cambelt

[pistonmember]

Hi guys,

Ill be honest im not mega clued up with cambelt changes as ive never wanted to do one myself lol, when you get a cambelt and water pump change at the garage is it standard practice they change the belt and tensioners aswell? Or is that extra?

[illmonkey]

They should do the belt and tensioner, otherwise those might fail at a later date. But you need to clarify with them to be 100%.

[pistonmember]

illmonkey said:

They should do the belt and tensioner, otherwise those might fail at a later date. But you need to clarify with them to be 100%.

Is there anything else worth doing while the cambelt is off, whats the aux belt?

[strath44]

yes its worth checking as the tensioners / pulley wheels etc can be just as common a failure as the belts themselves. In fact belts rarely just snap unless pressure is being put on them by a failing component such as a seized water pump or a bad bearing(s) in a pulley or tensioner etc.

The aux belt is generally another belt running off the crankshaft that provide drive to an auxiliary device such as the aircon compressor, power steering pump or alternator depending on the car.

[strath44]

what car is it?

[illmonkey]

pistonmember said:

illmonkey said:

They should do the belt and tensioner, otherwise those might fail at a later date. But you need to clarify with them to be 100%.

Is there anything else worth doing while the cambelt is off, whats the aux belt?

Again, I'd expect and good garage to advise what is worth doing now, to save extra labour in the near future. If they need to take the aux belt off, they may as well replace it, it'll take no extra time, just the cost of the belt.

If you're doing a water pump, you're draining the coolant, so it might be worth doing the thermostat too. At this point I'd also do all belts, pulleys, tensioners etc. With half the parts off the car, why not.