Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: mike213735 on 08 May 2008, 14:14:34

Title: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: mike213735 on 08 May 2008, 14:14:34
Should I expect to be quoted on for a cambelt change on a 1998 2.5 Omega?

I have found the belt kit at LMF for £84.99 and wondered what labour charges I should add (in hours).

Thanks
Mike
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: albitz on 08 May 2008, 14:25:19
i would guess at around 4 hours for the average garage,dont quote me on it though,there may well be someone around later who knows exactly how long vauxhall dealers allow/recommend. :-/
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Danny on 08 May 2008, 15:09:41
one of my local VX dealers wanted to keep my 2.0 for [size=12]THREE DAYS[/size] to do my cambelt!!
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 08 May 2008, 15:11:52
what do they want to do it.  CLONE IT!!
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Danny on 08 May 2008, 15:18:50
Quote
what do they want to do it.  CLONE IT!!

i'd have expected a full engine transplant!!

took it to a mate's garage and got it done in 2 hours for £150, VX wanted something like £250, and although my insurance covers me for driving other cars, they were only happy to provide a courtesy car if i specifically changed my insurance over to their courtesy car!!

I lied there a bit, it wasnt actually a VX Dealer, but a NetworkQ garage
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 08 May 2008, 15:21:24
2.0 cambelt change I can do comfortably in 1 hour.

If a garage tries to charge more than 3 hours for a V6 then they aren't competent with this engine!
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: amba on 08 May 2008, 15:29:13
Just out of interest I rang 2 local garages.Vauxhall Network Q quoted me £450=00 all in including the kit(seemed a nice round figure to me).Independant local repair center quoted £200=00 labour with kit extra £160=00 then all plus VAT.All these numbers seem to precise to me and expect they are just over pricing as don,t want or can,t do the job.
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Dazzler on 08 May 2008, 16:00:11
2-3hrs, but like you say alot of garages just don't want to know >:(
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: valliant72 on 08 May 2008, 16:25:55
Had my Cambelt done at Crown Motors, Took it in at 2pm got it back at 11am next day. cost £441, bit steep, but nothing compared to prices when i had my Renault. Could of done it myself, but i dont have nowhere to do large repairs anymore.
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: amba on 08 May 2008, 17:00:34
So the Network Q price of £450=00 all in seems to be about the going rate for stealers then
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: TheBoy on 08 May 2008, 17:00:35
Spend £3 on the cambelt DVD, then decide if you can do it ;)
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: mike213735 on 08 May 2008, 17:10:44
So I reckon I should allow for 3 hours.

My man that does all the work on my motors (well trusted) charges £40 per hour so thats £120 labour plus £84.99 for the kit = £204.99.

Not bad as I paid £200 for a Vectra 2.0.

Thanks
Mike
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: jonathanh on 08 May 2008, 17:21:14
Quote
So I reckon I should allow for 3 hours.

My man that does all the work on my motors (well trusted) charges £40 per hour so thats £120 labour plus £84.99 for the kit = £204.99.

Not bad as I paid £200 for a Vectra 2.0.

Thanks
Mike

Make sure your man has the locking kit.  If he does not have it he cannot do the job properly.  He'll get the car running BUT the cam timing will not be perfect.

Also, do watch out as there are a couple of different belt kits out there - you need the right one for the engine number
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Varche on 08 May 2008, 17:22:28
That has been my experience with VX/Opel garages.

I think they say they want the car in for two or three days so they can pool the work more effectively for them.

when they say it will be ready at 5 and they tell you at 4.30 or when you arrive at 5 that they need it another day then they broke something or the part ordered was the wrong one.

My local Opel dealer wanted our car for 3 days just to change the cam cover gaskets. That was when I  found out about breathers and so on on OOF.

varche
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: flatmajor on 08 May 2008, 19:55:41
4 weeks ago i had a service and a cambelt change they done it in 6 hours costme 600
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: jereboam on 08 May 2008, 20:37:51
Had mine done yesterday by my local garage.  To my astonishment, he got it all done in one day - a first for any job I've given him lately, especially since he firmly believes that the Vauxhall V6 engine was created by Satan himself just to make his life a misery.

