Opel / Vauxhall ( General Motors )

an_taoiseach

Many years ago I imported a Vauxhall from the North. The reason I did this was that I could not find an equivalent spec car down here ( BTW its been a great car )

I wonder how many Opel owners understand how much cheaper Vauxhall parts and servicing are in the North than Opel parts are down here ?

Over the years I have seen this to be true again and again

Here is an example :

Yesterday I phoned an Opel dealer & asked how much for supply & fit new timing belt and all tensioner etc parts. Answer Euro 395 - about 280 STG - incl VAT @ 13.5% .

Then called a Vaux dealer in the North his price 170STG incl VAT @17.5%

So there we have it, even with Charlie taking less than Gordy the Opel dealer comes out with a red face and a brass neck


Have to go now - I've got to open a new bookies shop in Drumcondra


T

byte

€395 to get new timing belt fitted? OMG! :eek:

I had intended to change my timing belt but at that price it'll have to wait some time

Silvera

If a person is in any way mechanically-minded, they could (with the help of a workshop manual) change the cam belt themselves for a fraction of the cost of a main dealer.

Otherwise get to a local mechanic to do the job - don't pay main dealer prices !


Still the example quoted above is just another case of 'good ole rip-off ireland' at work :mad:

an_taoiseach

Didnt mean to scare anyone

This is for a diesel Isuzu engine that GM used for a while.

I lot of engines are much handier than this and the parts much cheaper ( Isuzu get a mark up then GM get a mark up in this case )

Its actually not terrible handy to do this and the consequences of doing it wrong ( e.g. timing slips a tooth or two ) can easily be that the engine is wrecked. :eek:

So Silvera, while I do most of my car servicing myself I will be going to Vaux dealer for this. He will give me a receipt & if it goes wrong he will sort it out. Of the total cost his labour charge is approx STG60.00. I am happy that that is a reasonable amount to pay for the work involved and the resultant accountability.


An T ww)

byte

Ah it's for a diesel! I'm sure it would be a bit cheaper for a 1200cc Corsa!

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

an_taoiseach

Mercury,

..............

Or

................

Well, yes, Dublin ww)

BTW Byte, On the larger GM petrol engines it is normal to change the tensioner and water pump at the same time as the belt.:(

I dont know if this applies to the Corsa:)

Presume that you have come across migweb.co.uk & corsasport.co.uk & there must be lots more similar.

If you want to 'phone around' you can get dealer phone numbers if you trawl through Vauxhall.co.uk

An T

byte

Thanks for the links. Will take a look later, though my Corsa is far from being "sporty" or "performance" She's a bog-standard 1.2L 5door Corsa, still with steel skinny rims (despite my having 4 alloys to use)

an_taoiseach

Just skip by the boy racer posties - there are a lot of people with deep Vaux experience knocking around Migweb ( e.g. keep an eye out for Andy K )

( Perhaps not really directly of interest to you ) Cavweb.co.uk has a number of the same users

BTW what year is your Corsa? Hope you are not caught with this :

http://www.topbuzz1.carenthusiasts.co.uk/maintenance/gf50/gf50.htm

( actually just noticed that Topbuzz site http://www.topbuzz.co.uk/ has had a serious improvement - even has something on wheel offset - might be useful to read before you fit those new wheels )


An T

byte

You've just given me something else to worry about

I've a 95 Corsa so I probably have one of those dodgy GF50 idler wheels

JHMEG

Not trying to go off topic here, but was phoning around for a similar job myself (ie new timing belt fitted)... a Honda dealer in Dublin was quoting 60 euro an hour (ex VAT!) for labour, while at the same time a Honda dealer in Carlow was charging 25 an hour (ex VAT). Turned out I got the job done in Carlow for just shy of 180 euro in total...

an_taoiseach

Must now be about the right time to make some very incorrect comment about jackeens

[ You wont catch me doing that ]

Any Road and Up well done JHMeg finding someone who will actually do work at a good price. We could do with more like him ( are you allowed post who he was ? )

Sorry to to have been the bearer of bad news to you Byte. Seems like every where I go I do this these days ( Madam Harney seems to grab any shreds of good news going - talk of unfair:rolleyes: )


An T

byte

Just wondering if it affects all Corsa's or just ones with a higher spec engine. Don't think my car has an Overhead Cam, so maybe different?

an_taoiseach

"Don't think my car has an Overhead Cam"

I dont know Corsas well but would find it hard to believe that you dont have overhead camshaft ( almost every engine these days does ) the alternatives would be pushrod ( up to 1970s ? ) and side valve ( up to 1950s ? )

How about asking on Mig ?

