My car has covered 28k miles from new and been regularly serviced. Its now coming up for four years old.

My question is what should I be asking the garage to do?

Given the mileage, done mostly on uncongested rural roads, do I really need to change the cambelt etc.?

Well, the cam belt interval is 60,000 miles. Nothing on age of car just mileage. There will be plenty of other things that need checking though (do you have a haynes manual?)

According to my Haynes manual at 40k or 4 years you're supposed to change the air and fuel filters, check the condition of the aux drive belt (drives the alternator and air con pump) and check the power steering fluid level.

BUT...... People have been talking about water pump impeller failures. This may be due to age and not mileage??!! If this is the case you may want to think about getting the water pump changed. The water pump is driven by the cam belt, so if you were going to get it changed, do the belt and tensioner at the same time.

It's completely your call though mate......

Thanks, I take your point on the water pump. I assume that the new ones have something other than a plastic impellor? I wonder whe nthey started introducing them and if the chassis number might indicate which is currently fitted to the car.

As regards the cambelt, several postings here seem to say 60,000miles OR 4 years. I can understand the time limit if the car is driven in congested traffic mostly as this would compensate for a seeming low mileage. Surely the wear of the cambelt and its ancilliaries is directly related to the number of revolutions that engine has made and therefore these two measures cover the manufacturer. If this is so then a 'country car' should be fine to run to the mileage limit surely?

For the life of me, I a have never understood why we can't have a 'hours' odometer on the tachometer in the same way as we have a one for miles on the speedometer. Its common practice on tractors and other commercial vehicles and makes the whole service interval so much more logical.

Hi.

Its well documented on here that the Fabia vRS timing belt interval changed from 80K to 60K or 4 years whichever came first. However all my literature stated 80K and I even got told by a Skoda dealer towards the end of last year that it was still 80K.

It was an expense I didn't want or need but personally I didn't think it was worth the risk on either the mileage or age of the belt. My 4th year coincided with just over 60K anyway. The water pump is a worthwhile addition to the timing belt work as it's a relatively cheap part that can only be accessed by dismantling the timing belt (again).

If you could get your garage to confirm that he thinks the condition of your belt is fine and he'd honour that if it snapped then brilliant. Although I'm sure even the likes of The AA only honour their repair warranties if you stick to the appropriate servcie schedules.

Not only is it more costly if something does break but I also had the thought that what would happen if it snapped part way through an overtake or the like!

As above, cambelt changes are 60k OR EVERY FOUR YEARS according to VAG (80k on newer engines, but the time's expired in your case anyway). The water pump impeller is an issue for the 1.8T engines really - a certain master tech on here has only ever come across one water pump failure on a PD engine, and that was after 200k. Certainly, when I had my cambelt done and asked for the pump, the garage (main dealer) said they had to order the part in - although they may have just been trying to wriggle out of the work. Although as they were having the belt off anyway, I saved a load in labour of course!

I agree with everything else TommyC's said, however I'd recommend getting your air filter done every 10k / 12 months (it's only a tenner) as it will help your engine run a lot smoother and be less smoky. 40k is far too long, as this picture of my last one after only 15k shows:

For the life of me, I a have never understood why we can't have a 'hours' odometer on the tachometer in the same way as we have a one for miles on the speedometer. Its common practice on tractors and other commercial vehicles and makes the whole service interval so much more logical.

Just seen your reply! Yes... that would kind of make some sense... Although I guess thats also were variable servicing comes into its own?!

For the life of me, I a have never understood why we can't have a 'hours' odometer on the tachometer in the same way as we have a one for miles on the speedometer. Its common practice on tractors and other commercial vehicles and makes the whole service interval so much more logical.

I know what you mean mate. Would make things a lot less vague as to the life of an engine and it's ancillaries too.

Similar thing with aircraft but it goes on flying hours. BUT if the maintenance engineers have been running the engines for fault diagnosis and repair those hours don't get logged (which i still don't see why after 9 years as an aircraft engineer!!!!!)

Thanks, I take your point on the water pump. I assume that the new ones have something other than a plastic impellor? I wonder whe nthey started introducing them and if the chassis number might indicate which is currently fitted to the car.

As regards the cambelt, several postings here seem to say 60,000miles OR 4 years. I can understand the time limit if the car is driven in congested traffic mostly as this would compensate for a seeming low mileage. Surely the wear of the cambelt and its ancilliaries is directly related to the number of revolutions that engine has made and therefore these two measures cover the manufacturer. If this is so then a 'country car' should be fine to run to the mileage limit surely?

For the life of me, I a have never understood why we can't have a 'hours' odometer on the tachometer in the same way as we have a one for miles on the speedometer. Its common practice on tractors and other commercial vehicles and makes the whole service interval so much more logical.

The four years is not because of usage, it is because the belt material like any other material starts breaking down/decaying/rotting

The metal impeller on the pump is an owners choice,

The new oem are still plastic even on VW, it is up to the owner to make the choice, if your original was good for 60k and plastic, and the oem replacement is plastic, then it may be good

Paying extra for the metal impeller, is just like additional insurance it is up to you

National

4th annual as mentioned is the same as a 40k, all the filters plus an inspection.

You also need the second brake fluid change (if not done) and advise cambelt and tensioner.

Ours too is 4 years old, similarly only 28k.

I had cambelt done two months ago - and metal impeller water pump and on and on.

Expensive - but not as expensive as a new engine.