Cheapest / best place for a Cambelt and cambelt seals change on GTV6?

[franck]

GEEEEZ, where's the love gone!!! looks like not in vic hey?

[joninmelbourne]

Agree that some places try to rip you off because its an Alfa. The "specialist" I went to in Melbourne I asked out of interest if one day I want the whole engine reconditioned what it would cost. The manager told me it was "12 hours labour just to get the engine out of the car" - which I thought sounded fishy - and my mechanic that did my cambelt and alternator belt for $550 told me he could get the engine out in 4 hours so some of them are out to grab as much money as they can off you. They also told me not to bother getting my A/C regassed as "in Italy it is cold and they don't need A/C so they barely work on GTV6's". (I was also told years ago by another "specialist" when my Alfa 33 heater was not working that Italy was hot so they did not bother to put good heaters in the cars). After getting my system regased and a leaky hose replaced plus the receiver/drier the thing is cool enough to chill beer on! There is some really bad advice coming out of the some of the specialists so that much I agree on. Cheers guys

[alfagtv58]

Sheesh, settle down Mick.  Put down the can of Jimmy and take a deep breath.

Dont worry franck, there is still plenty of love in Vic, some of us are just a bit grumpy cos it's mid december and we havent seen summer yet...

[Scott Farquharson]

Good to see gumby (mick) is his usual happy self....come and give us a hug mick...

[franck]

its really amazing, my wife believes that all business/trade organizations, operate in an honest way,and possibly thats correct, so it leads me to believe that on the flip side, if these organizations are making  mistakes, then they are ignorant of facts, but why then at quote time is the mistake in the organization's favour!, I believe johnny is right, as i have encountered the same with my alfa, but more so with my previous 911, be it an oldie( 81). I knew very little about these cars except that it was air cooled and a 3ltr flat six. to replace a clutch mr porsche dealer quoted $155.00 per hour plus all parts! i went to my trusty alfa mechanic with parts purchased by myself from internet sites and the job was completed at 60% cheaper! business are there to make money, and if they can make a little extra cream, they will try, the fact that some workshops have higher expenses, because of exposure area, adverstising, miss management, insurances, etc then this will influence their  hourly rate, and if their hourly rate becomes too high out of market then maybe they will quote 12hrs for a four hour job .
So johnny you are right, if u can save a dollar, then better in your house hold then someone else.

[franck]

Sheesh, settle down Mick.  Put down the can of Jimmy and take a deep breath.

Dont worry franck, there is still plenty of love in Vic, some of us are just a bit grumpy cos it's mid december and we havent seen summer yet...

Summer???  sydney is not much better, my place is starting to look like Venezia, maybe i can turn my gtv6 into a gondola!! god nows its halfway there!

[joninmelbourne]

Mick  - My posts are totally honest - I have nothing to gain by making up stories - I have much more fun things to do than write fiction on internet forums!

[branko.gt]

Cool jon, why dont you point out these people charging too much so the rest of us dont get ripped off then? if someone is doing a dodgy like that they deserve to be outed on a public forum i reckon.

no, no, no that is a big can of worms. things like that are best left for private exchange.

[joninmelbourne]

Mick, they can in theory sue for the public shaming you ask for - regardless if its true.

They are in the South Eastern suburbs though.

But if you look at it in another the way - they were telling me don't bother rebuilding an alfa engine (12 hours just to get the thing out of the car before you get started) or getting the A/C fixed (won't be cold enough for Australia anyway) - so you could say they were trying to save me money.

[lombardi]

I enjoyed your comments on timing belt on GTV6 and fully agree on being ripped off because we own alfa's is a crime.I am about to start shopping around for quotes,is there anyone in sydney that will do the work for an honest price,as i have been burned many times for having a passion for la macchina chiamata alfa romeo.rgrds and ciao

[stradale]

Ditto VeeSix
$ 1,OOO for a cambelt and seal change NO WAY!! save the money and do it yourself
Practice makes perfect
1st go 6hrs??
2nd time 4hrs
I replace mine every 12 mths  because its cheap insurance $65 for the belt and two hours of my time
I think $1,5OO with a new waterpump, tensioner bearing and oil seals might be better value for those who dont have time to work on their own cars thats $500 for parts and 10hrs labour at $100 an hour, a good mechanic could do this job in 5-6 hours
One of the pleasures of owning my Alfa is working on it myself, you dont need a lot of special tools
at least for the older cars and they are fairly easy to work on once you learn.
and there are plenty of informed people on this forum [smartarses and shitstirrers] included who are more than helpfull if you do want information on a job.
When I mention to people that I drive Alfas I often get the reply " but there so unrealiable"
I say "reliability is only as good as the person who works on the car, I do all my own servicing and repairs and I drive it to work EVERYDAY"
I would encourage people to work on their own cars you save money and you get a better understanding of your car, instead of throwing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ at someone else to stuff in their pockets

[stradale]

live and learn
roll the engine through one or two revolutions by hand just to make sure all is good
then start it and pocket the money saved

[dehne]

thats why you mark everything at a certain position so it goes back to they way it was before you pull the belt off, thats what ive allways done and never had a prob

[stradale]

I use a white out correction pen... to easy