The big jobs, done on your drive in a day
Clutches and cambelts
The two jobs everyone assumes need a garage. A clutch kit is a day on your drive on axle stands with the gearbox out; a cambelt with the water pump is half a day. Fixed labour by size of car, and a call before any extra.
A clutch or a cambelt sounds like a garage job because it used to need a pit. It does not now: with a good trolley jack, axle stands, a transmission jack and a level drive, we can take a gearbox out and put it back in a day, and change a cambelt in half that. What it needs is experience, and Dai has done several hundred of each.
A slipping clutch revs without pulling, especially uphill in third, which in the Rhondda you will notice quickly. A clutch kit is the pressure plate, the friction plate and the release bearing, changed together. While the gearbox is out we check the flywheel; if it is a dual-mass flywheel and it has failed, it is £300 to £600 more, and we ring you with the price and a photograph before we order it.
A cambelt does not warn you. It runs for 60,000 to 100,000 miles or five to ten years, depending on the engine, and when it snaps on most modern engines the valves hit the pistons and the repair costs more than the car. We change it with the tensioner, idlers and water pump as a kit, check the timing twice by hand, and put a sticker on the slam panel with the date and mileage.
What is included
- Clutches done on your drive in a day
- Cambelts with the water pump in half a day
- Fixed labour by size of car
- Flywheel checked, priced before ordering
- Timing checked twice by hand
- A date and mileage sticker under the bonnet
What it costs
Clutch kit £260 to £420 labour plus £150 to £340 of parts; cambelt and water pump £190 to £320 labour plus £95 to £180, by size of car. Including VAT. The job pricer works it out for your size of car, and the area checker gives the call-out for your postcode.
Questions about clutches and cambelts
How do I know when the cambelt is due?
It is in the handbook and the service record; or ring with the registration and we will look up the interval for your engine.
Is my drive good enough?
It needs to be reasonably level and firm. A sloping street is fine for most jobs but not for a clutch; we will ask on the phone.
Book a slot. We bring the garage.
Pick a time, tell us the car and the job, and Dai or Ffion turns up with the van. Fixed labour, the parts at what they cost us plus our margin on the receipt, and twelve months on everything.