I had a real loud ticking noise coming from my engine. The mechanic at first told me that it was the timing belt that needed to be replaced 1000, then after fixing that he said that he had to install a camshaft tensioner. He said that the can shaft tensioner was the main culprit. My question is could this have been replaced instead of the entire belt and why did he have to replace my water pump also. He said that this had to be replaced also based on the location.
To replace the tensioner. The belt needs to come off. Tensioner should have been inspected or replaced when timing belt was done. If a mechanic ever opens up the front of engine enough to get to the belt it might as well be replaced.
When was the last time the belt was replaced?
My guess is that the biggest part of your bill was labor – like Mike pointed out, once you’ve got the front of the engine taken apart, you may as well replace all three of these things. Much better to replace a few hundred dollars worth of parts all at once than to wait for them to fail and replace them one by one, paying for the labor three times. The only exception I would make would be if one of these items had been replaced in the last 20k miles or so.
Thanks. I feel better now. The belt hadnt been replaced before so I guess I’m glad that it lasted this long.