Hi Guys, My heart breaks as my VRS had to be towed to the service center as the cambelt broke. Am probably looking at a huge repair cost (estimates are yet not in).What ****es me off is that I have regular car servicing done and yet when this happened, the service center guys tell me that at 60K Km the cam belt can go any time. Why was the wear & tear not noticed during the regular service? I would have gladly replaced the cambelt before it broke had someone just told me so......I request all of you to please advice if I need to do any preventive maaintenance and change any other parts over the life of the VRS so that my dear car never has to be towed. My VRS has done 60K Km and is 3.5 years old, Most of the time at a crawling pace of a city traffic. But have done some speed runs on it, even taken it to its max of 215Km/Hr.Thanks in advance for the advice. Regards Chintan

Edited 17 August, 200817 yr by crdhanak

Sorry to hear that buddy..... Get them to change the water pump as well as the tensioners...Get the metal impellor water pump as the plastic ones are prone to failure

Phil

How old is the car?

Cambelt should also be changed at four years for this very reason.

The car is 3.5 years old. March 2005 make. I am a second owner, bought it in May last year. it had done about 35K Km when I had bought it. Chintan

Yep, make sure you get the water pump changed to a metal one!!!

Sounds like you have been unlucky, hope it ain't too expensive.

Damn, Just got an update and an estimate. Will cost me about 2000 US$ (Indian Rs 1,00,000). Will have to replace the intake and exhaust valves and some other parts.

Chintan

harsh mate, unlucky. Is there no way of getting a dealer contribution towards the costs, because if you have been having it serviced at a main dealer and the belt has let go before the mileage limit (60,000 miles) and age limit (4 years), and they failed to advise you it needed doing soon, then surely they have to make a contribution towards the costs??? I think what water pump to go for is the least of your worries :s, (but my 2 pennies worth is stick with plastic because the metal ones seem to sufffer failure from bearing seizer more then the plastic ones breaking up).

Hi Guys, My heart breaks as my VRS had to be towed to the service center as the cambelt broke. Am probably looking at a huge repair cost (estimates are yet not in).What ****es me off is that I have regular car servicing done and yet when this happened, the service center guys tell me that at 60K Km the cam belt can go any time. Why was the wear & tear not noticed during the regular service? I would have gladly replaced the cambelt before it broke had someone just told me so......I request all of you to please advice if I need to do any preventive maaintenance and change any other parts over the life of the VRS so that my dear car never has to be towed. My VRS has done 60K Km and is 3.5 years old, Most of the time at a crawling pace of a city traffic. But have done some speed runs on it, even taken it to its max of 215Km/Hr.Thanks in advance for the advice. Regards Chintan

wear and tear on a belt is something you can't detect...at least thats what several mechanics tell me. And have to agree because I've had changed about 3 on the same car and noticed a belt that had done 50k didnt look that much older than one that did 20k.

I would change the belt, tensioners and water pump well in advance of what skoda claim. If it says 60k, then change it every 45k. Thats what I used to do on my old car...a ford escort. No harm in being cautious even though skoda would say otherwise. I change my oil and filter every 3 months for example

if yours had done 60k and is 3 and half years old, the servicing gararge should have advised to change it.

Lots of city driving would be considered "extreme use" so belts, oils etc should be replaced earlier. Sitting with the engine running without moving for an hour will be the same as driving down the motorway for 15 mins.

Tractors aren't serviced by milage but by engine hours - you'd think cars would have a similar system to combat this sort of problem.

Chintan, sorry to hear of your troubles and the cost to get it sorted. You will get there in the end I am sure.

The cambelt is not inspected as part of the service due to the amount of disasembly required to get access to it in such a way that the belt can be seen clearly. If it were to become part of the service, expect to add at least 1 hours labour to the cost (200 US$ approx). In the UK, the belt is recommended to be changed at 60k miles (96k kms) or 4 years whichever comes first. Your climate could mean that the belt needs changing sooner.