Busted Timing Belt

[JoeHundredAire]

Big freaking bummer. When to start the car after I got to work this morning & it now workie.
Anyone ever done this repair? The shop wants $1100 for the job. Nearly $700 in just labor

I know I can do it alot cheaper myself, but I need to know what is involved. Plan on replacing the water pump while it's apart as well.

Oh it's an '04 Non Turbo. Just a pinch over 100K on the odo.

[CREWZIN]

Even the mechanics on this forum say it's not an easy job. I usually don't tell people to do this, but go to the top of the forum and search for "timing belt" and you'll see all the advice that's already been given. Lots to read.

As far as the price, that $1100 is the dealer price, right? They always charge more. Should be $3-400 cheaper at an independent shop. If it isn't the dealer giving you that price, shop around, you can do better.

Also, along with the water pump, the belt tensioner, alternator and serpentine belts should be changed if they've never been changed and if your planning to keep the car around a lot longer, the oil pump might need changing too as it wears out like any other part, but that involves a little more work like dropping the pan.

[JoeHundredAire]

No that was an independent shop quote. 2 others quoted very similar prices as well.
It will probably take me a couple of weekends to do the job myself. In the mean time I have alternate transportation. I might consider doing the oil pump as well since I'm going to have it down for a while. I figure it cant do anything but help.
The good thing is that the parts are alot cheaper than I expected. It was labor cost that was the kicker.

Thanks for the tip on the belt.

[cleverklutz]

Mines coming up to that point in life when it will need the belt done. I'm thinking that while it's all apart I may as well have fun. I'm planning on putting in a set of 12.5:1 pistons, alcohol injection so I can still run 87 octane, the nastiest cams I can find, porting and polishing the head, and a custom dual exhaust header to see if I can get rid of the inline four cylinder noise once and for all. Then go through the tranny and add an additional clutch pack, and tweak a few things to get crisper shifts and add a high stall torque convertor. Maybe a bit pricey, but hey when you have it open... I'm thinking I may have found someone that can tweak stock electronics, but I won't get my hopes up. That should be next years project, but we'll see what happens, might have to scrap that idea yet. If I get it together, it would be nice to aim for about 200hp and neck snapping shifts. I'm also aiming for it to sound like a pair of Harleys when cruising. Hopefully not wrong on all my guesses.

Ben

[luvmysxs]

i went to 5 repair shops, none which was the dealer, the quotes i received was one $1200, one $1025, one $1000 plus tax, 2 shops took my phone number and said they would call me with the quote but never did, so i assume they didn't want the job.

[teahead]

Just curious, but how do you know the car starting problem is due to a timing belt breakage?

[JoeHundredAire]

Originally Posted by teahead

Just curious, but how do you know the car starting problem is due to a timing belt breakage?

Well the cams not turning when you crank the motor over are kind of the dead giveaway, but the mech that ran all the tests on it came back with the results for me. At least he only charged me for half the of the diagnostic feeinstead of the $75 he could have. I guess I should have been clearer in the original post.
I told him no thanks on doing the job, I will just have to do it myself.

[JoeHundredAire]

Just an update. I ended up finding a local aircraft mech that did the job for $600 inclunding the cost of the parts.