Yesterday I replaced the timing belt of my car

First time for me and ... It worked I never fixed cars when I was younger. One day I was so angry about the workshop prices. The part to fix was about 100$ on Ebay (original) and they took 700$ for a 1 1/2 h job. Then I decided to get some tools and fixed the breakes incl. the disks for a few bucks.

I think it is quite unusual for a timing belt to snap these days. It is generally the idlers and tensioner which fail. These would be replaced in a (good) garage job (well you live in hope anyway). Just seen it happen on an employees V40. Idler failed and threw the belt. Result the same: Engine salad.

KMatle said:

First time for me and ... It worked I never fixed cars when I was younger. One day I was so angry about the workshop prices. The part to fix was about 100$ on Ebay (original) and they took 700$ for a 1 1/2 h job. Then I decided to get some tools and fixed the breakes incl. the disks for a few bucks.

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I had an E39 530D BMW from years 2000... At 200k Km the turbo broke... I looked around and it would have cost me around 2500€ to get it done in a garage...
So I googled it, and got my hands dirty.... 800€ and a few (quite a few ) headaches later, I had my car rolling again...
Was it worth it? I don't think so, but I looked at it as a challenge, and I jus love challenges...
PS; I never did car mechanics before, and I doubt I will do it again...

i can agree the hourly rate & material costs here is also steep / economically unreasonable.
in past instead of driving to car repair i can buy a new motor scooter each year, it could have bring me to job also.

Yep. They sell parts like it's made out of gold. They've got fixed plans for each repair.

Example: Wheel bearings. For my car it's about 50€ each. Very easy to install because it's a module. On a VW Golf 3 it was 18,63€ for 2 bearings. Some work to install but easy, too. In a workshop it's 400-500€ for a one hour job. Well done.

On newer cars you need SW even to fix the breaks (to tell the car you're going to do a service).

Cableguy said:

At 200k Km the turbo broke... /QUOTE]

Ouch. Turbos are critical. If they fail, oil gets to other parts, too.

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This guy got ripped off when he went to a dealer for a service

Firstly congratulations @KMatle on replacing your timing belt. Depending on the type of engine, changing the timing belt can sometimes be a complete pain in the butt to do. A few years back I did one on an Alfa Romeo, that was probably the hardest one I've ever done, stay away from Alfas

Cableguy said:

Was it worth it? I don't think so, but I looked at it as a challenge, and I jus love challenges...
PS; I never did car mechanics before, and I doubt I will do it again...

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Why is that?
You saved yourself a load bucket load of cash and got satisfaction in the process of a job well done. Changing a turbo is not that difficult.

Me, I always repair my own cars. But I've also rebuilt cars from the ground up including my current summer car which is a 'Triumph Spitfire'. A few years back I rebuilt and upgraded my then daily driver which was an 'Escort Cosworth', I do miss that car.

Yes, I do enjoy timkering with cars