1.8 vvt cambelt

[big tee]

hi ladies and gentlemen,does anyone have an idea of how long it takes to change a vvt cambelt or has anyone had one changed how much did it cost,i know vauxhall charge £249 but im thinking a good independent garage,thank you

[Das]

The non VVT took about 1.5 hours for me to do, under instruction. I cant see the vvt being any more difficult. BTW if you look at the VX prices they are stupid. Vec is £249, Zaf/Astra/Corsa all £199 yet all come with the same vvt engines over the range. Belt kit is £100ish, so they are costing at about 1.5 hours to fit.

[big tee]

cheers DasArab, only thing different is no waterpump driven off cambelt,,i was in the trade till 5yrs ago when i packed in due to arthritis in my fingers,now find it so frustrating having to rely on garages to do things i can do with my eyes closed..thanks again for youf reply

[Das]

Yep water pump driven off aux belt, so not sure if this makes this easier or harder when it comes to changing the timing belt. Post this in your local section and maybe a member local to you can do it. Paul's a bit far in Blackpool I suppose?

[big tee]

thankyou mate,good idea, heard some good things about paul and his work

[big tee]

any more ideas anybody

[taffy bhoy]

sorry to hijack, but what mileage do they recommend doing a change on these vvt engines?

[troutybrown]

10 years or 100,000 miles but i wouldn't let it go past 80,000 or even 60,000

[Jonno98]

Good morning.

Had mine done at 68,000 ish but only because I didn't know the history ,had a local garage do mine £200. Although he said belt looked fine I asked him to check idle pulley which he had swapped and in the bin as I had started to hear a pulley /belt kind of noise sure enough one was on its way out.

I did however ask how hard it was as I had done previous non vvt model cambelts and from wot I gathered it was straight forward but you would need a different cam locking tool which I believe he did manage with out.

[JagRigger]

I put a how to up. Genuine kit was less than £100 but I cannot recommend enough taking the cam cover off and locking the cams at TDC with a flat bar - the feeling when you see a two part cam tool slip out and the cams turn when you have the belt off is not one I want to repeat.

I'll do the wife's Astra when it comes due, and I'd plan on around 3 leisurely hours now I know what I'm doing.

Oh - and I did mine at 99000 / 5yrs - old belt was a bit hard, but no sign of cracking