re-timing the fuel pump (which certainly worked; I'm showing up to 5mpg better consumption).

...and re-timing the fuel pump (which certainly worked; I'm showing up to 5mpg better consumption).

That's a new one on me, what's involved in that? Surely the fuel pump should just maintain a fixed (more-or-less) fuel pressure and that's that?

That's a new one on me, what's involved in that? Surely the fuel pump should just maintain a fixed (more-or-less) fuel pressure and that's that?

It's an electronnicy HP pump, and controls when the injectors squirt directly, rather than just pressuring the fuel rail like on a unit injector engine.

A decent independent Garage should do the cambelt for less than £250. I only had mine done a couple of months ago, and with a new Fan belt and Water pump the bill was £265. This was however a cash job.

As for the service do it yourself, there's lots of online info regarding how too carry out a service, and if you buy a Pela extraction pump the jobs a doddle. Did mine last Friday afternoon and including all filters and oil it cost less than £80.

Pela extraction pump..got there web site..but nowhere to buy the dam thing on there site,,or prices !

anyone know where to get this ?

cheers.....johnny

Pela extraction pump..got there web site..but nowhere to buy the dam thing on there site,,or prices !

anyone know where to get this ?

cheers.....johnny

just type "Pela extraction pump" onto google and hit the shopping link near the top

Edited 25 February, 201016 yr by jaggybunnet

If you want a dealer try a VW dealer and just make sure that whoever does it replaces the stretch bolts as they are single use items.

The cam-belt kit itself is over £100, plus the coolant, plus the water pump, so to be fair you can easily see where the costs are.

Pela extraction pump..got there web site..but nowhere to buy the dam thing on there site,,or prices !

anyone know where to get this ?

cheers.....johnny

Any Yacht/boating clubs or screwfix sell an oil extractor which is the same deal.

well then :S

had the service done and they phoned to say that a few things needed done as well as the service and timing belt

wiper blades (i had asked)

water pump + belt

rear bump stops

front whishbone bushes

and front flashers

total cost

£1264 :( :'(

the labour cost around half of that

he had to hold me up so i could type my pin number in, and that was with 10% off..

i think i might just ram the car into a brick wall the next time it would be cheaper.

although on the bright side because i could not decide which child to sell to pay for this i thought sod and sold both and am now going on a holiday

Edited 1 March, 201016 yr by jaggybunnet

That's just bloody ridiculous

Better call the cops.........you have just been robbed!!.........lol.

Better call the cops.........you have just been robbed!!.........lol.

robbed i should have just pulled my boxers down and let him crack (no pun intended) on, it would had the same affect on me

robbed i should have just pulled my boxers down and let him crack (no pun intended) on, it would had the same affect on me

The cost of the cam belt etc itself doesn't seem too outrageous - I've just been quoted £397 inc VAT for cam belt and water pump by Royce Roberts in Hull (Skoda dealer) and £421 by Des Winks (VW) in Scarborough for the same. Both include 2 year parts warranty.

Your £358 ex VAT = £420 inc VAT.

Just requested a quote from Sherlodge dealers min kent , they quoted £580 for Belt Pump and Aux belt , on a tdi 130 bhp , that is excessive .

Just requested a quote from Sherlodge dealers min kent , they quoted £580 for Belt Pump and Aux belt , on a tdi 130 bhp , that is excessive .

That is about half of the value of my car I imagine!!! I guess when my belt is due at 180k I'll be doing it myself again (161k and counting)

Just requested a quote from Sherlodge dealers min kent , they quoted £580 for Belt Pump and Aux belt , on a tdi 130 bhp , that is excessive .

as these cars get older,it will surely make more sense to not bother changing the pump/belt, & just take your chances instead.

I mean at what point,bearing in mind the cars total (low) value,do you say (almost) £600 is too big a hit to be economically wise?

The cost of the cam belt etc itself doesn't seem too outrageous - I've just been quoted £397 inc VAT for cam belt and water pump by Royce Roberts in Hull (Skoda dealer) and £421 by Des Winks (VW) in Scarborough for the same. Both include 2 year parts warranty.

Your £358 ex VAT = £420 inc VAT.

Update:- it took a while for them to get back to me, but Chapmans of Pickering (Skoda dealer) quoted £497. How the hell can two skoda dealers charge such different prices for the same job? I've a good mind to complain to Skoda UK if I thought it would do any good?

:wonder:

Well, A for Audi (Clydebank, so not that handy for you) quoted me £300, including changing the water pump, coolant top up and re-timing the fuel pump (which certainly worked; I'm showing up to 5mpg better consumption).

Ken,

How would someone know if the fuel pump needed retiming? Does this only need doing when the timing belt comes off?

Thanks,

Martin