Cam Belt Service interval

[vapour-trails]

Hi All

need abit of advice here on the cambelt service my cars just turned 5 years old and it only has 9k on the clock, at its last service only thing recommended was Cambelt service which i was expecting having had VAG's for years always changed them every 5 years or so as my mileage is low.

reason for the post is i called the Dealers to book it in and got a call few days later to cancel it saying that i dont need one till 140,000 miles or 10 years and Seat have recently changed there servicing advice on cambelt changes. this is the first ive heard of it and just seeing anyone else has had this issue because apart from a 2 minute phone call im unsure what to do at this point and may just get it done anyways for peace of mind.

 

[sandancer]

It's the same with Skoda and VW - I was told this when I bought a Skoda Fabia in July and asked if the timing belt had been changed. The salesman rang the service manager who said the time policy had been changed and the belt only needed to be inspected regularly until 150k miles or ten years. I've posted a couple of links for you to have a look at.

Timing Belt Advice Changed by Skoda

I recently read on the Octavia mk4 forum that Skoda's advice on changing the timing belt on 1.5TSI engines had changed from 5 years or 50,000 miles to 144,000 miles with no elapsed time stated. I therefore contacted Skoda support and asked whether they had changed their advice for the 1.0TSI engi...

www.briskoda.net

Confused about Timing belt change interval.

Hi All, My son is looking to purchase a Skoda Octavia - from 2015 and newer. With that kind of age, it will have a few miles on it - seen a number between 60k - 120k miles. I saw a particular one at a Skoda main dealer with 67k miles - I rang them and asked if that 7 year old car had it's timing ...

www.briskoda.net

Skoda cam belt change

Hi, I have been informed by my local Skoda dealership that from last month, Skoda has changed the suggested frequency that you should have your cam belt changed. It used to be 5 years, however now I am being informed that it is 15 years or 140,000 miles! Don't get me wrong, if this is true, it sa...

www.briskoda.net

Plenty more on the Briskoda forum

 

[vapour-trails]

thanks thats helped alot.

 

[pippap]

they've told me similar for my 19 plate Ateca. Its now just 80K miles (they've done away with the years). Same for the DSG oil service which I thought I was due.

 

[davec99]

Hi all,
I'm debating this on my mk3 leon 1.4tsi. I've seen various things on this. One I've seen says it's a belt for life.
My independent garage looked up what Thatcham say. That says 140k or 60 months. Not many cars are gonna do 140k in 5 years. I saw somewhere that the UK dealer network put the time limit on. I'm guessing that was to keep the workshop busy.
Does anyone know of these actually failing?
Cheers
Dave

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Hi all,
I'm debating this on my mk3 leon 1.4tsi. I've seen various things on this. One I've seen says it's a belt for life.
My independent garage looked up what Thatcham say. That says 140k or 60 months. Not many cars are gonna do 140k in 5 years. I saw somewhere that the UK dealer network put the time limit on. I'm guessing that was to keep the workshop busy.
Does anyone know of these actually failing?
Cheers
Dave

With the best will in the world, a rubber belt always has the potential to fail, as does the tensioner and water pump too. I would never risk it, having had two belts go on other makes of vehicle in the past, both well within the manufacturers recommendations.

I know you have a 1.4TSI petrol, but consider this - just a couple of weeks ago, I had the belt and water pump changed on my 19 plate Leon 2.0 TDI diesel. The belt was fine ( well, it LOOKED fine), but the water pump was faulty. The pump has an electrically operated sliding thermostat sleeve, which opens and closes to help the engine warm up more efficiently, and that was partially jammed - this could have resulted in the car overheating if it had been left undetected. The cambelt was changed as it got to 5 years old, but at only 29,000 miles.

It's your call, but personally for the price of the belt and pump, I really don't think it's worth playing cambelt roulette. I would always get it done, if only for peace of mind

 

[davec99]

Cheers for that.
Allegedly the water pump on the petrol isn't driven by the cam belt on the petrol - I'm sure I've seen that on here
The tensioner does concern me tho - good point.
Mines at 8 years old with 44k on it.

 

[Walone]

Cheers for that.
Allegedly the water pump on the petrol isn't driven by the cam belt on the petrol - I'm sure I've seen that on here
The tensioner does concern me tho - good point.
Mines at 8 years old with 44k on it.

Yes, the water pump on the 1.4/1.5 engine is driven by a small belt at the gearbox end of the engine.
I note that the cost of changing the belt on the ACT engine has gone up considerably at Seat dealerships.

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Cheers for that.
Allegedly the water pump on the petrol isn't driven by the cam belt on the petrol - I'm sure I've seen that on here
The tensioner does concern me tho - good point.
Mines at 8 years old with 44k on it.

