I have a vauxhall astra 2001 club I have just bought this they said they did oil change but oil is very black what makes me say hasn,t been done they were supposed to of done a cambelt can anyone tell me how I can check if this has been done or not

ian, March 2008

After how many miles does one have to change a cam belt it's a vuxhall astra 2003 1.6

david, June 2010

Why would you have to change your thermostat when replacing your timing belt? if anything you should change your water pump which driven by your timing belt. This is normally or should be advised to be changed by yourself or the garage that is carrying out your work. To be honest you don't know what your talking about so your best off to not be advising nothing at all. when giving out wrong information it cant lead to all sorts on mistakes and miss understanding. My advise is not to listen to these idiots on these forums and to seek professional advise from experts that are qualified and know what their talking about.

carbob, January 2010

Oil doesn't take along time to discolour (perhaps 1000 miles +), but if you've just bought the car from the garage, then the oil should be clean, not black.

If it's the 1.6 8v engine Astral (like mine), then cambelt should be changed every 80k or 8 years. If you do change it, change the thermostat whilst your on. If the water thermostat brakes you have to then take the cambelt off to change it. Also good time to change water pump too, whilst your on.

If you have the 16v Eco engine, then it's every 4 years or 40k, which ever comes first.

Don't think I'd trust that garage, if the oil hasn't been changed, then I'd probably say that the cambelt hasn't been done either.

Good idea to change cambelt, if that snaps then your talking big bucks.

This is a good forum, these guys should help:- http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=83

george, March 2008