Cambelt change...essential?

[DickieP]

Cheers for the wise words. Ive sorted out the cambelt change now. After shopping around for the bits (sorry - not all from the bongofury shop!) plus labour from a recommended garage, totals up at £130ish, which as everyone has said, is a comparitively small price to pay!

Where would I be without this forum!

[whitewater123]

Just one worry. Make sure your Bongo is worked on by experienced technicians. I had my cambelt changed by a local garage......just in case -and two weeks later my Bongo went bango ----- most expensive service i've ever had.

[kawasaki kid]

Hope the garage did the decent thing and picked up the bill and the mess they caused , Interestingly my local garage who do my Mot`s where honest and said they hadn`t done a cambelt on a Bongo or Freda before and wheren`t willing to risk doing one without all the required information to hand, that`s why I use them as there honest and up front and don`t just take the money.

[Rog]

I am under the impression that both of the bongo engines are what is known as "non-contact" as far as valves and pistons are concerned. I.E. If the cam belt breaks the valves will not hit the piston crowns.

Some manufacturers recomend that the cambelt gets changed at about the six/eight year mark if milage per year is very low (Land Rover/ Honda)

Rog

PS I think that nearly all Honda engines are the "contact " variety!

[maxheadroom]

Irrespective of age or KMs if the Bongo has been stood for 10-12 months in Japan the belt can become brittle and prone to break. So change the belt, as been said before, cheap price to pay.

[Doone]

I am under the impression that both of the bongo engines are what is known as "non-contact" as far as valves and pistons are concerned. I.E. If the cam belt breaks the valves will not hit the piston crowns.

The engine is an interference type, where problems may occur if the belt breaks.