Cam Belt how old does mine look......

[Gee Man]

Bought my new 172 a few months ago due my cup getting written off by an idiot!!! Now i have got an invoice for a cam belt change costing £653 October 2012 (not a payment receipt though).

So i thought id have a look at my belt.......what are you thoughts??

This is the first time I've used Flickr so i hope it works ok.

http://flic.kr/p/egHbgP

http://flic.kr/p/egHaBH

http://flic.kr/p/egNTos

http://flic.kr/p/egH7oV

 

[George182]

You can't judge the age of a cambelt by how it looks.

 

[ScottL]

If you've got the name of the garage then ring then and ask to make sure it's been down, but as said above you cant guess how old a belt is

Cheers
Scott

 

[Rob]

Extensive research and training has let me determine that belt is 1032 days, 14 hours, 26 minutes, 34 seconds old and counting.

Of course I'm kidding, as said, ring the garage.

 

[Gee Man]

hahaha! Yeh i'll give the garage a ring.

Just hoping on the off chance somebody could spot if my belt looks like its 4 months old or if it looks like its never been changed.

 

[MG cup]

There is one test for your circumstances which is very rough guide but remove the top engine mount bracket that bolts to the engine and if the writing/branding on the belt are brand new then its a good pointer.

 

[Gee Man]

There is one test for your circumstances which is very rough guide but remove the top engine mount bracket that bolts to the engine and if the writing/branding on the belt are brand new then its a good pointer.

​See pictures in my first post bud

 

[M26]

The pictures don't work.

 

[George182]

The photos are set to private buddy - no one can see them

 

[Nickson]

The pictures don't work.

​As above.

 

[Gee Man]

You should now be able to see the pictures! Thanks for the quick replies

 

[mattjk]

it doesn't look too old to me but only an educated guess.. which is all anyone can do lol.

 

[mikekean]

Look very closely for any surface cracking, if there is get it changed. The belt one my car was 5 years old but had only covered 10k so still looked pretty new, but when looking up close it had surface cracking so i decided to change it.

 

[Gee Man]

I called the garage and they have just been taken over 3 weeks ago! So no chance on confirming work that's been carried out.

I cannot see any surface cracking it all seems in pretty good condition

 

[Sam@NP]

The usual failure mode is for one of the idlers to break not the actual belt snapping.