Hi, i bought my vRS a couple of months ago with an almost complete Skoda service history - the last service was done by the previous owner themself, the rest were by Skoda..... Anyway, in the service book he has written that the belt was changed.

Anyhow, there was no mention as to whether he changed the water pump or did the tensioners as well as the belt, so last night i decided to search out his phone number and gave him a bell...... It turns out on speaking to him that he did not change the pump and neither did he do the tensioners......

Should i be concerned that the tensioners were not done, do you think i should get the belt and tensioners done again at my next service to be on the safe side? the car is approaching 65,000miles.

Many thanks

Steve

The tensioner should definitely have been done, but the waterpump is less important (1.8Ts are prone to waterpump failure, but this weakness seems to have 'crept' to the other engines in people's minds if not in fact). That said, to get the waterpump off you need to get the cambelt off, so many people do it at the same time to avoid two lots of labour. I'd personally be a bit sceptical about the car's owner-servicing now you know about the omission of the tensioner - I'd be going through the service history checking receipts, and anything that didn't have a ticket I'd put in the list for the next service... :(

Agree should sort out these things asap.

Cheers, will get them done then. Better to be safe than sorry as they say.....

Thanks again

Steve

Unless you have a reciept to say that the cambelt has been changed, dont assume that because its been written down that it has been.

There was a recent post reporting that a cambelt was changed without the tensioner, and the whole lot failed and wrecked the engine.

Better safe than sorry - change the lot IMHO. Too much at stake and I would be extremely skeptical of anyone who says that they did their own service. Anyone could fill the log with fairy stories, and the car would suddenly fail fairly long down the line....

Cheers

Bas

I've just done my own timing belt. Well ok, I was there and held things while my dad (the mechanic) did it. Changed plastic impelled water pump for the metal one (as I have seen a failed plastic one from my mates Superb when my dad did its belt) and the tensioner, everything that has to be changed. Also found out that Comma do a VAG spec coolant g12/g12 plus and it was only about £10. Was recommended from the place I got the parts as one of the guys there is an ex VW tech. It might just be my imagination but my engine feels smoother now. Here's to another 4 years before it needs done again.

The tensioner should definitely have been done, but the waterpump is less important (1.8Ts are prone to waterpump failure, but this weakness seems to have 'crept' to the other engines in people's minds if not in fact). That said, to get the waterpump off you need to get the cambelt off, so many people do it at the same time to avoid two lots of labour. I'd personally be a bit sceptical about the car's owner-servicing now you know about the omission of the tensioner - I'd be going through the service history checking receipts, and anything that didn't have a ticket I'd put in the list for the next service... :(

Water pump impellers are made out of plastic whether it's a petrol or diesel engine chap. I've seen just as many diesel impellers broken than i have petrols.

The trouble is half the time they don't last for two timing belt service intervals so halfway through your 2nd service life it fails, a lot of them are missing a few blades after the first interval.

It's a specific design with a purpose. If you're impeller fails the engine just overheats and you stop the car before any damage occurs, however if the water pump bearing fails it throws the cambelt off and does alsorts of nasty things. They design the impellers with a service life lower than the bearing service life for this reason.

It's a case of the lesser of two evils and for the sake of an extra 30 quid every 4 years not too costly either.

Did he say he changed the belt himself? If a garage did it... find out who it was and try calling them to find out.

I asked for a cam belt change not mentioning the tensioners (in my innocence) and they changed both (thank god) and was itemised on the invoice. This was a skoda dealer though.

Could be the same kinda thing?

Water pump impellers are made out of plastic whether it's a petrol or diesel engine chap. I've seen just as many diesel impellers broken than i have petrols.

The trouble is half the time they don't last for two timing belt service intervals so halfway through your 2nd service life it fails, a lot of them are missing a few blades after the first interval.

It's a specific design with a purpose. If you're impeller fails the engine just overheats and you stop the car before any damage occurs, however if the water pump bearing fails it throws the cambelt off and does alsorts of nasty things. They design the impellers with a service life lower than the bearing service life for this reason.

It's a case of the lesser of two evils and for the sake of an extra 30 quid every 4 years not too costly either.

I take it then wonkeyd that you're not in favour of "upgrading" the water pump to a metal impeller version as some on here have eluded to as this would eradicate the 'fail safe' element? which is there for a purpose. I am interested as I plan to change the pump on my 1.9 TDi PD100 at my imminent cam belt change.

I take it then wonkeyd that you're not in favour of "upgrading" the water pump to a metal impeller version as some on here have eluded to as this would eradicate the 'fail safe' element? which is there for a purpose. I am interested as I plan to change the pump on my 1.9 TDi PD100 at my imminent cam belt change.

The way i look at it is engineers have designed it that way for a purpose.

Change it at every timing belt interval for an extra £30 and you will never have a problem.

You would have to keep your car for two cambelt changes (on yours is probably 8 years or 160000 miles) to make it pay for itself.

