Advise on buying a timing belt and water pump for a 15 plate Leon 2.0 FR Diesel

[Mr Pig]

Would you be tempted to go for the £263 quote with the two year warranty as I think that is a good price.

I reckon if the belt doesn't cause problems within the first few months it's not going to. It shouldn't be a complicated job to get right although I know the 1.4 ACT engine needs a bit of care.

Just make sure they actually change all the bits. The guy who bought our last car got the belt done cheap and they didn't change the water pump. When he asked why they said it didn't need changing. There also might be bolts that should be replaced with new ones, I don't know that for a fact but that can be the case.

 

[Speedbird]

Personally, that seems a little bit cheap to me. I always think you get what you pay for, but if they get good reviews, it's up to you. I maintain that the best place to get any work done is at an independent specialist. I had my cam belt and water pump done by Midland VW. They did it a bit cheaper than Seat dealer quoted, but I trust in their knowledge and experience and preferred the car go to them instead of Seat or a local indy.

 

[SuperV8]

I reckon if the belt doesn't cause problems within the first few months it's not going to. It shouldn't be a complicated job to get right although I know the 1.4 ACT engine needs a bit of care.

Just make sure they actually change all the bits. The guy who bought our last car got the belt done cheap and they didn't change the water pump. When he asked why they said it didn't need changing. There also might be bolts that should be replaced with new ones, I don't know that for a fact but that can be the case.

The TDI EA288 timing belt job is simple enough - just a little time consuming actually getting to the timing belt with all the junk in the way!
Modern belts don't just fail - like modern tyres.
If your belt was to fail - it would be as the result of some other failure -
Incorrect belt tension,
Not changing ALL pulleys/idlers/pump,
Incorrect bolt torque.

 

[Mr Pig]

Modern belts don't just fail

I made a mistake on the last car and missed the belt change. Car was sold with over 70K on it and the buyer changed the belt straight away. He said that the belt looked like new.

He did not change the water pump or tensioner, which I thought was stupid but his problem.

 

[Woody_72]

I've had mine done recently at 68,000 miles and 7 years old and the belt looked fine, even the tech agreed. I certainly wouldn't over worry about getting it done right when VAG say you should. If you're having a tight month or two, don't worry about putting it off for a while.