Whatd you pay for your timing belt replacment?>>

1607 Views 21 Replies 15 Participants Last post by abemazika, Jul 13, 2004

green99passat

Discussion Starter · Jul 12, 2004

What is a good or reasonable price to pay to have your timing belt replaced with all the tensioners and water pump etc.?

I am looking at the ECS tuning kit for example.

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

Scuba2001

· #2 · Jul 12, 2004

Freebie since mine popped twice. All under warranty.

My local dealer will charge $499 I think parts and labor included for all 20v turbo cars.

Steve

TheJezter

· #3 · Jul 12, 2004

I'm assuming you mean what would a stealer charge with you providing the parts and also that you are talking the 1.8T?

My stealer quoted me 1100 to do timing belt/tensioner/water pump parts and labor if HE provides the parts. Since ECS only charges about $260 for the ultimate kit that includes everything, I could have gotten by at the dealer for about 800 total (with me supplying the parts).

I ended up doing it myself and it took about 10 hours from start to finish. It was really kind of fun, just make sure you have ALL the tools you need and the Haynes/Bentley along with DaddyMatt's write up here. Get a good set of torx/allen (metric) sockets and a ft/lb and in/lb torque wrench, those tools will be used WAY more than any other. If you have any questions, plenty of people here have done their own and are ready to jump in.

Good luck,
-Chris

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green99passat

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 12, 2004

Yes it is 1.8, and the dealer just quoted me at 600, just the belt, he said they would check the other belts and water pumps and what not while they were in there.
THanks for the info, but i am a novice mechanic, and i just dont think i have the time to do it myself

grhdylan

· #5 · Jul 12, 2004

Just had my belt & tensioner replaced at my local VW indpendent specialist and they did the job for £250 which is about $465.
The stealership wanted to charge me £550....$1054 !!!

Trader_Reed

· #6 · Jul 12, 2004

Here in Mass. the local dealer wanted around $1000, a locol shop wanted $1100.
I did it myself in 8 hours and saved a enough to buy the rims and tires I want

.
I also bought the kit from ECS..

JETninja

· #7 · Jul 12, 2004

I used an independent here, he installed the ESC kit for $345. (Belts, Tensioner, waterpump, and a Poly Snub I gave him)

Huffster

· #8 · Jul 12, 2004

I'm looking to get the same done to my '99 1.8T. I'm wondering why so many people here go to dealerships to have this done (or even consider it). I'd assume that a decent independent mechanic could do just as good a job as a dealership mechanic. Less expensive and probably no horror story to follow (like we seem to see here on a consistent basis). I'm basing my ideas on the fact that so many of the people here have done this themselves and I assume that they all not certified mechanics. Certainly a trained professional would do just as good a job. Is this strictly due to the warranty? I'm not concerned about that because I have an aftermarket warranty that covers more than factory and I can go to any licensed mechanic to have work done.

Why pay several hundred bucks more for the same thing? If there is a good reason, please let me know so I don't make a mistake in going to an independent

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ny1911

· #9 · Jul 12, 2004

I don't know why people go to the dealerships. I think they have some idea that the dealerships do a better job. Most dealerships charge you by the book hour but pay the mechanics a flat rate for the job. The incentive for them is to get the job done as quickly as possible to maximize the number of jobs they do in a shift. As a result, they will bill out way more than 8 hours per bay in a shift. On top of that, you're getting screwed on the parts. I would estimate that between inflated parts cost, paying book hours and the high "hourly" rates that they charge, the customer at the dealership pays in excess of $150/hour to have their car worked on. In contrast, most independents pay their mechanics by the hour and bill the customers by real hours (they probably use All-Data book hours for estimates). Since they get jobber pricing on parts, they often charge you the same or less for parts than you can get at retail.

