Hi, my cambelt on my 306 hdi is due for changing, ive been advised to change the water pump at the same time. Ive been qouted around £350 does that seem about right, and is there anything else worth changing while its stripped. Cars done 85k and 8 years old, and im going to be keeping it a long while. I presume the alternator belt will be changed automatically to do the cam belt wont it? Thanks

Not a bad idea to change the pump although I would do it myself.

Not a horrendous price but for an 8 year old I'd shop around - you might get it down to £250...

Unlikely to change the alt belt if it's separate and after 85k the water pump might be OK but by about 120 they usually start having problems in most engines... Get them to put it back in if they think it's fine - that way at least you've saved the price of a part even if it costs you 15 mins labour...

Wont it be the same £350 job again to re do the water pump if it goes in 10k or so, or can it be changed without re doing the cam belt? Im thinking ill probably have it another 50k miles so would it be best done anyway so it doesnt let me down too?

I did the cambelt on my 306 diesel myself - it is well explained in the Haynes manual and wasn't too difficult actually - tensioning varies depending on which type of tensioner you have. Cost me something like £13 for the belt I think.

The repair time for a cambelt on a 306 HDi is 3.8 hours so I must say £350 sounds a bit steep to me for just a belt. If you are paying that kind of money I would have the waterpump done as well. On 3 previous Citroens with XUD diesel engines (similar to HDi) one water pump failed at 130k just before 2nd cambelt change, on the other 2 the pumps lasted well beyond 200k before needing replacement.
Another thing to consider is replacing the tensioner idler. The rubber round it has been known to delaminate at around 100k miles causing problems

The £350 included the cam belt kit(which i guess includes the tensioner) and the pump, but i will shop around now thanks