Broken Down, need advice!!

[tenere]

Hi ,,the reason my PAS was playing up when my water pump was leaking was because the leaking coolant was getting onto the PAS belt.more apparent on right turns.

This is similar to when your PAS belt is worn and rain water is splashed onto belt.

Coolant is more slippery than water

[mellow yellow]

todays update, i met the rac man at my car last night and he said that my water pump had seized and caused the casing to leak.

The car was too low to get on the drop down towing thingy so i was towed to a nearby garage on the straight bar and the rac man dropped me off at home 25 miles away. very good service from the rac, i was quite impressed.

how much should i be paying for a replacement? i figured about 35 for the parts and about 1 hour labour, so about £100 max? is this about right?

[rubjonny]

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/golf3.php

[mellow yellow]

cheers for that link, i'm being massively ripped off by the garage its gone to.

The said they would look at what wrong first then call me, so.........

Just got a call saying they have already spent 1 1/2 hours investigating the damage,
1) they cant get it up on the ramps coz its too low so are having to do it on the workshop floor? I thought you could access it from the top by removing the alt?

2) because they are getting at it from underneath they are having to remove the cambelt as they cannot get to it otherwise? again is this BS?

3) they have quoted £200 for a cambelt kit alone, WTF? what planet are they on?

4) they have not even got a price for the water pump yet.

thing is i cant even take it anywhere else coz its in bits and doesnt drive and they will still charge me for the labour being carried out!

opinions please? i feel like i'm being royally robbed???!!!

[Agreeable Slick]

I was always under the impression that the cambelt was the first pulley on the crank, and the aux belts used pulleys that were spaced away from that as they needed changing more regularly.

Sounds like a jokers garage to be honest.

[rubjonny]

cambelt?! wtf?!
no need to do that, a/c comp off and moved aside, alt off, waterpump off. all done from above. if anything its harder to do it from underneath! i could do it in half an hour, sound like a bunch of chancers out to rip you off.

only bit remotely connected to cambelt is 1 T bolt thru waterpump, which holds on a small nut which secures front of lower cambelt cover. undo nut, remove T bolt. done.

[mellow yellow]

cambelt?! wtf?!
no need to do that, a/c comp off and moved aside, alt off, waterpump off. all done from above. if anything its harder to do it from underneath! i could do it in half an hour, sound like a bunch of chancers out to rip you off.

only bit remotely connected to cambelt is 1 T bolt thru waterpump, which holds on a small nut which secures front of lower cambelt cover. undo nut, remove T bolt. done.

exactly what i thought and i'm a novice :-) what can i do about it now? the car is in bits and they want to charge labour for the work they have done. If i agree to the work and ask for a statement of exactly what has been done can i do anything about it after?

[rubjonny]

refuse to pay for the belt kit and labour involved, as its completely unnecessary. explain the waterpump is actually on the front of the block, nowhere near the timing belt. i expect some muppet was mistaking your car for a 1.4 or a 1.8t or something, where waterpump tensions the timing belt.

get trading standards involved if you have to

however, was it due a timing belt? if so, might be worth paying for it anyway 

[Guy]

cambelt?! wtf?!
no need to do that, a/c comp off and moved aside, alt off, waterpump off. all done from above. if anything its harder to do it from underneath! i could do it in half an hour, sound like a bunch of chancers out to rip you off.

only bit remotely connected to cambelt is 1 T bolt thru waterpump, which holds on a small nut which secures front of lower cambelt cover. undo nut, remove T bolt. done.

this is true... I have seen him do it!

[mellow yellow]

it would be due one soon anyway but thats not the point 

i hate been ripped off, its only gone in for a water pump, i told them what was wrong and they still try to make up a BS story to con me out of money. i'd love to know an honest mechanic 
i'm gonna have to fork out for it now as its too late and try to do something about it after.

How much should the work that they are actually doing cost coz i bet they still exagerate that price!!!

replace water pump and repalce and fir cambelt kit??