Change of iridium plugs on NB SE after 60 months

[project.r.racing]

tl:dr? Dealer bad, independent workshop slightly dearer, but confidence that work has been done properly.

dunno about the area you live in. but all the single person privately owned workshops in my area charge $80-$90 per hour. the dealerships are $30-$50 more per hour.

i like the indipendents as for the reasons you have discribed, and they want your repeat business, so they look after you. mine also give me a hours free labour if i introduce a new customer to him etc.

[aviper4u]

On one occasion where I did have a problem (newly installed timing belt jumped 2 teeth, causing major power loss and poor performance) the independent workshop took the car back, replaced all affected parts, and also contacted all other recent timing belt customers and replaced their timing belts too (one other owner had a similar problem, very soon after mine). They also stopped using that supplier for all replacement belts, and moved to a higher end supplier.

im no mechanic but i have changed timing belts before and dont see how a correctly installed timing belt could "jump" two teeth and then the motor continue to run with loss of power as after several revolutions the motor would lose time as the belt wouldnt do its job and eventually stall the motor

sounds to me like it wasnt put on right in the first place and needed to be corrected?

[Caffeine]

im no mechanic but i have changed timing belts before and dont see how a correctly installed timing belt could "jump" two teeth and then the motor continue to run with loss of power as after several revolutions the motor would lose time as the belt wouldnt do its job and eventually stall the motor

sounds to me like it wasnt put on right in the first place and needed to be corrected?

Nope, it was put on correctly and the car ran perfectly for a week or so after the service. The belt jumped while I was driving, at high rpm, suddenly the car spluttered and would barely run. Stopped and checked all the stuff I could see, plugs, wires, cool packs etc, chugged my way back to the mechanic and they discovered the belt had jumped.

And yes, timing belts aren't meant to do that. Hence the change of supplier.

[eskimo]

Some T/Belts with hydraulic tensioners have adjustable pulley setting that must be set correctly (some Mitsi's, Hyundais, ETC)
If incorrectly set up the tensioner can release tension on a tight side of the belt when the motor is off. When you go to start it
the belt can jump one or two teeth before the tensioner resets itself. This can happen within a day or two or possibly longer if
dependant on where the engine stops at switch off.

The belt jumped while I was driving, at high rpm, suddenly the car spluttered and would barely run.

Obviously not the case here, but I must say in 20+ years on the W/shop floor I have never seen a belt failure that wasn't caused
by fitter/set up error. Bit of a concern if your w/shop was using such poor quality parts. Could it possibly be a Tech blaming the
part unnessassarily and front of house having to make excuses to back him up, wouldn't be the first time. I'm not saying your shop
is bad but every bussiness is only as good as it's employees and sometimes the employees can pull the wool over the bosses eyes aswell.