Timing belt PULLEY question

[avguy]

Has anyone bought the parts from a chevy dealer???

What quality parts Chevy dealers stock is a good question. I did buy my valve cover gasket from a dealer, but nothing else. The Aveo not being a true GM vehicle muddies the water quite a bit. Are the replacement Aveo parts still being built by the original makers, and are those the parts that Chevy dealers stock? No idea. I'm familiar with the Civic, and the Honda dealer replacement parts are highly regarded and recommended by most knowledgable DIY guys. I've had good luck with them myself. Maybe we can find out more about Chevy dealer replacement parts?

[aveosrfun]

Sorry, didnt mean to ruffle any feathers. My sister has had minimal issues but still they shouldnt have happened. IE the first month she had the car (bought new) she got stranded in a parking lot because the gear shift would not move out of reverse - I actually drove to the parking lot thinking "oh come on" but it was legitamatley stuck - towed to dealer and I forget what all they replaced.

Then the thermostat housing broke - at 50k miles.

At 6 years old the paint is fading and clear coat all but gone.

Now the timing belt potential issue which isnt a big deal but 50k service interval and now the bad pulleys, its just not a great design there.

Then back in the day I bought a daewoo cd player - right out of the box it was bad, took it back got another one, same exact problem. My ex's brother had a daewoo car that was nothing but problems. Defintily lacking in some design/r&d/qaulity control areas - daewoo has just left a bad taste in my mouth so to speak.

I own ford vehicles and can honestly say Ive never had a single problem up until the 100k mi mark (bought several new fords) other then normal, batterys, tires, etc.

[petrified.rabbit]

I had a few lemons of fords.. there have been a few lemons of aveos here too.

But if those are all the issues in the 6 years and 50000 miles she has had the car. Then its not much of a lemon.

The paint is probably faded because its not clear coated. Some of the colors seem not to be.
The timing belt service interval should not have been a surprise, it is stated in the manual that came with the car.

Part of the car buying process is a few bad parts get through, thats one reason we have warranties.

[snrusnak]

The paint is not clear coated (ours isn't anyway). I went over the car with rubbing compound real nice, then put a sealant on it and I wash it and seal it about 2-3 times a year and it looks almost like new(minus a few dings/scratches....it is an 04 after all).

[aveosrfun]

I had a few lemons of fords.. there have been a few lemons of aveos here too.

But if those are all the issues in the 6 years and 50000 miles she has had the car. Then its not much of a lemon.

The paint is probably faded because its not clear coated. Some of the colors seem not to be.
The timing belt service interval should not have been a surprise, it is stated in the manual that came with the car.

Part of the car buying process is a few bad parts get through, thats one reason we have warranties.

I never said, or meant to imply it was a lemon. Just a couple problems that with a little more r&d never would/should have happened. Thats all. I respectfully disagree that you should expect failures from a new car. According to wikipedia the cars been produced since 2002, plenty of time to work out any bugs. Anyway, overall its been an ok car, as in no major failures. I was just stating my opinion of it. Thanks again for the help.

[snrusnak]

Every car I've ever had has broken down at some point. Nature of the beast. It's man made, some things will fail, some big some small. Some worse than others.

The worst cars we've owned have been fords. We've had A LOT of very reliable GM's with some small DIY fixing. I recently got into a RAM truck and it has been nearly as good as the GM's.

Never owned anything else but know a lot of people with toyota's and had TONS of issues that really are unacceptable(sheared camshafts cracked blocks, etc), especially on an overpriced vehicle.

Really though, they all have good and bad. I wouldn't buy a toyota or honda ever, but doesn't mean they don't have some good vehicles. I probably wouldn't buy a ford either, again they have some good ones. I've had great luck with GM and Chrysler and they are the most affordable so I'll likely stick with that. Next vehicle will probably be an older wrangler and sell the aveo so the wife can get into something bigger/safer.

We bought our aveo for $6k cash out the door and have maybe put like $1000 or a little over into it for all regular maintenance(oil changes, plugs, wires, pcv, valve cover gasket, air filters, trans service), tires, struts and shocks, timing belt service, and tstat housing. I looked it up on KBB recently it was for over $4000. We bought it in 2008 I believe and put over 50000 miles on it. That's great bang/buck.

[rickyfv]

Hi all,

I am new to this thread. I just bought 2005 aveo with 86,500 miles. I know it is about time to replace the timing belt. I am little bit confused what kit to buy or buy individual parts. I was thinking to buy "Gates TCKWP335 kit". I know gates are good quality belt, but not sure if the tensioner pulley and idler pulley of this kit is plastic. ACDelco 38376 tensioner and aCDelcoT42170, they are claiming a steel pulley. Is this better?

Please advice.

Thanks

[snrusnak]

ricky, I bought the gates kit(assuming it's the same one). I don't know that mine claimed it had ACDelco parts but I do remember the Gates belt was good quality, but the water pump, idler pulley, and tensioner pulley were JUNK, very cheap parts. Each were manufactured in a different country(don't remember which countries....china, etc.). They were aluminum IIRC(except the actual wheel part of the pulley is plastic, like oem IIRC) but they were about half as heavy as oem(cheap material) and my water pump failed immediately and needed replaced. I mean immediately like withing 1,000 miles. I replaced it with a duralast from autozone and it was much better quality. I also have a squeaky bearing(either tensioner or idler) it wasn't there until I did the work then was there right after. I would not buy that kit again.

[rickyfv]

Thanks for the reply. unfortunately I already ordered the Gates kit from amazon and I just received them. I noticed water pump is made in china very poor quality metal finish. I will return them.. Any recommended pulley, tensioner and water pump aside from Duralast? How about Cloyes or Goodyear gatorback? Thanks....

[snrusnak]

Honestly don't know what to recommend. I'd buy duralast(autozone) or from GM. Maybe from NAPA?

goodyear gatorback makes fine serpentine belts.

cloyes makes fine timing gears

both reputable(but so is gates...).

Good choice not putting those parts in your car, biggest mistake I made on this aveo was using that kit.