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MG MGF Technical - 5 year service

My bird's MGF VVC is due for its 5year service (done 38k miles). Rover have quoted me £500+!! as the cam belts need changing.

Rover will sell me the belts for £100, which is still way over the top on price. I have an imported Toyota Supra and the Cambelt for that cost me £30.

Does anyone know where I can get more reasonably priced belts. Do Halfords do them for the MGF?

Thanks for your help.
efc

Mike Satur ,£30 , tele 01226 750505 www.mikesatur.co.uk
DC MORRIS

is that for both belts?
service cost of £500 is about right (unfortunatly) for the 5 year (most expensive service)

Will
Will Munns

Will, £30 just for 1 heavy duty cam belt in Mike's catalogue,Mike's service price on 5k is also about what you quote, but im'e not sure what EFC of Solihull means, if to buy cam belt and do himself or what,if so good luck, Dave.
DC MORRIS

Halfords have 2 options.

1 belt for £28.

Or two belts - front for £40
rear for £27

Does anyone know what the two belts are for?
efc

The VVC needs two cambelts. The normal one at the front of the engine and a short one at the back connecting the two camshaft pulleys.
Spyros Papageorghiou

Main belt 55.69
rear belt 28.01

You might also consider a new tensioner @ 24.35 and perhaps an alternator belt @ 9.18 while you're about it...

(all rrp prices inc VAT)

The main ingredient is TIME - you have to partially drop the engine (one mounting undone) to do the job, unfortunately (but then again, you have to do that on an Escort diesel as well :-) )

Neil.
Neil

Cheers for the info. I will let you know how I get on.
efc

Gents,

since my Brooklands F will have its 5th birthday in June 03 I asked my dealer yesterday about the necessity of a cam belt change.

The answer was NO, it is only a question of mileage...

Never heard anything like that before. Any comments ?

Stay on your roads !

Meikell
Meikell

Meikell

Get rid of your dealer - the MGR service manual states 50,000 miles (80,000 km) OR 5 years which ever comes first!

Ted
Ted Newman

So is there any independant mgf specialists that can do a cambelt change for a price lower than MGR and somewhere around the South/London area?
Mine needs doing ( 26000m and 5yrs old ).

kind regards,

bryan
B4 LGW
bryan

Ted's right, and i would have no confidence in your dealer whatsoever, get belt changed on this service, Dave.
DC MORRIS

Bryan, don't know Gatwick area but look at the pull down menu at the top right of the screen and look under either Advertisers or Specialists for a start.

Suggest select a couple and then come back here for opinions.
JohnP

Cox and Buckles in Wimbledon ... I use them regularly for anything apart from getting the service book stamped.

Ask for Alan.

http://www.cox-and-buckles-workshop.co.uk/html/modern.htm

G
Gaz R

Would the 5 year service for a 1.8i be less than that for a VVC?
Frank Jepson

My dealer charged me £999.80 for my five year service and couldn't tell me what they had done except change the Cam belt.

£500.00 seems a bargain in comparison.

Charlotte

Excuse my ignorance folks.
What exactly is involved in the 5yr service?
Not that I am anywhere near it,currently 21months old with 22k, but I am interested to know.
quikstu

Stu

Cannot remember the url for the service schedule so, instead, you have mail.
JohnP

Is @ Kes
http://www.kcall.free-online.co.uk/mgf/
Dieter K.

What's the difference between the engine access cover and the engine service hatch (points 25 and 26 on the schedule)?

Ta!
Leigh

In case its of help, Wrights MG in Lowestoft (Suffolk) do the service for £485, which is pretty cheap considering they wanted £700 in Romford.
Ben

Leigh

I always thought the engine access cover was the wire grill inside the boot and the service hatch is the panel held on by about ten bolts behind the seats.

Chris
Chris

Charlotte wrote ...
>>My dealer charged me £999.80 for my five year service and couldn't tell me what they had done except change the Cam belt.<<
That is disgraceful.
They should automatically supply an itemised bill showing component costs and labour cost, plus VAT; if not they should certainly supply one on demand.
Please don't let them get away with this.

Did they at least stamp your service booklet ?

Steve
ps - I nearly wrote that even a backstreet garage would supply this - but actually, they tend to be better at itemising their work than the main dealers !
Steve

yes Charlotte, Steve has got a good point, sounds very suspect this, go back and check,a normal 5k service is around £500, have they taken advantage of you? keep us posted,
DC Morris

I should add that the service fee also excludes VAT to add insult to injury.

No, service booklet not stamped, as garage have 'misplaced' it.

The service was last May and I had only bought the car a couple of weeks before for what I thought was a bargain price, then £1,000 service later I wish I'd held out for an F that had already had it's 5 year service.

Just one to put down to experience really.

I've had the car in for repairs again in the last couple of weeks and the garage have tried to bill me for work they haven't even done yet. I got some joy this time and a £125 discount off the bill.

Does anyone else find it so frustrating that the dealers are getting away with daylight robbery? I mean, even Dick Turpin had the common sense to wear a mask!
Charlotte

Charlotte, jokes over.. 1000 for a 5 year service, your just a troll.

5 year service at my local main agents £320, they werent exactly busy over xmas and needed the work!
If you paid 1000 then must have got a set of new tyres as well.
Ian

Ian,

I can assure that you that no more was obtained than the 5 year service.

Much to my disappointment now at discovering the extent of the rip-off that I was subjected to.

I think garages take advantage of us girlies.

Charlotte

im'e still almost speechless Charlotte, do you mean you went back for seconds? for goodness sake find another dealer, even if you have to travel a little, £1000 still can't get over that one yet,and as Ian says above you should have had tyres inc on that price, andstill had change, Dave
DC Morris

ps Charlotte ,where in south west are you? their's a few from s/west area frequents this bbs and could point you to a better dealer.
DC Morris

Guernsey.

One Rover dealer.

Monopoly.

Enough said.

Charlotte

Oh Dear, the South West is huge area, MGCCwise that is, all i can say then is be more demanding in future with them, you must get receipts ect,from them, i would consider writing to mgr about your dealer and high prices with no receipts ect, anyway good luck,Dave.
DC Morris

Charlotte, at 5 years old I don't see why you need to go to a Rover dealer - there must be competent small service garages on the island, or even a 'private' mechanic who maybe works from home. Join the local motor club, ask around, ask friends etc.
David

Thanks for your help and advice. No doubt I shall ask you guys for ideas before getting anything else done so that I may be more clued up.

Cheers

C

Charlotte

Charlotte - if you are in the AA/RAC perhaps they could try to recover some costs from Dick Turpin. Not only was it outrageously expensive it doesnt even sound very professional. If you paid by credit card the card company is jointly liable and you could take it up with them. I hope you dont let them get away with this.
Happy mottoring, all the same.
Russell

This thread was discussed between 09/01/2003 and 19/01/2003

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