That's my cambelt gone....

[Pud237]

Have the water pump replaced with the metal impellor type from the GTV 3.0. Its only about £40 IIRC.

[Mr_Caine]

Originally Posted by Pud237

Have the water pump replaced with the metal impellor type from the GTV 3.0. Its only about £40 IIRC.

More like £90 for a genuine part. I got my belt, tensioners, idle bearings and waterpump replaced recently. The original plastic impeller was just starting to show signs of fatigue.

[gwales]

Ecurie, My understanding is that they may as well replace the water pump with the GTV metal impeller type whilst they are that deep.

I think you are getting a decent deal given the cambelt service is 600 green queens on its own. I have 10% loyalty discount card for Arnold Clark - want a loan of it? How much is your end £525?

Mines in Maclennans next week for the belt change, everytime I drop the hammer I keep thinking "I hope the belts don't go now!"

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Thanks Gary - I have one of those discount cards.

You don't realise how much you love somehting until it is gone - I can't wait to get my car back!

[SteveG.]

Originally Posted by Ecurie Ecosse

You don't realise how much you love something until it is gone - I can't wait to get my car back!

Know what you mean, had to give up my GTA for a couple of days but if it's any consolation you appreciate it even more when you get it back

Incidentally, saw a truck with a red GTA on the back heading south as we headed north on the M90 near Knockhill last week, maybe yours ?

[Bookfair1974]

Oh my god, this is a frightening read, especially as a new GTA owner, I love the car to bits, but I'm worried about all this talk of failing cambelts, and also I'm hearing about gearboxes being shred by the standard diffs??? My car is just three years old and covered 19,500miles, but I'm seriously considering having the belt changed, and dropping a Q2 in to try and prevent any misfortune!
Great news EE about Alfa contributing, I think you've done great to get anything out of them! All though I feel in your circs they should really cough the whole lot up!
Good luck when you get it back!

[Pud237]

Originally Posted by Bookfair1974

Oh my god, this is a frightening read, especially as a new GTA owner, I love the car to bits, but I'm worried about all this talk of failing cambelts, and also I'm hearing about gearboxes being shred by the standard diffs??? My car is just three years old and covered 19,500miles, but I'm seriously considering having the belt changed, and dropping a Q2 in to try and prevent any misfortune!
Great news EE about Alfa contributing, I think you've done great to get anything out of them! All though I feel in your circs they should really cough the whole lot up!
Good luck when you get it back!

How long are you likely to keep the car for? Because its not going to get cheaper to change a cambelt, and a Q2 is likely to go up in price when Alfa notice how many people are buying them..

There's no reason why you shouldn't be thinking about getting the belts changed, and the Q2 installed. Its preventative maintenance, and if you're going to keep the car for anything over a year from now you may as well get it done ASAP. They are both jobs you're not likely to do twice, so you may as well do it sooner rather than later.

[cul]

Originally Posted by Bookfair1974

Oh my god, this is a frightening read, especially as a new GTA owner, I love the car to bits, but I'm worried about all this talk of failing cambelts, and also I'm hearing about gearboxes being shred by the standard diffs??? My car is just three years old and covered 19,500miles, but I'm seriously considering having the belt changed, and dropping a Q2 in to try and prevent any misfortune!
Great news EE about Alfa contributing, I think you've done great to get anything out of them! All though I feel in your circs they should really cough the whole lot up!
Good luck when you get it back!

The Q2 isnt just a preventitive measure, it transforms the cars handling and a must have even if there was no reliability probs with the standard one.

Getting the belt done early is something we could do without but defo needs to be done for peice of mind.
Dont worry... just get those done and enjoy

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Originally Posted by SteveG.

Know what you mean, had to give up my GTA for a couple of days but if it's any consolation you appreciate it even more when you get it back

Incidentally, saw a truck with a red GTA on the back heading south as we headed north on the M90 near Knockhill last week, maybe yours ?

If it was a week past Saturday then it was mine, being taken from Dundee to Edinburgh.

Even with this happening I am going to keep my GTA for a very long time. Most performance cars have issues - even those with images of reliability such as BMWs (Vanos in M3s and M5s) and Audi (leaking shocks in RS6s - similar cambelt issues to the GTA).

Also, compared to cars of a similar performance they are not that expensive to fix - enjoy

[Autolusso]

Originally Posted by Bookfair1974

Oh my god, this is a frightening read, especially as a new GTA owner, I love the car to bits, but I'm worried about all this talk of failing cambelts, and also I'm hearing about gearboxes being shred by the standard diffs??? My car is just three years old and covered 19,500miles, but I'm seriously considering having the belt changed, and dropping a Q2 in to try and prevent any misfortune!
Great news EE about Alfa contributing, I think you've done great to get anything out of them! All though I feel in your circs they should really cough the whole lot up!
Good luck when you get it back!

I don’t think you need to worry about the belt too much with your mileage etc, for piece of mind you might want to think about buying a warranty. The Q2 however makes such a big difference, a must have

Best of luck with the new car

Ned

[gwales]

Originally Posted by Bookfair1974

Oh my god, this is a frightening read, especially as a new GTA owner, I love the car to bits, but I'm worried about all this talk of failing cambelts, and also I'm hearing about gearboxes being shred by the standard diffs??? My car is just three years old and covered 19,500miles, but I'm seriously considering having the belt changed, and dropping a Q2 in to try and prevent any misfortune!
Great news EE about Alfa contributing, I think you've done great to get anything out of them! All though I feel in your circs they should really cough the whole lot up!
Good luck when you get it back!