( If you are shy I will do it for you )


An_T

an_taoiseach

( duplicate post deleted )

byte

I will research this further over the weekend! I remember older Opel Corsa's and Kadetts where some 1.2's were not OHC, and were more reliable that the OHC ones which couldnt take good abuse! That's going back to the eighties though! So, I'll assume I do have OHC. Will look under the bonnet in daylight as I am very curious

mrblack

An_Taoiseach,

what cc is your diesel engine?
i have an isuzu trooper 3.1D that will be needing a timing belt change in January.:eek:
After reading this thread I will be bracing myself for a big price for this job.

JHMEG

Oops. Just checked my service history receipts. Seems I made a bit of a mistake an_taoiseach... the Honda dealer in Carlow charged me 150 euro for a timing belt change, not 180 as previously stated! BTW, that's Sam Moore's on the Rosslare Rd. In fairness tho, nothing else was changed (mmm... Honda quality) at the time, not even the water pump (no schedule for anything to be done to that except "inspect" every time the timing belt is changed).

The Dublin dealer was in Dun Laoghaire, tho the name escapes me right now.

BTW, brother was quoted 140 euro about two weeks ago to get the belt done in his
Toyota Carina E. Quote was from a Toyota dealer in Dundalk.

Adding in the cost of the tenioner and the work to replace it I don't see why an Opel belt couldn't be done for ~200 euro or so.

an_taoiseach

MrBlack

I have a 1.7 ( 1994 ) ( GM used a lot of them when they managed to admit to themselves that their own diesel lump was cr@p )

JHMeg

Changing water pump with belt is ( I think ) very much down to the way the GM petrol engine is constructed / cheapness of water pump / damage that can be done if water pump leaks / so wouldnt expect it to be necessary on a Honda .

Must admit I wouldnt be so keen on not changing tensioner when belt is changed - but maybe its not necessary on a Honda. Is there a Haynes manual ( known in Vauxhall circles as "The Haynes Book of Lies":D but they are actually not bad ) on your Honda ? If so, if you are interested you could try & get it - library / read in shop to check up on the topic

With regard to

"Adding in the cost of the tenioner and the work to replace it I don't see why an Opel belt couldn't be done for ~200 euro or so."

That would be my view too and was what drove me to do my original post

An T

JHMEG

an_taoiseach, yup, I have the Haynes manual, though it's not great. For starters it's the US edition (there is no euro edition of this manual), so all measurements are in imperial, which makes it useless for "fine" jobs, like adjusting valve clearences etc. Have the Helms manual too, which appears to be the Honda shop manual (not sure as I haven't see the latter). And no, nothing in that area is changed at the same time as the belt on a Honda.

I first heard about the tensioner problem on Opels about 18 months ago, from several sources at the same time. A trusted mechanic down the country had several Opels in with shredded belts over the years, and was telling me about it. And a mate who has a 98 Vectra was being strongly encouraged by his Opel dealer to get his belt done at 38k miles, and asked me was it normal. Needless to say the dealer didn't point out it was the tensioner that they were eager to change...

an_taoiseach

Yikes JHMeg !

You really know how to worry a Corsa owner


An T

byte

Heh, that's for sure! As long as it doesn't break this year! I won't be able to get work done on the car until the new year. Xmas is costing enough already!

JohnBoy

At it's launch the ecotec engine was praised for it's long service intervals.

Now that they've sold loads of em they have cut the interval in half, from 80K to 40K

burn

JHMEG

JohnBoy, the 80k->40k belt interval was as a direct result of the tensioner. Opel sent out letters to all registered affected owners telling them there was a misprint in the manual!

My wife had a '99 Corsa 1 litre (a 3-banger!), and it was ok for 25k miles (when she sold it). Nothing much went wrong apart from bits falling off, the central locking had a mind of its own at times, and then it was recalled to have the seat rails replaced as they were defective and prone to breaking! She drives a jap car now...!

an_taoiseach

I think that there is another story too. On recent engines GM took to fitting timing chains because they would last longer and be more precise. It seems that they didnt arrange enough lubrication for them ( not running dry as belts do ) and so they are tending to sieze & snap. Believe that there is some sort of recall on them

It all confirms my view that the last decent car that Opel / Vaux made was the Vectra A ( AKA Cavalier )

An T

an_taoiseach

Maybe not a Corsa

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108707

And he was lucky as old 8V units are designed fail safe if the belt snaps


An T

byte

Maybe I'll be safe :rolleyes: My Corsa is an 8V - oooh the power!

an_taoiseach

Run it 'till the belt snaps and find out

An_T