So my car goes in for service today, and I had read somewhere about getting the cam belts done early and thought it would be a good idea after having it mapped.
The service schedule recommends that the toothed belt only needs to be checked every 60000km (37,000 miles) and only replaced at 180,000km ( 111,000miles)!!!!!!!!
The garage owner, who is my wife's god father, took the precaution of buying a whole kit rather than just the belt as the water pump is connected and a pain to replace at a later date.
When I came to pick the car up, I was shown a box of bits. I have to say that the belt was still in excellent condition (Well done SEAT) BUT the ancillaries were not (Not well done SEAT)
The original water pump had a plastic impeller, which had at least two blades broken that were hanging off.
The rest of the plastic was cracked and very tired looking. The tensioning Ram has a small wheel about 1 inch across which must spin at massive rpm; the bearings on this had failed and were grinding and rough when spun. The other wheel which has tension applied by the ram also had it bearings worn out.
All of this and the car has only done 68,000 miles so as far as I was concerned this was done early!!
The cam belt kit consists of new Belt, Ram, Pulley and water pump (with brass impeller). The full kit only costs £50 extra over the belt only, and did not incur any more labour as they are all done with the belt off.
Total cost including service was only £310.
My advice to anyone out there is, get the whole kit done, not just the belt. God knows what state the other bits would have been in if I had waited until the belt showed signs of wear. In any case there was no way the pump would have lasted until then.
You have been warned!
The service schedule recommends that the toothed belt only needs to be checked every 60000km (37,000 miles) and only replaced at 180,000km ( 111,000miles)!!!!!!!!
The garage owner, who is my wife's god father, took the precaution of buying a whole kit rather than just the belt as the water pump is connected and a pain to replace at a later date.
When I came to pick the car up, I was shown a box of bits. I have to say that the belt was still in excellent condition (Well done SEAT) BUT the ancillaries were not (Not well done SEAT)
The original water pump had a plastic impeller, which had at least two blades broken that were hanging off.
The rest of the plastic was cracked and very tired looking. The tensioning Ram has a small wheel about 1 inch across which must spin at massive rpm; the bearings on this had failed and were grinding and rough when spun. The other wheel which has tension applied by the ram also had it bearings worn out.All of this and the car has only done 68,000 miles so as far as I was concerned this was done early!!
The cam belt kit consists of new Belt, Ram, Pulley and water pump (with brass impeller). The full kit only costs £50 extra over the belt only, and did not incur any more labour as they are all done with the belt off.
Total cost including service was only £310.
My advice to anyone out there is, get the whole kit done, not just the belt. God knows what state the other bits would have been in if I had waited until the belt showed signs of wear. In any case there was no way the pump would have lasted until then.
You have been warned!
