£1.8k for a cam belt replacement

[cheltsam83]

have a 2012 ford focus Ecoboost with 56k on the clock. I've owned since new, purchased cash. It's starting to get smaller age related repairs over the past three years probably around £400 a year.

The cam belt is due a change and I have been quoted between £1.5k and £1.8k due to it being an Ecoboost. The car is only worth about £2.5k so it's a huge investment. I'm half thinking about just risking it and if the engine blows dumping the car for scrap.

I'm now not in a position to buy a new car cash. But there are some incredible leasing deals out there. Yes I don't own the car but if I buy a car I'm effectively throwing money down the drain. And even cars which are 18 months old cost a bomb and there are not many about.

What do people think
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@QforCucumber you are after my own heart, nice negotiation.

OP where are you getting quotes from? I've googled and it's saying it's usually much cheaper than that, we booked in with a friend to do a few years ago and it was only going to cost £200ish, whilst they were a friend I'm sure they wouldn't have given us that much of a discount!!

You're best asking Ford, but my understanding is that the 1.0 Ecoboost had the timing belt until around 2020 and then they moved to a chain.

@QforCucumber can I hire you to broker a car for me?! (That should be a thing!!)

For a 1.0 Ecoboost?

@GCAcademic thank you, I've found the website and we do indeed have a belt, our 2009 focus seems to have been a quirk! It's got me panicked now 🙈 it's only 8 years old so hopefully ok for now, we wanted to change around 2025 anyway (when it would be 10 years old).

@GCAcademic so this was for our 2009 focus a few years ago now, as I say he went to start work and saw it was a timing chain so didn't need to do!

Well known as the "ecoboom" engine. It definitely needs the maintenance.

Hah @AsBeautifulAsYou @sekift All it took was a lot of 'interest' in one particular car, then a 'I'll call back in after work once I've run the figures'

I then emailed the sales guy and said along the lines of 'although I love the car I'm sorry but my budget doesn't quite stretch so far, is there anything you could do on my trade in price/the price of the car?'

he called me, we chatted and an hour later he'd got the deposit cont and said they had a special on that week of free servicing (so clearly he got me hooked back in with that too)

Oh, sorry, I missed that you were the poster with the timing chain! That was a good deal from your friend, the main cost is the labour, which can be about 10 hours. I was told not to expect it to be done in a day.

I had this with a B max. The Ford garage quoted close to £1.5K. But a local garage was more like £800 so I did it, as the car is fine otherwise and suits what I need. Mine was 2013, and was one of the first with the ecoboost engines, so they are just starting to come up to the ten-year replacement schedule now. They need some special tool to do it, and because it hasn't been needed til now, a lot of garages didn't have that. I think over the next year or two, when suddenly loads of Fiestas etc will be needing it done, more garages will get the tool and then start offering better prices. But if you ring around locally to find ones that offer it now, you might get a good deal. I wouldn't have wanted to be driving when the engine went and I didn't want to replace the car unnecessarily.

Values are not rising still on used cars, ignore that, that info is about 12 months out of date. They're now decreasing at a normal level each month, but as they went up the middle of last year a lot then they're decreasing from a much higher point. I am a motor trader.

The eco boost is a problematic engine and anyone looking to buy one privately should have done their research. They are prone to blowing up basically unless serviced properly using the EXACT oil required. Not a mechanic so I don't know anything more than that sorry. So unless it's had the cam belt done and has great service history your £2500 estimate sounds realistic to me. To get a rough idea put it in we buy any car, and amend the quote as required. Just take into account admin fees, payment fees and probably a 10-15% reduction when they see the car which is what they work at on average. They're well known for it. It's an easy way to sell the car though and avoid time wasters and tyre kickers.

Everyone is different but personally I would also look into leasing if you've seen good deals. Like you say it's a safe way to know what you're spending every month, and I think a sensible option for people who really need a reliable vehicle.

@GCAcademic crikey I didn't realise how generous it was, he was only a colleague of DH's! It wasnt an ecoboost if that makes a difference mind?

I'm worried about our car now 🙈

Ah, OK. Yes, it's the ecoboosts that are the nightmare for the cambelt replacement labour / cost.

Not all the EcoBoost engines have problems; I think it was only one specific variant.

Mine is a 1.0 125HP or something like that and it wasn't one of the problematic ones.

It does make a big difference to the price if it's an EcoBoost - it has some kind of wet belt that is hard to access, and needs this special tool to do. Normal Cam Belt change isn't anywhere near as expensive.

I’d just get a few more quotes and see how you feel. But I think in general cam belts are one of the more expensive things.

Id try keep the car just because you’ve had it since new and know it’s history. Also it’s still pretty low mileage for its age.

Weve been looking at cars recently and I think you’ve undervalued yours slightly so I reckon it’s worth a bit more than you think anyway.

If you can afford to part exchange for something new and economical then I’d probably do that. Otherwise I’d get it replaced. Be wary of leasing because they tend to hammer you on any damage done to the car when you give it back. And that includes stone chips etc which happen to all cars, not just proper damage!

Yes that seems to be a design flaw and has put me off replacing my car

DON'T RISK IT
because when it snaps you don't have any control on your car, as it's just stops and maybe roll a bit with the speed.
You might be lucky if is in a quiet residential road but what if on motorway???

Back in May our Ford Galaxy (2008) cam belt went without any warning, luckily on quiet residential road near home, so I could walk with my DD home, and my partner had to wait nearly 2hours for breakdown cover people to arrive.
Car has been scraped.

Very good call getting yours done, I'd say. Ours is a 65 plate 1.0 L ecoboost - cambelt went (while parked / starting from parked luckily) when we'd done just under 100k a couple of years ago. Had to get a whole new engine. Apart from that we still like it a lot ... but definitely planning to get the cambelt changed once the new engine has done 80-90k.

@LuckyOrMaybe you definitely were lucky it went where it did, but not that you had to get a new engine. The thought of it happening on the motorway is pretty terrifying (although it can obviously happen to any car, not just ecoboosts).

I really like mine too, such a shame about the belt. The mechanic, who is an acquaintance of DH, showed him the belt they'd taken off, and the amount of wear and beginnings of disintegration on it were not good.

ecoboosts and some transits use a wet belt system. Way more parts involved including oil strainers, filters, oil, engine covers etc. it’s a way more involved job. We’ve just quoted someone £1.2k for a transit wet belt. Independent garage

Why is it due a change? I thought it was on mileage?

Why did Ford introduce these wet belts?

Seem highly problematic

Ours is every 10 year or 100k.