Which is more important?

Question

My car needs car maintenance tune up. It will cost me $350.00. Soon, it will need me to change its timing belt which will be over $500.00. I am following the maintenance schedule of the manual. Which should I do first, because I'm thinking I should change the timing belt first.

Answer 1

In all actuallity you should go with the timing belt.

1st off, the average life expectancy of most timing belts is only 60k, some do go to 100k, and this is dependant upon car make/model/manufacturer/yr.

2nd, if you have been following through on your yearly and scheduled maintenance then the tune up and timing belt should correspond at once.

3rd, most timing belts will cost you around $50 for the belt plus about 1-2hrs labor, but this is just an average and doesn't include if you take it to a specialty or independant shop.

4th the tune up shouldn't cost more than about $100-150.00. Whoever quoted that price to you is probably trying to get extra from you.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Answer 2

You don't say what the make of your car is, or who gave you those quotes, but I'll bet you are talking with the dealer.

1. Do not go to a dealer shop. They are there to make money for the dealer. The mechanics are over worked, under paid, and you are over charged.

2. Ask your friends that have the same make where they take their cars. Your looking for a brand specific independent mechanic with recommendations from friends.

3. Go to the shop and get a quote for your work. You should see many cars waiting to get worked on and a 2 or 3 day wait to get your car in. The mechanic should be friendly and the work areas basically neat and clean. (This is a shop so we're not looking for eat off the floor clear, but there shouldn't be junk and crap everywhere.)

4. If the quote is higher than the dealer, or you get any weird vibes leave and return to step 2. Other wise you can schedule the whole job or just part of it to see how well they do. If they do a good job tell your friends.

The shop that works on my Honda did a tuneup, replaced the timing belt, water pump and a bunch of seals for $400.

Oh and if you have to choose do the belt. They had a belt there that looked perfect, soft, supple, and broken. Cost it's owner a small fortune to fix the damage.

Answer 3

Do the other maintenance first. The service manual really underrate the life of a timing belt and they will last a lot longer. I think the timing belt replacement is too high. You should check around on that.

The big fear everyone tries to make you worry about is valve overlap. Where if the belt breaks the pistons will beat into the valves. Most are not designed that way anymore. Now days when it breaks, it is just like you turned off your engine.
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Big C - I think you are thinking of a serpentine belt.
Still $500 is too much for a timing belt... even chain.

Answer 4

Your Timing Belt should not cost that much. If you want someone to rip you off, I can rip you off cheaper now. lol

Most likely if the timing belt is the one on the outside then it might run $20 or so. Check with Auto Zone.com to find the price for your vehicle.


Get a Haynes Repair Manual at the local Auto Zone or auto parts store in your area. It will troubleshoot and show you how to fix your vehicle. Also on the Auto Zone site has a section for vehicle maintenance

Did you know most maintenance is not that hard to do. With the money you save you can buy a nice cheap tool set, that you can keep.

Answer 5

Belt overrides tune up as changing it will affect tune up. Belt is most important because once broken, all hell breaks lose.

Answer 6

If the timing belt goes it's gonna cost more then all the above added together. (something to think about)

Answer 7

yeah, i think the timing belt first.

Answer 8

$350. for a tune-up? are you kidding me? if my mechanic quoted me that price, i'd tune him up. do some shopping around.