Timing belt and water pump - fitting costs?

[Dr Dubya]

Hi all, first post here. Has anyone any recent experience of the costs of replacing the timing belt (and other bits in the kit) and water pump on a 2.0 HDi diesel?

I was living in the UK when I bought the car, I'm in ROI now (but not for much longer). I've been quoted 495 Euros for supply (genuine peugeot parts apparently) and fitting of these items. Considering the car is 1999 reg and there are lots for sale in the UK (on Autotrader) for between 600-1000 GBP it seems a bit crazy to be spending what amounts to 50-80% of the value (or more!) of the car like this, especially as it's high mileage (175k) and has a few dents and scratches anyways

Cheers

[chopper1192]

And don't forget the bottom pulley.

Costs around the £300 mark for OE components and labour here. I understand what you're saying about the overall value of the car and all, but just because a car isn't worth much doesn't make maintenance any cheaper. One things for sure - if the belt snaps on a car of that age it'll be worth £00.00,, but keep it well maintained and you'll get another decade or more out of her.

That £300 is one months repayment on the finance on a new car, and a new car will still require service and maintenance on top of that, so whichever way you cut it the best value option is to get it done in a timely fashion.

Shop around and maybe find a decent independant. So long as they use quality parts then it doesn't have to be OE components.

[Dr Dubya]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, though I don't know about getting another decade out of it, I'd be more than happy with another three years

I just got another quote for 420 euros, which is equivalent to around 350 GBP at today's exchange rate, so as a comparison to approx £300 in the UK that's not too bad as everything costs more here (you can image what mechanics labour cost's here when you consider that the national minimum wage is 8.65 euros an hour).

[john_h]

does it not work out more cheaper to get the parts yourself...and get a typical (non brand) garage to fit it? i managed to get mine down to £200 and that was with a full service at 80,000 miles mark.

[Dr Dubya]

The quote for 420 euros is from a non-brand garage, which is (literally) next door to the car parts supplier so I imagine there's a lot of back-scratching between the two. And in all fairness, I've read enough while here to know that the national and local govenments levy some outrageous charges which make it inherently more expensive to run a business here. It's not the cost of the parts, it's the labour.

Ireland is hideously expensive for everything, especially cars. A new car is typically 40-50% more expensive here, insurance is about double, and road tax... £614 per year for mine

Before we left the UK we often heard folk going on about 'rip off Britain', you'll never hear me complain about that again once we're back in Blighty.

[chopper1192]

I worked in the US for a while. At first appearance everything looked cheap and dandy, but this was a country where $14,000 was considered a decent wage for a teacher, with exchange rates and the like that's about one third of the £22,000 a newly qualified teacher over here.

As painful as it sometimes is, it isn't that bad, and I've had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of expensive titanium surgery recently, which I'd have been expected to fund almost anywhere else.

Anyway, back to t'406 lad... You thought about DIYing it?

[Dr Dubya]

Oh yes! The NHS it's only when you've lived outside the UK that you learn to really appreciate it, we pay anywhere from 50-100 euros just to be told to take 2 paracetamol every four hours...

I don't mind trying some DIY car jobs (last one was the front coil spring I mentioned in another post) but there's no way I'd try to do the 406 timing belt myself. Last time I did that job was on a Mark 4 Cortina back in the 1980s, a spacious engine bay to work in and all you had to do was make sure there was a 1/4 of play in the belt tension and you're done. I've been told for the 406 you need an electronic tool to measure the belt tension. Plus I've no garage or drivewaythese days and it's a pain trying to do car jobs out in the street.

Just got another quote, it's now down to 395 Euros, I think that's the best I'll get around here.