Cambelt change- what else?

[Patrick Bateman]

Trophy is due its second cambelt in my ownership in the next month. What else should I get replaced that may be original that can only be done when the cambelt is coming off?

The dephaser and water pump were already replaced last time at 10 years old and were fine so that's 2 things I won't be doing.

Camshaft seals is one I've heard mentioned before.

 

[sj2112]

Bare in mind that if the dephaser or waterpump go in the next few years you'll have to pay that bill again.. I'd change them for piece of mind personally

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Bare in mind that if the dephaser or waterpump go in the next few years you'll have to pay that bill again.. I'd change them for piece of mind personally

Is it not excessive though? How overplayed is the dephaser issue if the original can do almost 80k miles in 10 years and still be fine?

Water pump can be done without doing the cambelt can it not?

 

[BenG]

This year should see most of us having the major 5 year service done. I personally wouldn’t do anything short of replacing the following parts...

Cam Belt Kit.
Dephaser pulley.
Water pump.
Auxiliary belt kit.
Crank pulley bolt.
Cam seals kit.
Cylinder head end plugs.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Even with a dephaser and water pump that are only on around 36k miles?

I've had my fair share of preventative maintenance over the years in the form of thousands of pounds across a few cars but even so that seems excessive to expect to replace them every 5 years on so few miles surely? There was nothing wrong with the originals when they were changed in 2015 as it was after 10 years of use.

 

[BenG]

I think based on the amount of miles you’re doing then extending the interval to 10 years for the dephaser and water pump would be a safe gamble.

I personally have had no experience of failures of these parts, however, I’ve always changed them at 5 year intervals as a precaution based on recommendation from others. I do the work myself and it’s a fair amount of work to have to do it again because of a failed component that could have easily been replaced at the time.

 

[MC1]

I only change them when needed.

About to replace dephaser & water pump for 1st time - at 153k miles. At Renault we used to have rule that if small dry coolant mark from weep hole in pump it was “normal”. This could be seen on even brand new engines as the coolant can leak slightly on first few engine runs. Anything more wasn’t norma i.e. signs of build up of dry or wet coolant around said area.
Any Dephaser noise means it’s time to replace it, & it also can be checked using renault diagnostics for proper switching at certain revs, so no point replacing if nothing wrong IMO. The dephaser solenoid could (rarely) be faulty for instance so it’s not the pulley at fault 100% of the time.
However if you don’t do your own work it makes sense to do both pulley & pump more often to save the cost of labour & another new belt/kit.

 

[Mikeyjp]

You still need the pump and dephaser doing

 

[Patrick Bateman]

You still need the pump and dephaser doing

You didn't read the rest of the posts did you?

 

[frayz]

Forgive me for possibly coming across rude, but you're asking what components people recommend you change during a the belt service, yet are discounting their input because in your opinion they were changed 5 years ago and only done 36k miles.
My car had a full belt/dephaser services by 8k miles old as the component was "lifed" at its age.
Ive just had my 3rd full belt service inc dephaser and water pump because frankly its cheap enough to do at the time to just get it all done.
£1000 every 5 years on these cars is hardly extortionate running costs in the grand scheme of things, so in that context id rather the peace of mind of everything being 100% mint and new.

Your call though, best of luck whatever you choose.

 

[BenG]

By replacing the dephaser and pump you’re looking at adding around £200 worth of parts, this includes dephaser, water pumpcoolant. As you have to drain and replace the cooling system you’re adding additional labour cost too. There shouldn’t really be any additional labour costs with installing a new dephaser as it has to be removed when replacing the cam seals. You could argue that labour costs are required when fitting new cam seals which are fitted behind the cam pulleys, however, they take 5 minutes to replace and the pulleys have to be loosened when carrying out the timing procedure anyways.

If the dephaser fails before the next timing belt change then it’s just bad luck, there is unlikely to be any catastrophic event that will take place as a result. If the water pump fails then the pump can be replaced without touching the timing belt. Personally, I would be gutted having to do the work again because I tried to save costs.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Forgive me for possibly coming across rude, but you're asking what components people recommend you change during a the belt service, yet are discounting their input because in your opinion they were changed 5 years ago and only done 36k miles.
My car had a full belt/dephaser services by 8k miles old as the component was "lifed" at its age.
Ive just had my 3rd full belt service inc dephaser and water pump because frankly its cheap enough to do at the time to just get it all done.
£1000 every 5 years on these cars is hardly extortionate running costs in the grand scheme of things, so in that context id rather the peace of mind of everything being 100% mint and new.

Your call though, best of luck whatever you choose.

It's not rude but it's not unreasonable to debate the merits of some of the suggestions.

What are the chances of the water pump failing before the next auxiliary belt change? I would expect to comfortably get 8 years out of a water pump. If it ends up needing replaced before then, which is doubtful anyway, it's not a disaster.

I'll see what my specialist says regarding the dephaser but when you hear of originals well into 6 figure mileages it can seem like overkill.

 

[Mikeyjp]

You didn't read the rest of the posts did you?

I did thanks, and still would

 

[Portland]

I had my cam belt done a couple of weeks ago, did dephaser and water pump at same time as both were original and former was getting noisy. As it goes, clutch also but that's as it was getting noisy too. They were impressed that they were original with 120k on madame.