How much should i pay for a cambelt change?

[Rev2_mike]

Ive got to that horrible point of having to get the cambelt changed
I was told it was done on import but theres no proof of that and im almost at 60k. Ive got a 91 g-ltd

Last time i needed some work i went to toyota and think i got stung mightily...

[Dale_V]

toyota should charge you around £300

[Bry]

Got mine done local for just over £100 not including the cost of the belt

[Lauren]

Find a good independent, think its a waste of time going to MrT as they'll only rip you off.

Would say around £100ish though if you are a competent DIYer there's no reason why you couldn't do it yourself. You may scrape a few knuckles but if you are reasonably methodical with your approach i can't see any real issues.

[jimGTS]

£230 at mrT

[Sidewinder]

I paid £450 for a cambelt change and a full service on my tubby in 2003 at a Toyota garage in Derby. Okay, so it was a heck of a lot of money, but I would rather entrust Toyota with my car for certain work rather than try and save a few quid by going to some cheap garage underneath the railway arches and have them toss the car about.

I've gone down the cheap route with cars in the past, and it's always cost me more in the long run. Each to their own, I guess, and all depends on how much money you have to spend on the essentials!

[jimGTS]

I paid £450 for a cambelt change and a full service on my tubby in 2003 at a Toyota garage in Derby. Okay, so it was a heck of a lot of money, but I would rather entrust Toyota with my car for certain work rather than try and save a few quid by going to some cheap garage underneath the railway arches and have them toss the car about.

I've gone down the cheap route with cars in the past, and it's always cost me more in the long run. Each to their own, I guess, and all depends on how much money you have to spend on the essentials!

ONE THING I CAN SAY IS OF ALL THE JOBS THAT NEED TO BE DONE BY TOYOTA, ITS THE CAMBELT!! BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!!!
PRETTY MUCH ANY OTHER COMPANY CAN DO THE OTHER GENERAL (EASY) THINGS!!!

I agree here mate!!
on a side note, i got stung by mrT for a full 60k miles C service, £297 including platinum plugs!! CHEEKY BUGGERS!!
i didnt know better at the time, id only just got the car!

but they did want over £700 to replace pads and discs all round!! i knew something was up there, so i sourced my own parts (real toyota parts), for £150, and got them to fit them for £150!!! saving £400!!! just paying getting my own parts!!

really do HATE my local mrT!!

[stevel]

but they did want over £700 to replace pads and discs all round!! i knew something was up there, so i sourced my own parts (real toyota parts), for £150, and got them to fit them for £150!!! saving £400!!! just paying getting my own parts!!

Lol if you source the cam belt yourself do you recken they will shave £100 of the bill

[jimGTS]

but they did want over £700 to replace pads and discs all round!! i knew something was up there, so i sourced my own parts (real toyota parts), for £150, and got them to fit them for £150!!! saving £400!!! just paying getting my own parts!!

Lol if you source the cam belt yourself do you recken they will shave £100 of the bill

i tried that mate!! can get cambelt from fensport! i did this, but soon as i booked the car in for the cambelt change, they said if i supplied my own belt and it wasnt toyota approved (what ever that means), i wouldnt be liable for ANY warrenty at all!! they basically said if toyota wasnt written all over the belt, NO warrenty!!

i have a fensport belt for sale if anyone wants it, lol!!
BRAND new of course!

[jimGTS]

but they did want over £700 to replace pads and discs all round!! i knew something was up there, so i sourced my own parts (real toyota parts), for £150, and got them to fit them for £150!!! saving £400!!! just paying getting my own parts!!

Lol if you source the cam belt yourself do you recken they will shave £100 of the bill

pps, turns out, the belt is only £30 from toyota, lol!!

[Lauren]

I paid £450 for a cambelt change and a full service on my tubby in 2003 at a Toyota garage in Derby. Okay, so it was a heck of a lot of money, but I would rather entrust Toyota with my car for certain work rather than try and save a few quid by going to some cheap garage underneath the railway arches and have them toss the car about.

I've gone down the cheap route with cars in the past, and it's always cost me more in the long run. Each to their own, I guess, and all depends on how much money you have to spend on the essentials!

Thats fine, but i've had more things cocked up by MrT than with independents. MrT's labour rate is a rip-off, I honestly do not believe that they know what they are doing half the time. Add to this that they want to change everything, so the costs go through the roof.

I do all my own work these days and have for a few years now as its the only way I can be sure that it is done properly. Changing a cambelt needs to be done right true, but it is not rocket science and easily within the reach of any competent DIY'er.

[jimGTS]

I paid £450 for a cambelt change and a full service on my tubby in 2003 at a Toyota garage in Derby. Okay, so it was a heck of a lot of money, but I would rather entrust Toyota with my car for certain work rather than try and save a few quid by going to some cheap garage underneath the railway arches and have them toss the car about.

I've gone down the cheap route with cars in the past, and it's always cost me more in the long run. Each to their own, I guess, and all depends on how much money you have to spend on the essentials!

