[V8] Old Content - T-belt Parts Rant!

Thu Aug 29 17:44:25 PDT 2013

I read 'over repair', and find CavalloGT post just a ramble...  And I doubt he will find much agreement from this list, and certainly no shop owner.  I'm sure Tony is rolling his eyes as much as me, more in disbelief and amusement than any seriousness to the definition of 'over repair'.  15 years of shop ownership, and 50+ v8 timing belts in that time, there are multiple arguments anyone can take on 'saving' money on a v8 timing belt service.  In my opinion as an owner and a pro wrench for years, there just isn't saving any real money beyond 'just' doing it yourself. First and foremost, a DIY taking the risk that a bearing "is fine" sounds fine and dandy to me, but it still makes no sense.  All time is money, and I can only think of one thing worse than doing a v8 timing belt less than a year later.  When I budget 10hours of my free time, I could care less what those roller bearings cost if it keeps me away from that job for 60k.

At a professional level, no shop owner (especially a v8-experienced one) is going to do that job less than all the way.  Why?  Because when you have mouths to feed other than your own family, taking the risk of doing a v8 timing service for free because of a 50$ (dealer list) bearing...  You won't be in business long.  Or put another way, at 100per hour that's a $800 flush down the toilet because some opinionated internet junkie that's worked on a couple v8s, thinks he knows better than a professional that's worked on dozens....  Has convinced a customer that what the pro does is make crazy money on those parts.  

Me, I laugh that anyone would short cut a v8 timing belt service, in procedure or parts.  It's not difficult to do a v8 timing belt, but do enough, you get burned by one.  That's a lesson no shop will ever repeat.  I knew several shops that got burned early in Chicago, and for a few years I had more than I could really handle because of it.  

It's that simple.  The rest of the rant sounds like a grumpy old man trying to blame mechanics for all the bad in the motoring world.  Pretty sure Bernie Benz has the trademark on that, but there has to be at least one more I suppose.

"over repair" a v8?  Isn't that an oxymoron 20 model years since it was produced?

Scott J

-----Original Message-----
From: Korn, Bob <Bob.Korn at Fike.com>
To: cobram <cobram at juno.com>; v8 <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Mon, Aug 26, 2013 10:02 pm
Subject: Re: [V8] Old Content - T-belt Parts Rant! (Hee-Hee!)

Got to agree with Cobram here, when you crack open the front of a V8, it's cheap 
insurance to replace all the moving or wear parts.  I don't like doing things 
twice, has nothing to do with "over repair".  

1990 V8 Pearl - Sold to some jerk in Chicago
2008 S6

-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of 
cobram at juno.com
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 9:15 PM
To: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Old Content - T-belt Parts Rant! (Hee-Hee!)

Yup, plenty of shops or techs will do piecemeal half assed jobs at the customers 
request.  But they'll usually (if they have half a brain) put down all the parts 
that they recommended and customer refused.  Then when that idler or whatever 
starts to squeal like a stuck pig a few months and miles down the road after an 
$800+ labor charge, you can pay them all over again as they hold up a copy of 
the invoice and say "We told you so.

If it's a PITA or time consuming job like a timing belt, it's penny wise and 
dollar foolish not change whatever you can.  I do it because I don't like to do 
jobs twice.

But hey, it's your car, if you want to roll the dice, roll the dice.  If it 
comes up snake eyes, oh well.

I can only think of one other owner left who actually pays a tech to work on his 
V8's, I guess I know 2 now.  Be happy you can find anyone that will even touch 
it, most shops don't need the headache, they have enough work to pay the bills 
without the inherent headaches that come from working on a 20+ year old orphaned 
car, let alone one that's German or Italian for that matter.  ;-) 

"Overrepair" on a 20+ year old German car with an unknown history....thanks for 
the laugh!

BCNU,
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

Professor GT gmail <CavalloGT at gmail.com> writes:

> Anyway,  I'm also not of the "replace it all" mentality with respect 
> to doing a t-belt job. Some guys will throw every single related part 
> at the engine whenever they do a t-belt, saying its cheap insurance 
> against a "premature" failure. For the individual doing his/her own 
> work thats a personal choice. For the hired shop, thats a great way to 
> run up the bill so they can be sure to cover their rent for the month, 
> and that's a read sad way to run a business!

> Point is "over-repair" is still a rip-off, no matter how you try to 
> justify it. If it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, looks like a 
> duck ................

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