Cambelt Question

[natmillsy]

Will be picking up an '02 Cupra in the next week or so. The mileage is at 58,000 miles and I asked the seller about cambelt changes.

He stated that the belt was only checked at each service interval and if it looked OK it wouldn't be changed. I thought that around 60,000 miles it would automatically be changed.

Please can you give me your thoughts on this or if you know whether there is a mileage when the belt should be replaced.

Cheers, natmillsy

 

[Jonzy]

Service book & autodata both say inspection @ 60k replacement @ 120k for the 20vt engine. Mine was replaced @ 60k though.

 

[natmillsy]

Service book & autodata both say inspection @ 60k replacement @ 120k for the 20vt engine. Mine was replaced @ 60k though.

Cheers for that Jonzy

May well get it changed for peace of mind

 

[Russo]

Change it! Changing a timing belt will cost a hell of a lot less than to replace bent valves/compression test etc...

My timing belt on my old GT4 snapped at 30mph, thank g-d the car was valve safe. No major damage was done except the rather expensive bill of replacing the belt. Turns out the tensioner was knackered and the belt eventually shredded itself away.

The belt on my mums renault clio on the other hand, snapped at about 10-15 mph. She had to cough up around £700 to replace valves and have some work done on the top end of the engine. Its quite funny to see valves with a 90 degree bend in it. Not funny to see the bill afterwards...

 

[-=Rob=-]

Always thought 120k change was a bit much, but the people at VAG know what they are doing! Just had mine replaced at 80k for peace of mind, most cars are 60-80k TBH. It's cheaper to do it for peace of mind instead of waiting for it to snap!

 

[Lee0204]

How much did it cost you to get the belt changed?
Cheers

 

[Chris`I]

The belt on my mums renault clio on the other hand, snapped at about 10-15 mph. She had to cough up around £700 to replace valves and have some work done on the top end of the engine. Its quite funny to see valves with a 90 degree bend in it. Not funny to see the bill afterwards...

Mate of mine learnt the cam belt lesson like that. He bought a clio with just over 60k on it and didnt ask about the belt change. 2 weeks later it snapped costing him £1000 to fix. If only he'd asked for advice, nearly all my mates are mechanically minded and we would have all told him to get it changed before he bought it to be safe.

I'd def just get it done and be done with it. Not sure how much it costs but even if you have it done twice before 120k its not gonna be more than it would cost to get it fixed.

Just out of interest, how come some cars are "valve safe" but most arent? Sorry if that sounds dumb, but it would make sense that all cars should be if its pissible

 

[hocrss]

just about all modern engines will do damage to valves & pistons if the belt breaks
its due to the very tight tolerences that these engines run to.Most , if not all 16valve engines and diesels will bend valves if belt goes.The only generally safe engines are old 8 valve lumps like Vauxhall 1.6 & 2.0 litre