Anyone had an alternator belt fitted? Wondering about cost for fitting.

Timing belt & tensior were replaced recently whilst still a fleet vehicle, but auxiliary belt (this is alternator belt right ?) and water pump not.

Figured I should get auxiliary/alternator belt replaced to rule out the chance of it breaking and flinging itself at timing belt.

Thanks for any help / advice !

It's a pretty easy DIY job if you own some spanners.

Otherwise a mechanic could do it in 5 minutes........but you might end up paying a garages minimum labour charge of 1/2 hour (£20?) + price of the part....(£12 I think)

As for the auxiliary belt taking out the timing belt if it breaks......I think this would be highly unlikely as the timing belt is protected by covers......although I suppose possible in theory.

Thanks for the helpful reply. Good point about the covers.

I think it was on this forum that i read about a couple of experiences of alternator belts snapping and flinging onto timing belt, as rare as that might be.

Yes, There was someone who posted quite recently with this problem.

However it's one thing it actually happening and another thing when a garage (who changed the cam belt recently) tells you that's what happened!......"wasn't our fault the auxiliary belt broke"

As I say, in theory it's possible......but I'd have to see it to believe it.

I figured it unlikely on any car with the Timing belt casing in place, but my own mechanic reckons he has seen it happen, although rare, and not specific to any particular vehicle.

I trust him implicitly - he doesn't need my tiny little job, and isn't punting for it

One of the first things I done (peace of mind and all that) when I bought mine last year was replace the auxiliary belt and the tensioner too. Pretty simple job to do. As for the belt snapping and finding it's way into the cambelt area the Vectra B v6 was one that could suffer from this. At the bottom of the timing belt cover there was a hole for some reason and some that suffered from the aux belt snapping had it find it's way inside the timing belt area with obvious disastrous results.

I figured it unlikely on any car with the Timing belt casing in place, but my own mechanic reckons he has seen it happen, although rare, and not specific to any particular vehicle.

I trust him implicitly - he doesn't need my tiny little job, and isn't punting for it

:no: I wasn't suggesting he was.

I was referring to an account I read recently of someone's cam belt snapping.....about 10 months after having it changed. He took it back to the garage that did the belt change (who would be liable for the repair if the belt failed due to their improper fitting). They blamed the failure on the Auxiliary belt snapping and fouling the cam belt.......the customer pays for the repair.

:no: I wasn't suggesting he was.

i know you are referring to the recent account here. Was just adding that my own mechanic concurrs it possible, but very rare, when he could just claim the opposite to generate more work

Happened to a mates Passat 1.9tdi on the M6. Aux belt broke up and some of it got caught up in timing belt, came home on the back of an AA truck.