Major service

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aigle2am

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Hi all

My mom's car is due for a major service at Citroen as the car is 6 years old. However, the car had only done 49000 km (car is only driven to and from work). My only concern is that I was advised by Citroen to do the major service as the cam belt has to be replaced which costs about R10000. Are my concerns vindicated are or is the dealer taking me for a ride?

Thanks
aigle2am
 
Paid 15k for last service involving a cambelt...

Seems hefty to me either way...
 
Why on earth would they do the cam belt at 50 000km?

Is that in the manual as per the service requirement? Or do they have reason to believe the cam belt is dodgy?

And why on earth are you taking a six year old car to the dealer? Take it to a third party specialist for half the price...who probably won't try to rip you off either.

*****

I see Captain Beer beat me to it I just couldn't remember the name of the place but yes French Car Connection is the one.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Why on earth would they do the cam belt at 50 000km?

Is that in the manual as per the service requirement? Or do they have reason to believe the cam belt is dodgy?

And why on earth are you taking a six year old car to the dealer? Take it to a third party specialist for half the price...who probably won't try to rip you off either.

*****

I see Captain Beer beat me to it I just couldn't remember the name of the place but yes French Car Connection is the one.
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Agree with the third party specialist. It is reasonable that the cam belt needs to be replaced after 6 years though as it deteriorates with both age and mileage, not just mileage.
 
Frikkenator said:
Agree with the third party specialist. It is reasonable that the cam belt needs to be replaced after 6 years though as it deteriorates with both age and mileage, not just mileage.
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Yeah I missed that part the first time, but even then it would be a case of checking it first and not outrightly replacing it based on a schedule I feel.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah I missed that part the first time, but even then it would be a case of checking it first and not outrightly replacing it based on a schedule I feel.
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Stealerships replace parts - they don't inspect and repair/replace.
A mechanic repairs things - stealerships don't have mechanics, just spanner monkeys who replace parts until the problems go away.
 
Paul_S said:
Stealerships replace parts - they don't inspect and repair/replace.
A mechanic repairs things - stealerships don't have mechanics, just spanner monkeys who replace parts until the problems go away.
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This is true, but a cam belt is not something you want to replace only after it broke, and it is quite a labour intensive process in some cars to remove it to check, so I'm guessing they just figure it's better to replace it while they've got it off.
 
Frikkenator said:
This is true, but a cam belt is not something you want to replace only after it broke, and it is quite a labour intensive process in some cars to remove it to check, so I'm guessing they just figure it's better to replace it while they've got it off.
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Surely you don't remove it to check. Then they would just replace it at every check because the belt is actually pretty cheap.
 
Neo_X said:
But that brings my question to this thread.... why is a service based on Km or Years?

surely a cambelt wont wear and tear with less km's?
i understand fluid's will need to be replaced every year or so, but mechanical parts??
Click to expand...
Rubber ages and perishes.
 
aigle2am said:
Hi all

My mom's car is due for a major service at Citroen as the car is 6 years old. However, the car had only done 49000 km (car is only driven to and from work). My only concern is that I was advised by Citroen to do the major service as the cam belt has to be replaced which costs about R10000. Are my concerns vindicated are or is the dealer taking me for a ride?

Thanks
aigle2am
Click to expand...

Get a second mechanic to inspect the belt. Back in 2005, I had a cambelt failure on my Golf 4 GTi which ended up being a R42 000 bill to replace cylinder head etc.
 
dlk001 said:
Get a second mechanic to inspect the belt. Back in 2005, I had a cambelt failure on my Golf 4 GTi which ended up being a R42 000 bill to replace cylinder head etc.
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Thats crazy, 42 k surely half the value of the car in that year? You should have gone to an indy.
 
Paid R1100 for a major service and R1000 for my front break pads. (68000km)

Major service with the cam belt is R2300 at the same place ,will be replacing the cam belt at my next service.

This is a supermac in durban road opposite Peugeot tygervalley.

Let's hope my car does not break down ,seems I am paying to little to maintain my car lol

Car is a 2008 atos prime.
 
Frikkenator said:
This is true, but a cam belt is not something you want to replace only after it broke, and it is quite a labour intensive process in some cars to remove it to check, so I'm guessing they just figure it's better to replace it while they've got it off.
Click to expand...

Just for us ill informed....4 noob questions

1. why do car manufacturers make the cam belt so darn difficult to remove especially as it's such a critical component.

2. Why is there no fail safe in place should the cambelt snap. Why is it always leads to engine damage?

3: why can't all cars come with chain cams?
Manufacturers can add that extra cost to the vehicle cost.

4. Do chain cams need replacing after a certain interval?
 
Just double check that your car actually has a cam belt.

I learnt a hard lesson many years ago when dealer said that cam belt had to be changed. They charged me about 5k to change the cam belt.

It was only much later that I learnt that the car actually had a chain and not a belt.
 
tRoN said:
Just for us ill informed....4 noob questions

1. why do car manufacturers make the cam belt so darn difficult to remove especially as it's such a critical component.

2. Why is there no fail safe in place should the cambelt snap. Why is it always leads to engine damage?

3: why can't all cars come with chain cams?
Manufacturers can add that extra cost to the vehicle cost.

4. Do chain cams need replacing after a certain interval?
Click to expand...

2. Honda Motors do, thats been in place on the B16 Vtec motors since production around 1988.
 
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