The problem only usually comes when people try and get two cam belt intervals out of the same pump.

By fitting a metal impeller pump you dont save much money at all and you take away your fail safe.

I would just replace with genuine vw exchange pump every time if i were you.

iv just had mine changed also it is impossible for them to change the timing belt without them water pump and tensioners also so dont worry there mate....

iv just had mine changed also it is impossible for them to change the timing belt without them water pump and tensioners also so dont worry there mate....

hmmm, you can change the timing belt without doing the tensioners and water pump, it's just unwise.

hmmm, you can change the timing belt without doing the tensioners and water pump, it's just unwise.

Exactly, but I disagree about your point concerning the genuine VW exchange pumps being plastic, I bought the bits for a VAG indep to change the belt and tensioners and relay pulley AND pump on my wife's Polo BBY engine, the new genuine VW exchange pump had a metal impeller and the old pump returned to me had a plastic impeller - so it still seems down to who VW's supplier was.

Thanks for all the replies folks.....

Did he say he changed the belt himself? If a garage did it... find out who it was and try calling them to find out.

I asked for a cam belt change not mentioning the tensioners (in my innocence) and they changed both (thank god) and was itemised on the invoice. This was a skoda dealer though.

Could be the same kinda thing?

Yes, the Skoda dealer i got the car from told me the previous owner had done the cambelt his self, i asked the salesman if he knew if he'd done the whole lot, tensioners, water pump 'n' all but he said he couldn't be sure but said that the guy is a very competent mechanic and would not likely skimp on something like that. Anyway, i wasn't happy not knowing if it had been done properly so looked up the guy's phone number using his details on the log book and gave him a call. On speaking to him, it turns out he literally just changed the belt and never touched anything else :thumbdwn:

Well, i will be getting it serviced at the end of October, so i will get the full works done on it this time around and we should be good for another 4 years.......

Thanks again for the replies

I never got my water pump changed with the cam belt, don't see the point, it wasn't weeping any fluid and the car isn't overheating.

Some of this nonsense about the water pumps is in peoples minds, sure you are always going to get a few fail, just like my turbo did, but how many of these engines are running about with the same water pumps in and never fail, how many millions are out there in the various brands of the VAG group, if it were a serious problem, they would advise everybody to change them at the cam belt interval.

My car is 6 years old and has 22,000 miles on the clock. At my last service the mechanic said that on it`s next service he will have to change the cam belt because of it`s age. Is this ture as i thought it was about 50,000 miles between changes.

IIRC the cambelts should be changed at 60,000 miles OR 4 years whichever comes first......I'd see about getting yours done soon mate, 6 years is a long time.

My next service is due in March, should last out till then, seeing i don`t do much mileage.

I never got my water pump changed with the cam belt, don't see the point, it wasn't weeping any fluid and the car isn't overheating.

Some of this nonsense about the water pumps is in peoples minds, sure you are always going to get a few fail, just like my turbo did, but how many of these engines are running about with the same water pumps in and never fail, how many millions are out there in the various brands of the VAG group, if it were a serious problem, they would advise everybody to change them at the cam belt interval.

True, maybe it is only 1 in many thousands that fails and the likelyhood is yours will never fail whilst you own the car...... But, is it not worth an extra £30 or so quid to eliminate the chance (almost) completely??

Personally i'm not gonna go the metal impeller route, but i will get mine replaced all the same - i'd rather not risk being that 1 in thousands that does fail.....

I never got my water pump changed with the cam belt, don't see the point, it wasn't weeping any fluid and the car isn't overheating.

Some of this nonsense about the water pumps is in peoples minds, sure you are always going to get a few fail, just like my turbo did, but how many of these engines are running about with the same water pumps in and never fail, how many millions are out there in the various brands of the VAG group, if it were a serious problem, they would advise everybody to change them at the cam belt interval.

It's a well known thing to change the pump when you do the timing belt because it's a well known weakness with them

if you only do 30000 in 4 years then you'll probably get away with using it for two cam belt changes

but those people who hit the mileage limit before the time limit will be taking a big risk especially as the 1.8 petrols can do up to 111k before they need changing

In peoples minds...lol

Yeah ive only done about 100 of them that have fallen apart..lol

In peoples minds...lol

Yeah ive only done about 100 of them that have fallen apart..lol

.......out how many million engines out there???

Do you mean fallen apart as in the impeller breaks off a flight or two or the actual pulley coming adrift killing the engine?

It's a well known thing to change the pump when you do the timing belt because it's a well known weakness with them

....well known on here maybe but I'm sure not every owner knows this.....

if you only do 30000 in 4 years then you'll probably get away with using it for two cam belt changes

but those people who hit the mileage limit before the time limit will be taking a big risk especially as the 1.8 petrols can do up to 111k before they need changing

I heard that the 1.8 petrols were more prone to this and the Diesels do mtimes have this happen.

Does this happen on the other VAG group cars???

(god knows what's goin gon with my editing)