Where to go for Cam Belt change

[Woody_72]

My 184 is five and a half years old, 55,000 miles, so I'm starting to ponder a cambelt and water pump change. I watched a video on YouTube last night of a couple of Austrian lads doing a cambelt and water pump change on an Audi with the EA288 and it didn't look that hard for someone with the right kit and a bit of experience. The hardest bit looked like the coolant replacement at the end which involved holding it at all sorts of different rev's while doing stuff in VCDS.

Anyone on here done their own cambelt change?

 

[Wilkesy]

My car will be 5 years old next year with 17k on the clock so I don’t know what to do with the mileage been low

 

[RUM4MO]

My car will be 5 years old next year with 17k on the clock so I don’t know what to do with the mileage been low

Maybe it depends on which engine your car has, if it is any of the EA211 family, then the belt is "for life" at least as long as it passes annual inspections ie not showing any signs of damage/wear.
I examine the belt on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 16V at every service and will probably "bottle it" before it is 7 or 8 years old, if I were you, I would not relax too long just because the annual mileage is low as it is probably getting the same initial stress going from cold to hot, as a car with a much higher mileage.

 

[BillyCool]

My car will be 5 years old next year with 17k on the clock so I don’t know what to do with the mileage been low

Most cam belt intervals are based on mileage OR time, whichever comes first. Yours has lovely low mileage but at 5 years, it might be due.

What engine is it?

 

[Wilkesy]

Most cam belt intervals are based on mileage OR time, whichever comes first. Yours has lovely low mileage but at 5 years, it might be due.

What engine is it?

1.4 150 2016

 

[Mr Pig]

My car will be 5 years old next year with 17k on the clock so I don’t know what to do with the mileage been low

I'll be honest, I'd be tempted to leave it.

Technically, it's a risk but I don't think a very big one. I made a mistake and left mine too long. It was changed at six-years and 75K miles. The mechanic said the old belt looked absolutely fine. Good quality belts don't really degrade much over time, especially in a sealed environment. Wear is almost entirely down to usage. I used to work with machines that used similar belts and nothing failed within five years. Unless it was a cheap Chinese belt, all bets are off with those. Good quality belts lasted decades, running all day long, often covered in oil and grease.

You could pop the cover off and inspect it but my bet is that it'll look like new.

 

[Wilkesy]

I'll be honest, I'd be tempted to leave it.

Technically, it's a risk but I don't think a very big one. I made a mistake and left mine too long. It was changed at six-years and 75K miles. The mechanic said the old belt looked absolutely fine. Good quality belts don't really degrade much over time, especially in a sealed environment. Wear is almost entirely down to usage. I used to work with machines that used similar belts and nothing failed within five years. Unless it was a cheap Chinese belt, all bets are off with those. Good quality belts lasted decades, running all day long, often covered in oil and grease.

You could pop the cover off and inspect it but my bet is that it'll look like new.

Cheers matey. Aye had service and MOT done last month too. Another thing is as well I’m changing work place from next week so more than likely I’ll be getting Bus in to the main city centre instead of driving so I’ll be doing a hell of a lot less mileage.

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing to consider is, these belts on newer petrol engines from VW Group, at least, are made from more appropriate materials so that they will last longer than what the belts on cars from the early 2000's had fitted.
One maybe sad fact is, my car is a February 2011 Audi S4, which has a chain driven timing system, but a Supercharger belt and an auxiliary belt, one belt is made in Thailand and the other belt is made in maybe Vietnam - exactly the same with the new Audi belts I replaced them with, the original belts looked okay after 9 years on the car though!

 

[Rooster]

The problem with timing belts is there is no accurate visual or technical way of predicting belt failure, i know plenty of people who against advice have played "timing belt chicken" and lost, it's just not worth it. I know one guy who was spending a fortune on having his car detailed with the most expensive stuff known to man, but thought that he could save money by not having the timing belt replaced ..............................and lost.