Huffster said:
I'm looking to get the same done to my '99 1.8T. I'm wondering why so many people here go to dealerships to have this done (or even consider it). I'd assume that a decent independent mechanic could do just as good a job as a dealership mechanic. Less expensive and probably no horror story to follow (like we seem to see here on a consistent basis). I'm basing my ideas on the fact that so many of the people here have done this themselves and I assume that they all not certified mechanics. Certainly a trained professional would do just as good a job. Is this strictly due to the warranty? I'm not concerned about that because I have an aftermarket warranty that covers more than factory and I can go to any licensed mechanic to have work done.

Why pay several hundred bucks more for the same thing? If there is a good reason, please let me know so I don't make a mistake in going to an independent

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r3awak3n

· #10 · Jul 12, 2004

I am the second owner of the car and the time belt and water pump were changed by the first owner but he told me he paid arround 1000$ (ouch) at the dealership for having them both fixed! Pretty expensive if you tell me, you better off gettin the parts and doin it urself or gettin the parts and taking it to a indie shop for them to do it!

vwguru17

· #11 · Jul 12, 2004

I paid 380 parts and labor to get mine done at an Independent near my house. :thumbup:

green99passat

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 12, 2004

wow guru that is good, and jet ninja. does someone want to come to illinois and help me? ill pay!

Kenny Payne

· #13 · Jul 12, 2004

Huffster said:
I'm looking to get the same done to my '99 1.8T. I'm wondering why so many people here go to dealerships to have this done (or even consider it). I'd assume that a decent independent mechanic could do just as good a job as a dealership mechanic. Less expensive and probably no horror story to follow (like we seem to see here on a consistent basis). I'm basing my ideas on the fact that so many of the people here have done this themselves and I assume that they all not certified mechanics. Certainly a trained professional would do just as good a job. Is this strictly due to the warranty? I'm not concerned about that because I have an aftermarket warranty that covers more than factory and I can go to any licensed mechanic to have work done.

Why pay several hundred bucks more for the same thing? If there is a good reason, please let me know so I don't make a mistake in going to an independent

I paid around $700, roughly half parts and half labor. No water pump, just TB, associated hardware, and all the other belts.

I would agree that using an indy makes more sense than using a dealer, but I would qualify that by saying that the indy should work exclusively on Audi/VW. Or, at the very least, exclusively on German cars.

Just MHO.

Kenny

ahnh666

· #14 · Jul 12, 2004

what is a ESC kit...where can i buy this kit?...anybody have the link?

or is this kit from www.impexfap.com good enough for $165.00?
http://www.impexfap.com/partlist.cfm?getpart=78434&subcategory=4231#part78434
<img src=http://www.impexfap.com/partpics/resized/rsP003488.jpg>

do i need to replace the waterpump? what about the other belts?

1.8tbeout

· #15 · Jul 12, 2004

just a little under $2000

1.8tbeout

· #16 · Jul 12, 2004

you dont have to change the waterpump but it is only a little more labor (although still a pita) when you are doing the timing belt job to change the h2o pump, just a "while your in there" type thing, it could still last a long time but some people would rather not chance it. an aftermarket pump at ecs is only $50 or so. mine broke at 73K, i needed a new head.

green99passat

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 13, 2004

ESC is mistaken for ECS, as in ECSTuning.com there is a kit that includes a water pummp etc.

abemazika

· #18 · Jul 13, 2004

I had my belt & tensioner done for £180 ($310) total.. including parts.

I thought it was a good price... seems lowest than anyone so far..

Abe

friech

· #19 · Jul 13, 2004

At what milage interval does this repair typically made? :???: Or is it a replace on failure type of activity?

Kenny Payne

· #20 · Jul 13, 2004

friech said:
At what milage interval does this repair typically made? :???: Or is it a replace on failure type of activity?

No, you don't want to wait until it fails! Our interference type engines means that a timing belt failure may, and likely will, result in major engine damage.

The interval for replacement if you are not under warranty is 60K miles. Running any longer than that on a timing belt is tempting fate.

Kenny

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