Cambelt replacement for $250

http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/62-auckland/deals/339330-cambelt-replacement-safety-check-and-more

Can't see whatever you posted as at work. I thought $250 was pretty cheap to get your cambelt done as $500-1000 isn't that uncommon on a lot of cars.

can you convert a movie file with a cambelt?

no

image what this forum would look like if everybody posted deals they thought were cheap in other words....

AVOID.

I got my cambelt done from a online voucher for $249 from

DTN Automotive in Glenfield.

.. the owner of the company who did the work ended up crashing my car the front bumper into one of his concrete parking barriers, he must have been going fast too to do that much damage.. and then. he pretty much denied it and tried to make me think I crashed it. Not just that there was black finger marks all over my car which they didn't bother to wipe off.

AND it took me a good month or so to get him to give me SOME money back to pay for my insurance premium. Total con artist. I would rather just pay the usual amount from a reputable mechanic and get it done properly.

BUT if you have to - stay and watch what they're doing to make sure it's correct.

oh noes... damn you itchy bringing back all these bad memories for QT... and everyone that lived through that episode here on biggie

*shudders*

I like the terms and conditions:

*actually it may cost more

Think they would have a spew if you tried to take an MR2 to be done

Well, here's hoping. The car I ended up buying has 180,000 on the clock so assuming that the cambelt initially was done at 80,000 or 100,000 or not at all, it's probably time I got it done.

What did you get in the end, the gay one or the Euro or was it something else?

@ the gay one!

Its a fair description:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=468979114

The gay one was had super faded paint so I got the Holden Vectra. Did an AA check and as it needed about $300 done to it paid $2600 ... seemed like a good deal and it drives nice. Insuarnce paid out $4000 for the old 01 Mazda demio so it was almost like a swap for a better car and some cash to boot.

That car's so gay even Elton John would take a ride.

The faded paint was super bad. Kinda hard to work out why it even looked like that.

Mechanic said a European car would cost $100 more, so $350 in total.

The change to environmentally safe paints caused a lot of paint problems a few years down the line. Dad has a red Jazz and the paint on the roof is faded as.

$250 for a cambelt is a sweet deal to rope you in for the rest of the work that needs doing while you're down in the cambelt area - waterpump, tensioners, seals etc. Bet most people will be at at least double that by the time they get out. A cambelt itself isn't expensive (it's about a 3ft long max loop of rubber, $50-80), it's the labour in getting to it.

PD: You'd probably find a cambelt is one of the few jobs on an MR2 that isn't that much harder than a normal car heh.

Topical for me, question for car nuts

My beloved Bluebird started making a slightly weird noise just before starting, being ther useless c*nt I am I ignored it until one time it didnt turn over at all (dash lights still on) ...Mate told me to pour bioling water on the battery...worked a treat

Few journeys later same p[roblem cept this time the boiliong water didnt work. Got a guy I had met recently who had just opened a garage to pick it up. he said bad battery leads had a bad earth and melted the stated motor (the leads WERE frayed and crap) ....$501 FML but ok w/e I pay and go to drive it off

It doesnt start, turns over and does this weeee--weeeee-weee (almost catch) weee- wee thing that I associate with a flooded engine. She actually does that about once every 6 months but always eventually starts...this time it doesnt

He comes out and say I need new sparks plus so I buy some and he chucks them in. Still no go, by this time its like 7pm so he gives me a loan car and says itll prob be fine in the morning

I tuhr up in ther moring and thry are hunched over it, it didnt start and they are at a loss toi explain why. I drive off in loan car and head to work

Whats my position here? Can they say theres another problem and hit me ujpo for more $$$? I like this guy and thinks hes straight up but Im tilted I may have to pay more fopr a probelm that apparetnly didnt exist before they started digging around. How top approach it if they do ask for more work/money?

Your car sounds fucked.

When it starts getting colder cars start to fuck out a bit.. especially older ones it's usually battery related I've found .. how old isyour battery

Battery is sweet....bout a year old. My car is fucked HOW DARE YOU

My car is awesome...its a NIssan and ya its old and tired loooking but its given me over 10 years basicaly trubble free motoring. I dont like cars and I hate spending money on them/having them depreciate so shes gonna stay on for a bit

Being a Nissan it might not even have a cam belt so start your own thread. :p

In Canada, I didn't start my car for 6 weeks.. it had a cracked cylinder head and I was trying to sell it cheap. It was winter and it went down to -22 for ages.. then I went to start it and turned the key and it started instantly. Haha.

It sounds a bit like they are throwing parts at the problem without figuring out what's actually wrong.

That notwithstanding, electrical fuckery bad enough to kill the starter motor is likely to have damaged a bunch of other electrical stuff and it can become a bit of a game of whack-a-mole tracking down what's actually fucked.

Dunno how you approach it though, but if you think these blokes are on the level there's no sense being unreasonable about it.

Cheers yeah that last paragraph is def sensible. Anyway picked her up and they didnt ask for any more $$ so Im happy

Booked in for next week ... be interesting to see how it goes. I need a power steering hose replaced anyway so willl be throwing them that work.