I think all this prepare for failure stuff needs to be put in perspective as we seem to be painting second hand GTAs as ticking time bombs.

It is widely regarded that the 5 year - 72,000 mile belt replacement recommendations from Alfa are too long. EE's car was weeks off of 5 years when it snapped and there are a couple of other isolated cases on cars well under the mileage limit but getting closer to the age limit. Last year I was at 3 and a bit years and 19,000 miles my belts are being changed next week at 4.5 years and 25,000. I'll get some feedback on the condition of the belts they remove.

The biggest issue with failing diffs I have seen discussed as being in hot countries. There is no indication of widespread failing of diffs in the UK though a few have occurred. Most folks going for a Q2 are doing so on handling and performance grounds and not based on fear that their current one is set to explode.

You are also looking at £600 for a belts replacement and £500 for a fitted Q2 so its quite a lot of green if its not absolutely necessary.

Ultimately you have to decide for yourself.

[Autolusso]

Originally Posted by gwales

I think all this prepare for failure stuff needs to be put in perspective as we seem to be painting second hand GTAs as ticking time bombs.

It is widely regarded that the 5 year - 72,000 mile belt replacement recommendations from Alfa are too long. EE's car was weeks off of 5 years when it snapped and there are a couple of other isolated cases on cars well under the mileage limit but getting closer to the age limit. Last year I was at 3 and a bit years and 19,000 miles my belts are being changed next week at 4.5 years and 25,000. I'll get some feedback on the condition of the belts they remove.

The biggest issue with failing diffs I have seen discussed as being in hot countries. There is no indication of widespread failing of diffs in the UK though a few have occurred. Most folks going for a Q2 are doing so on handling and performance grounds and not based on fear that their current one is set to explode.

You are also looking at £600 for a belts replacement and £500 for a fitted Q2 so its quite a lot of green if its not absolutely necessary.

Ultimately you have to decide for yourself.

I agree with that 100%

Ned

[gR@HaM]

Originally Posted by Ecurie Ecosse

Thanks guys.

If your mileage is around mine (51k) I would think about having it done soonish

Yep, mine went at 51k due to bent tensioner

[Ecurie Ecosse]

UPDATE 3

It looks like my car is going to be in the garage for a couple of more weeks at least as some of the parts are on back order from the factory.

However, my Fiat Bravo 1.4 courtesy car will be replaced with an Alfa one shortly (although I am getting rather attached to the Fiat).

[barryrs]

Wasn’t a water damaged GTA written off recently due too engine parts not being available?

Hope your back on the road soon EE

[Stephen Manjai]

Originally Posted by Ecurie Ecosse

UPDATE 3

It looks like my car is going to be in the garage for a couple of more weeks at least as some of the parts are on back order from the factory.

However, my Fiat Bravo 1.4 courtesy car will be replaced with an Alfa one shortly (although I am getting rather attached to the Fiat).

"getting attached to the fiat"...!!! did you have a fiat 500 in your younger days? or is it a fiat bravo with a 1.4 uno turbo engine with nitrous!! am i missing something here..

p.s. hope your GTA gets over the hospitalisation quickly and is back in your hands for a customary 7000rpm daily thrashing!

[scotland]

hi mate i work at arnold it was me that stripped it for you. think you would be a bit gutted if you seen how it looks just now its in about 1 million pieces!!
you were very lucky that the belt went at idle because i just done another gta last month that had to have 2 new heads and 24 valves.

can say that i was shocked when i found it had no damage but at least its going to cost less.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Hi Scotland

Cheers for that - I'm glad there's no damage.

Steven called today to say there would be a slight delay in some parts - but that's no problem, I'm quite enjoying the 1.4 Fiat Bravo

Many thanks for all the good work you guys have done on my car over the last three years - I have always had great service - and I am looking forward to coming back in the future (as I'm never selling the GTA )

[Mr_Caine]

Is the Bravo a t-jet?

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Alas no - it's the 90bhp version. It's good fun to drive though (you really have to think with that small amount of power available), is well finished and has a good interior.

The T-Jet version looks interesting though.

[Mr_Caine]

I considered buying the new bravo before buying the GTA, they do a new 1.6 diesel which has very low tax, does about 60mpg, kicks out 105bhp but has loads of torque. Comes with a 5 year warranty. Ideal cheap family car.

[Pud237]

Originally Posted by Mr_Caine

I considered buying the new bravo before buying the GTA, they do a new 1.6 diesel which has very low tax, does about 60mpg, kicks out 105bhp but has loads of torque. Comes with a 5 year warranty. Ideal cheap family car.

But you went for the sensible option of buying a GTA..

Good man!

[scotland]

no problem hopefuly have it built back up and running soon, parts is allways a nightmare!!

[DaveyC]

Got my 48k GTA in to replace a dodgy alternator in a couple of weeks. Think I'll add an extra job and get the belts done!

I too enjoyed the delights of a Bravo diesel (with the smokin' 120bhp unit) whilst having mine serviced, really pretty impressed. If I was in the market for something like that, I'd definitely think about it. Thankfully however, I'm not....

[Bookfair1974]

Gents,
Just a quick thanks for all your advice, I'm definately going to get the Q2 done, just got to wait for the next pay day!
I'm going to leave my belts until the next service, which is due in August.
It's funny I read all these threads and start thinking have I done the right thing buying the GTA, I go out and look at her and think, yes, I drive her and with a massive grin on my face think, definately!!!
I don't do many miles, so when I do take her out, it's fantastic!
And I have to say I'm well impressed with this site, and all the helpful people on it.
So, as I said, Thanks.