OK, I'll go with that - but it's worrying that a component on my diesel was failing at the 5 year mark, within the manufacturer's recommended time......and if I hadn't had the belt done at the time, and had left it until mileage requirements, that pump would have failed totally without ever being detectable with potentially catastrophic overheating issues. My next belt and pump are getting done in FOUR years time, at which it have done around 15,000 miles from now.

I fell very, very lucky with what the cambelt and water pump job cost me - I bought a GENUINE VW cambelt kit, and a GENUINE VW water pump off eBay for less than £200, and my mate, who is a trained VW tech, fitted it in less than 3 hours for £100 cash. By the time I'd bought new G13 antifreeze, the whole job cost me £320 all in........a massive saving on what a main dealer would have charged

 

[davec99]

OK, I'll go with that - but it's worrying that a component on my diesel was failing at the 5 year mark, within the manufacturer's recommended time......and if I hadn't had the belt done at the time, and had left it until mileage requirements, that pump would have failed totally without ever being detectable with potentially catastrophic overheating issues. My next belt and pump are getting done in FOUR years time, at which it have done around 15,000 miles from now

Thanks for your help so far. I had a passat 1.9tdi for a while (a long while) and I took it from 66k to 167k (with 2 belt changes). Properly good car with no real issues. It definitely liked to be used. The diesels can do intergalactic miles. Is yours suffering from a bit of under use just a thought

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Thanks for your help so far. I had a passat 1.9tdi for a while (a long while) and I took it from 66k to 167k (with 2 belt changes). Properly good car with no real issues. It definitely liked to be used. The diesels can do intergalactic miles. Is yours suffering from a bit of under use just a thought

It does low mileage, yes, same as my 1.6TDI that I had for the previous 5 years, and my 2 Octavia diesels before that. Never once had an issue with any of them. Most of the low mileage is because it is parked up for days at a time (I'm an HGV driver), not because it is used for short runs. (The mileage I do goes on the truck lol - this last week that topped 400000km, and its only just 2 years old) I use an app on the phone called VAG DPF which monitors when the DPF decides to regen, and it gets a good run when this happens to ensure it is getting done properly. I did have a petrol 1.4TSI Octavia before my 1.6 diesel Leon, and hated it with a passion, cost me an absolute fortune to run compared to the diesel Octavia it replaced.
My wife has a 1.2TSI manual Toledo, and again costs significantly more to run per mile than my diesel DSG Leon

 

[LeonFRTDi]

10yr old 2lt TDI FR & all original Belts & water pump
changing the lot in 2weeks tho, car still under 41000miles.
Ive done the header tank myselft tho just incase that Silica Bag bursts.
This Car is a long time keeper. £20 road tax & long term ave 58mpg
Fuel Card diesel is 138.6ppl this week.
You can keep your Petrol Car & EV

 

[vapour-trails]

Same only thing that annoys me know is my permit for outside my house, they add £100 on top for being a diesel and every time i use pay by phone or ringo parking in London it adds a diesel surcharge on top. I'm just about to hit 12k so hardly killing the environment.

 

[SuperV8]

10yr old 2lt TDI FR & all original Belts & water pump
changing the lot in 2weeks tho, car still under 41000miles.
Ive done the header tank myselft tho just incase that Silica Bag bursts.
This Car is a long time keeper. £20 road tax & long term ave 58mpg
Fuel Card diesel is 138.6ppl this week.
You can keep your Petrol Car & EV

10 years and still on the original timing belt!
Do you also play the lottery
My VW master tech mate had an old 1.9 Passat with something like 15/20 years on the original timing belt - he daily drove the car and to him the car didn't own him any money - so the consequences of it failing were not that great. It was however not driven for an extended period of time following which he said he would change the belt before even attempting to start it due to the old rubber 'setting' in that one position for months.

I did my timing belt at 5 1/2 years and it didn't look the best at that age! I was happy I changed it when I did.
The Peugeot 2.0 HDI has a 10 year interval for their timing belt - but maybe their design causes less stress on the belt, or maybe the belt design is more stout, or maybe VAG are more cautious/need the money for belt jobs? who knows..

Our TDI's also have a small belt in oil to drive the oil and vacuum pumps - which doesn't have a change interval - fit for life apparently! - as when it fails your engine will have no life!
I'm going to change mine with my second cam belt change next year (2015 car)

 

[LeonFRTDi]

I Can Confirm it was all replaced yesterday & zero issues
i have all the original belts idler pulleys,Cambelt tensioner Alternator & AC Aux Belt changed also & coolant all replaced
Plus on good advice from another diesel specialist all the bolts holding engine mount in & water pump ones etc etc all in about 15bolts i think.
All new ones fitted. 40,833miles car 10year & 2month old.
Cant see anything wrong with neither belt thats been removed neither.