This new customer called us for an estimate as he had recently purchased a Volkswagen Golf and he didn’t know the timing belt history. We quoted him on a new timing belt kit and water pump (the water pump is driven by the timing belt) which he accepted and booked in with us.

When we stripped the timing belt covers off we were surprised by what we found. Firstly was the condition of the belt as it was heavily perished and also had rub marks on it. On further investigation we found the lower idler pulley had disintegrated and jammed forcing the timing belt to start wearing through the plastic and potentially leading to a disaster!

Luckily it was caught in time and with a new cam belt kit and water pump the Volkswagen Golf will now complete many more miles and Dave did advise the customer to buy a lottery ticket.

What Is A Timing Belt?

A timing belt is the ribbed belt that is placed in a specific configuration along one side of your engine to keep the crank and camshafts timed properly. Essentially, it keeps the top half of the engine (cylinder head, valves) in sync with the bottom half (crankcase, pistons).

Does My Car Have A Timing Belt?

Many car have timing belts and some have timing chains, give us a call with your registration and mileage and we will tell you what’s fitted and when its due replacement.

When Should I Change My Timing Belt?

Manufacturers employ various schedules and measures for timing belt replacement give us a call and we can tell you.

Is My Engine Safe If My Timing Belt Snaps?

There are two types of engine timing configurations: interference, and non-interference.

An interference type engine means that the valve’s stroke and piston’s stroke take up the same space in the cylinder, so the timing belt essentially keeps them from smashing into each other, since they do it at different times. If the timing belt snaps, they run into each other, causing bent valves (most common), cylinder head or camshaft damage, and possibly piston and cylinder wall damage. While it is possible that no damage could occur from a snapped belt on an interference engine, such a case is unlikely.

In a non-interference engine, the pistons and valves don’t occupy the same space, so if the timing belt snaps, no valve or cylinder damage occurs. You just pop a new belt on, and the engine should theoretically drive normally but these are very rare on modern engines.

Remember we do Gearbox repairs, Clutches, MOT’S, MOT repairs, Car Servicing, Van Servicing, Tracking, Tyres, Diagnostics and all things vehicle related at great prices, Give us a call today for a quote.

The customer of this BMW 1 series complained of a grinding noise from their car and rust appearing around the rear wheels and on their paint work.

We carried out a full brake check on the vehicle and were surprised at what we found, the rear brake pads had worn down to the metal back plate and then worn into the brake disc so far on the offside rear that it had nearly worn through to the vents of the discs.

As the nearside rear wasn’t as bad we did further investigation and we found that the offside rear calliper piston had seized causing the fault.

We called the customer with the estimate to replace the rear brake discs, brake pads and O/S/R brake calliper which they accepted.

The customer of this lovely Nissan GTR R35 gave us a call, as he wanted a more aggressive geometry setup on his vehicle.

We booked the Nissan GTR in and obtained some fast road / light track use settings, then Aaron got about setting the car up to these optimal settings.

The car had been to another reputable garage (which we cannot name) with a £10,000 Hunter Alignment Machine to be setup, the customer had already mentioned to us that since they had worked on his car the steering wheel was not central and the car didn’t feel right!

After a few simple checks and adjustments we managed to get the car handling as it should and with the steering wheel perfectly straight.

The customer called us the next day to say the Nissan GTR R35 handling was fantastic.

Remember we do Gearbox repairs, Clutches, MOT’S, MOT repairs, Car Servicing, Van Servicing, Tracking, Tyres, Diagnostics and all things vehicle related at great prices, Give us a call today for a quote.

This Fiat 500 came into us for a service and during our inspection it soon became apparent it had issues with its cooling system, the coolant header tank was completely empty and there were signs of a leak coming from the front of the car.

As the cooling system keeps the engine cool when the vehicle is running it was imperative that it works correctly, we pressure tested the Fiat 500’s cooling system and it didn’t have just one leak it had two!

We quickly diagnosed the Fiat 500 radiator and thermostat housing we’re both leaking coolant, we contacted the customer with an estimate to complete the work to which they agreed.

To remove the Fiat 500 radiator you have to remove the front bumper and the crash bar which were both successfully removed without any issues and the new radiator was installed. We also replaced the leaking thermostat housing with a brand new updated part (Fiat know about this common fault) so the fault will not happen again.

We completed the repairs to the cooling system and finished the service leaving our customer happy knowing her Fiat 500 was back in tiptop condition.

Remember we do Gearbox repairs, Clutches, MOT’S, MOT repairs, Car Servicing, Van Servicing, Tracking, Tyres, Diagnostics and all things vehicle related at great prices, Give us a call today for a quote.