Hello, I'm looking for opinions and advice. I had the cambelt, water pump, drive belt and coolant changed at a cambelt specialist about 20 miles from my house last month. Yesterday I lifted the bonnet to check the fluid levels and noticed that the belt at the front (I'm not a mechanic but assumed this was the drive belt) still looks cracked and very old. It looks I can't really get to the cambelt or water pump location to check those without removing the coolant tank.
I have contacted the garage that did the work and am awaiting a response. Have you ever had an issue like this with a garage and what do you suggest I do from here?





Drive Belt

Drive Belt 2

That's the aircon belt and it hasn't been changed.

There are various levels of work that can be carried out alongside a cambelt change though, so you need to be clear on exactly what was requested and paid for.

Normally the cambelt, cambelt tensioner and cambelt idler would be changed together. In addition the water pump may be changed if requested, but also may just be left.

Then there's the aux belts... one for power steering and one for aircon/alternator. The power steering belt also has it's own tensioner and idler.

Both aux belts may just be left during a cambelt change, or just the power steering belt could be changed along with the cambelt (as it needs to be removed to access the cambelt) or both aux belts may be changed, but normally only if specifically requested at additional cost. The power steering tensioner would usually be changed along with the belt + possibly the idler, but again only if specifically mentioned.

Most garages will probably try to keep the top line price for a cambelt change down by not including the water pump as standard, never mind one or both aux belts and tensioner/idler.

If you paid for "cambelt, water pump, drive belt" I'd say that would include the power steering belt but not the aircon belt, otherwise it would say "drive belts", as there are two drive belts in addition to the cambelt.

Thank you for your reply.
I requested the two accessory belts be changed, the invoice I have lists cambelt kit, drive belt, water pump and coolant. He told me he hadn't changed the smaller of the two belts as his supplier didn't stock it (he said he tried 5 different sized belts) but that it still looked new anyway and didn't really need changing, I asked him to show me which belt this was but he said it wasn't visible from the engine bay which is why I assumed this one would have been changed, as it is clearly visible. I'm just worried that if he hasn't done this belt and has said he has, what else hasn't he done.
He did say he had trouble accessing the cambelt and that it took a few extra hours, apparently there was a bolt about 12" long that he couldn't get off and to get around removing it he had to remove part of the front of the car/engine.
Unfortunately I just don't know enough mechanically wise to assess whether this sounds true, I'm obviously now wondering whether he has done any of the belts at all or whether he simply couldn't and has lied so that he still gets paid, hoping I'll be none the wiser.

The belt that's difficult to see is the power steering belt, so maybe that hasn't been changed either.

You do need to remove some long bolts from engine mounts to do the cambelt change and they can break if seized so maybe some other access method had to be worked out to get around that, that makes sense.

You really need to talk to the garage in question and clarify what was done if you're not sure.