[V8] V8 Timing belt time/cost.

[justin.bowers at comcast.net]

I'm 4k miles away from my next belt change and am curious about what needs to be changed.  On the previous belt change I had them replace all tensioners, water pump, rollers, etc. - is it necessary to change all of them again?  I ask because I believe everything I've read in the past suggested that you only need to replace everything, every other time.

Thanks,

Justin

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> Forgetting about the parts, doing it right and replacing all rollers, WP, 
> etc. you'd have to figure an "average" tech will take about 8 hours, add 
> maybe an hour or two in there for broken/stripped hardware (here in the 
> rust belt) and the occasional "gotcha". Good shops around here (Boston 
> area) average about $90 an hour. Your region may vary, but getting it 
> done right will be a conservative $800 in labor ALONE around here. 
> 
> BUT, there's always a but, you can also be penny wise and dollar foolish 
> and have just the belt replaced for straight or book time. A friend of 
> mine who has a 4N shop will replace just the belt if the customer insists 
> (on any car), but he always puts it down on the slip, in big letters, 
> that customer requests that only this work be done and there is no 
> warranty. He has some customers who, oh, lets say are very frugal when 
> it comes to maintenance, so he's always in CYA mode with them. "Just get 
> it running, I'm going to sell it, I only need the car for another few 
> weeks, it's getting old, blah blah blah." These are the same people that 
> if they get a flat tire a week after he changes the thermostat will come 
> back and blame the shop...."my tires were fine before you touched the 
> car." 
> 
> BCNU, 
> http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/ 
> 
> DasWolfen at aol.com writes: 
> > If you're only being charged $1000 for a timing belt there's only 
> > two 
> > explainations.....either everything that needs changed isn't being 
> > changed or 
> > someone is doing charity work. The parts alone add up to around 
> > $800....and thats 
> > not dealer list price...which would be around $2500 
> > 
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