Won't get the bill till Saturday, though.  The estimate was about £300 + VAT to include the water pump, tensioners and aux belt.

How can I tell if he actually did it?  Everything seems the same, but it might just be a tad quieter, although it wasn't particularly noisy in the first place.

And don't tell me I'll find out he didn't do it when the engine blows up - I've already worked that out!
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Lazydocker on 08 May 2008, 20:44:40
I had mine done last Thursday... The retired police mechanic I mentioned did the Cam Belt (and water pump), full service and cam covers, including cleaning the breathers for... £100!!   :o :o ;D ;D :y :y

Admittedly I supplied all the parts, thanks to andyc, which set me back another £270 but I've got 15L of oil left over for next time/wife's car/ MIL's car when I have to service them!

I doubt I'll get him to do routine servicing for me though as I'll just do that myself at around 5-6k.
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Jay w on 08 May 2008, 20:51:15
if i remember rightly autodata (which the trade use to base repair time on) lists it as 4 hours.

I get charged about £250 for a cambelt and water pump change on my V6's, and that would be a service at the same time as well
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Lazydocker on 08 May 2008, 20:57:50
Quote
if i remember rightly autodata (which the trade use to base repair time on) lists it as 4 hours.

I get charged about £250 for a cambelt and water pump change on my V6's, and that would be a service at the same time as well

I think you're right... Although Autodata lies... Says it takes 1.5 hours to change rear spring on a BMW 3 series (can't remember which year) when in reality I did it in the workshop in a little over half an hour!! Mind you, it was a horrendously busy day as the other mechanic went sick so I had 2 persons work plus MOT's to contend with... Everything was done at light speed that day!  :) :)

I think it gives stupid times for brake pads too... But then I suppose it could be aimed at the less agile numptys!  :-? :-? :y :y :y
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: Iainv6 on 10 May 2008, 00:03:04
My independent Vaux specialist in Edinburgh is run by two ex vaux mech's, they have tech1 and tech2 and a 30 quid hourly rate.

I ain't had my belt done yet, but will need it in 10k or so and anticipate a bill of around 180 plus VAT.
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: tmx on 10 May 2008, 00:13:32
Ex VX mechanic in the shire changed my v6 vectras belt for £230
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: shanjon on 10 May 2008, 00:23:09
Make sure your man has the locking kit.  If he does not have it he cannot do the job properly.  He'll get the car running BUT the cam timing will not be perfect.

Also, do watch out as there are a couple of different belt kits out there - you need the right one for the engine number
[/quote]
im sorry m8 i have to disagree with you there, the job can be done properly without a locking kit, i would however agree that it makes it easier to have the locking kit, i did both head gaskets  and cambelt on my old 3.0v6 sintra without and never had any problems
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: humbucker on 10 May 2008, 07:22:07
3 hours is average on the V6. not confident enough to do a cambelt myself i got the parts (genuine vx kit £95 with trade card inc tensioners) and took them to a garage near me that also doubles up as a performance vauxhall racing specialist; cambelts on vx V6's are their bread and butter. run by former vx guys. £150. you need to be sure your garage know what they're doing.

ensure they will be using cam locking kit on v6 and you should probably get your water pump done at the same time.
Title: Re: How Many Hours Labour...
Post by: jereboam on 10 May 2008, 13:32:06
Cambelt Kit £97.71
Water pump £44.71
Aux Belt £19.57

Labour £144, but apparently that included 1 hour trying to get the boot lid to open without catching.  Which it now does.  The garage were of the opinion that someone must have rear-ended the car, and bent the whole of the boot area.  But I don't know when that could have happened - I'm very careful about where I park, and there was no sign of damage.  Odd.

Of course, I did back into a lamppost the other day, but the boot lid was catching before that.  Maybe the catch and the reshape of the rear end were unrelated.  :)

(All above prices ex VAT.)