Thats fine, but i've had more things cocked up by MrT than with independents. MrT's labour rate is a rip-off, I honestly do not believe that they know what they are doing half the time. Add to this that they want to change everything, so the costs go through the roof.

I do all my own work these days and have for a few years now as its the only way I can be sure that it is done properly. Changing a cambelt needs to be done right true, but it is not rocket science and easily within the reach of any competent DIY'er.

i do agree there! you ask them to change one bit and its... "mmm, sorry sir/madam, just to do this we need to take out this and that, oh, and a bolt has seized, so we need to drill out a new one, oh, and last but not least, because you got an import, we have to source your parts from japan!!!", bloody fools!!

because im a youngen at 22, they think i havent a clue, far do's, im not as hands on as alot of you peeps (prop cause i dont trust myself), but i certainly do my research in places like this site to know what needs to be done to resolve things!!

EXAMPLE,

when i had my belt changed at mrT, i asked them to replace the thermostat as well, easy job you would have thought!
but no, they told me a bolt was seized on the housing (i was very scepticle), so for £250 what they was gona do is, drop the engine a little, removed the air con compressor, replace it due to it having illegal gases (being an import), drill new hole, if that didnt work they would have to source another thermo housing unit for £100 on top!! so all in all, a proper job for around £250 minimum!!

i told them i didnt believe them right in there FACE!! (well, i was hoping really ).
took it to another garage, they had no problems with the bolt, swapped my thermostat, topped it up with coolent, all for £40!!!

oh yeh, i forgot to mention, because they tried getting the housing off, the first garage charged me for 2ltrs of forlife due to draining a bit off!! i told them they must be JOKING, they surely shouldnt charge me for that when they didnt actually do anything!!

you can say i was pretty peed off with that!!

[Chris]

I paid £160 for cambelt change on my Rev 3 tubby. At local Mr T's. Sounds like I got a right deal!

[Sidewinder]

It's all down the individual Toyota garage that you use. Admittedly, I have to drive from Leicester to Derby to visit mine (not exactly a million miles ), but they've never let me down on anything, and treat my car as I would expect it to be treated.

You can suss out a garage within a couple of minutes of talking to them. The sucking of breath when you mention the word 'import' is a good indicator!

Any garage can find extra things wrong with a car! Whether or not you agree to the work being done is entirely up to you - it's not like they hold you to gunpoint or anything. If my Mr T finds extra work, it's usually for a valid reason, and they always show me the replaced parts when I go and pick the car up.

[JohnnyC]

I paid £270 for my cambelt change at Mr T, and the muppets handed my car back with tensioner broke - in the end my car was off the road for around 6 days.

I figured the cambelt change on the MR2 to be a bit specialised, that's the reason why I went to Mr T. But as others have said, it's down to the individual garage/dealer whether or not your experience is a good one or not.

PS. I recommend you don't go to Benfield Toyota Wakefield

[BenF]

Ive got to that horrible point of having to get the cambelt changed
I was told it was done on import but theres no proof of that and im almost at 60k. Ive got a 91 g-ltd

Last time i needed some work i went to toyota and think i got stung mightily...

Mike, As others have said, this isn't a nice job to do on a turbo - access is very restricted by the rear suspension turret and the intercooler.

The Factory workshop manuals say to drop the engine to do this job - it can be done in the car by MrT's who are more familiar with the car.

Cost - plus a B service and other bits a good few years back ('98?) was around £500

Its also worth considering replacing the belt tensioner and idler pulleys at the same time - they're about £30 each. Mine were certainly dead at 60k miles.

[Rev2_mike]

Thanks for all the replies guys - ive heard so many things from so many people about this job, i know that it needs going properly though. Ive had a couple of bad experiences with mr2s and garages though, a cheap and nasty garage (total load of tossers) set fire to and ruined my mark1 by getting the starter motor job wrong. So then i go to MrT with my mark2 g-ltd and got all the "well its an import" and me not knowing any better just let them get on with it and ended up paying around £700 for mot and wheel bearings and drop links etc. They were very patronising and also seemed very uninterested in the car - thats Toyota in Cardiff for your information - so im unsure whether to go back (hmmm). Then again i know of an MR2 turbo specialist in cardiff who said they would also do the work and it would be cheaper, so i guess im going to get a quote from them both.

[Rev2_mike]

Quick question: is this an engine out job in the NA?

[BenF]

Quick question: is this an engine out job in the NA?

Probably not actually - there's no intercooler so most garages can probably do it with the engine in the car.

On the turbo there's about 5-7cm clearance between the side of the timing belt covers and the intercooler and suspension turret which is why its such a 'mare of a job

[Neil Clark]

Was talking to a good mate that works in a top garage in Derby (not a Toyota garage!) and he says its a quite easy job to do (hes done a couple), he looked in the book and said it gives you 3.5 hours to do it all in, they charge about £30 an hour (charge me nowt!!) plus about £20 for the belt as mentioned up abit. Mines a 1995 uk car BTW

Neil