Cambelt change at 5 years

Riverbankannie

Riverbankannie

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IH 630 RL PVC
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At my service today, I was advised that I should have the cambelt changed next year at 5 years. The reason given was that the cambelt is made of a material that can develop flat spots when left unused, like tyres. Implication, unspoken, that this could cause failure. My mileage is 5k per year and I make sure it’s run for a decent distance at least once a month.
Funster thoughts please :)
 
I was likewise advised. I can;t remember the quote but it was several £££ hundreds.

I doubt that it really needed and is more about making money. I guess it's how lucky do you feel?

Sold the van for a new one and cancelled the belt change!!
 
The owners manual (and workshop manual) for the Ducato X290 does state that the timing belt must be changed at a maximum of 5 years or 192,000 km (120,000 miles) whichever occurs first, so that is the standard replacement interval unless you exceed the stated mileage within the 5 year period.

4 years is recommended for heavy duty use, which includes cold climates, a lot of town use or long periods of idling.

So I wouldn't go past 5 years in any circumstances.
 
considering it is a glorified rubber band and that they rot and the very serious damage caused inside your engine when it snaps at high revs, then £400 per 5 years is cheap
 
Riverbankannie said:
At my service today, I was advised that I should have the cambelt changed next year at 5 years.
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Our first cambelt change was done by the book. Garage said "look at the belt", looked like now, then he showed my the tentioner roller, if was just about to collapse.

Your choice £££ or gamble on £££££.
 
hilldweller said:
Our first cambelt change was done by the book. Garage said "look at the belt", looked like now, then he showed my the tentioner roller, if was just about to collapse.

Your choice £££ or gamble on £££££.
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That's the other thing. I was told I needed to change the tensioner and the water pump too.

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My understanding from car ownership ... never, ever scrimp on cambelt changes. And at the same time change the auxiliary belts, tensioner and water pump too.
Cambelt failure is rare but if you have it, it’s likely you’ll need an entire new engine.
And very often it’s the auxiliary belts that give way and their failure causes the Cambelt to fail.
so if manual says to do it, personally I’d do it ?
 
Strangely the Peugeot 160bhp engine fitted to my Bailey states change belt at 10yrs.

I had this dilemma on my Audi A6 - Manual say change at 5 yrs or some colossal mileage. I did not do even 30k by 5yrs so extended this out to 7yrs. I am sure manufacturers must have decided on cam belts instead of chains as a sweeter to their dealers. Cost me £550 buy a independent. The main dealer wanted over £750. Money for old rope/belts!
 
the reason they recommend changing the water pump is that on the x250 and above it needs to be removed in the belt renewal process and "can" be a problem refitting the old without leaks often through the bearing seals.
 
From Honest John’s website ... a very handy reference for all things motoring related ....

“Generalising, we say every timing belt engine needs a fresh timing belt, tensioner, waterpump and aux belt every five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first,”
 
hilldweller said:
Last belt change, MH was 10 years old, I asked for the pump to be changed, they said "not needed" though they might have forgotten.
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i hope i am correct hilldweller , Brian that your motor is a sensible pre X250. .... and as i understand it it snot part of the change process. so not need to change unless it has a problem..
 
My cam belt is due next year,( Ducato 2.3).got a mobile fitter friend that used to work in the fiat/iveco dealer going to change it for me,i'll be buying the full 'Gates' belt kit including water pump & changing all the ancillary belts too...I'd rather pay a couple of hundred quid to change the belts than fork out @ £5k for an engine..

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On an X250 The pump does not need to be removed to do the job, but it is spun/operated by the cam belt. I swapped belt and tensioner, but didn’t do pump, as it’s only done minimal miles, and isn’t made of rubber.
 
The reason the pump is often recommended is that if it fails between belt replacement intervals the timing belt has to be removed and replaced in order to change it, so you're looking at the cost of an additional belt change as well as the pump.
It's preventative maintenance and as with the belt and tensioners, all comes down to how lucky you feel!
 
Oh bugger!!!

Our X290 is coming up to five years and 50k miles and after looking at the Fiat service book I thought I had a couple more years before a belt change.
Looks like a big bill next February. :Eeek:

Richard.

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I changed mine on previous MH, motorhomes don't do the mileage but suffer from ageing (just like tyres). See what I wrote previously. The belt was OK to look at but look at the tensioner.
This fell apart on removal so the bang would be the tensioner failing, not the belt !!
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pulley.JPG
 
I can't be bothered to go out and look under the bonnet but does anyone know if the X244 (03) 2.8 JTD (Ducato) is belt or chain.. It's something I should do when I service it over winter as I don't know it's history despite the fact it's onl;y done 24K, she's 15 years old....
Judging by the tyres that were on it were well past their sell by date, I doubt the previous owners were the "regular maintenance" type. :rolleyes:
 
HandyAndy said:
I can't be bothered to go out and look under the bonnet but does anyone know if the X244 (03) 2.8 JTD (Ducato) is belt or chain.. It's something I should do when I service it over winter as I don't know it's history despite the fact it's onl;y done 24K, she's 15 years old....
Judging by the tyres that were on it were well past their sell by date, I doubt the previous owners were the "regular maintenance" type. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
It's a belt. (and it's overdue :Eeek: )

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