Alright people bet your all sick of this question, but here it goes.

Me and my boyfriend have I got 02 plate vrs and its got 73k on the clock. We cant find any sign/reciepts of a cam belt change. Should we be worried? Priced up the belt kit and was gonna be around 100 notes. Is this right. It got a hydraulic tensioner apparently, are these prone to go? Do you think it has been changed before or....? I was just wondering what peoples advice would be. Im new to this vag scene, and my boyfriend is used to vauxhalls.

thanx for your time and patients

charlie

Should be changed every four years/60.000 miles, always best to change the water pump and tensioner at the same time.

Indi mechanic will normally charge around £300 for the lot fitted.

May be worth calling Skoda- should be on their system if they've changed the belt. If you can't find out or you find it hasn't been changed, get it changed ASAP! Change the belt, tensioners and water pump (get one with a metal impeller!). Prob worth changing the aux drive belt too as they'll have to take it off anyway. Getting mine done in a couple of weeks time- I bought this kit a few months back- gives you an idea of what you may need. Worked out at less than £150 delivered, but will be more now due to the exchange rates. HTH!

Gerry beat me to it!

Personally I would expect to pay for than £300 even from an indy if changing the lot including the damper. The damper is £70 in its own, cambelt kit ontop of that is about £75 plus a water pump and coolant. So your looking inc vat getting on for £200 just for the genuine bits. Only leaves £100 labour for three hours work book time, thats a low labour rate.

So do you think its has had one on? We got a water pump for £15 but the belt kit just seemed to be pricey. Does look like the right one?

do you get the damper with the kit? :confused:

I got all genuine VAG parts to do the cam belt on my 53 plate octy vrs a couple of weeks ago, and the total cost came to £220 :eek:

For that I got

Cam belt kit, tensioner/damper, water pump, G12 antifreeze and R/H engine mounting bolts.

I opted not to change my cam belt at the recommended 4 yearly interval and instead decided to change it when the car had covered 20K.

But... I have owned the car for 5 years 2 months, and its still only done 18,400 miles.... I think I've pushed my luck far enough, and will change the belt myself in the next couple of weeks.

Eye, and Ross does them quicker than I do but I rekon that 3 hour time quote is optimistic too.

However I wouldn't say you need the damper every time, not at that miles. Also bear in mind that aftermarket water pumps don't come with the 2 year guarantee the VAG parts come with and aftermarket kits don't have the 'replacement engine' guaranee if something fails so I'd recomend genuine VAG parts.

Cambelt kit, water pump + coolant as mentioned at a good indi like Ross and you should be away for another few years.

Greg.

Personally I would expect to pay for than £300 even from an indy if changing the lot including the damper. The damper is £70 in its own, cambelt kit ontop of that is about £75 plus a water pump and coolant. So your looking inc vat getting on for £200 just for the genuine bits. Only leaves £100 labour for three hours work book time, thats a low labour rate.

As others, I'd be worried if the belt's really not been done.

If it has a stamped service book past 4 years/40_000 miles or so, look for a tick beside the phrase "toothed belt", probably between 40_000 and 72_000 miles.

does any one have the oe part numbers available plz for the kit and water pump

thanks tom

does any one have the oe part numbers available plz for the kit and water pump

thanks tom

Tom

Part numbers from my recent invoice are

06A121012X water pump

06A198119B cam belt kit

do you get the damper with the kit? :confused:

No you dont, its an extra £70

Part number 06B109477

Does the genuine vag water pump come with a metal impellor or is it still plastic because i would rather use vag parts when i get mine done next month but seeing the pics of some of the plastic impellors i really would like to follow most peeps suggestions and replace it with a metal one .

P.S . would you replace the damper after 4 years and 36000 miles ?????

Cheers

Dave

does any one have the oe part numbers available plz for the kit and water pump

thanks tom

Have a look at the link in my first post- got all the part numbers you could possibly need!

Got mine done this weekend, with a service... the bill wasn't pleasant!

My local VAG specialist are doing mine for £160 and the parts cost £150.

This is to change:

Cambelt

Aux belt

Water pump

Damper

Tensioner

Stat + housing

+ they're even fitting my Blue Flame free! It really pays to have a garage you know and trust and that you can build up a relationship with.

All that for £310 is an absolute steal.

Does the genuine vag water pump come with a metal impellor or is it still plastic because i would rather use vag parts when i get mine done next month but seeing the pics of some of the plastic impellors i really would like to follow most peeps suggestions and replace it with a metal one .

P.S . would you replace the damper after 4 years and 36000 miles ?????

Cheers

Dave

The genuine VAG water pump comes with a plastic impellor.

I Dont think thats a problem, because it should be replaced in 4 years time anyway at the next cam belt change wether its got a plastic or metal impellor.

You read a lot on here about plastic impellors been found to be broken when pumps are removed during cam belt change..... I suspect a large percentage of those are in fact broken during removal.

Re; the damper/tensioner, I would say yes....change it, I am and mines only done just over 18K. On most engines the tensioner is locked in position once the belt is adjusted to the correct tension, however on these engines the tensioner/damper is not locked and is free to move in order to keep the correct tension on the belt. But if the tensioner is worn, weak or defective in any way then it could lead to belt failure.... even with a new belt.

You read a lot on here about plastic impellors been found to be broken when pumps are removed during cam belt change..... I suspect a large percentage of those are in fact broken during removal.

Really? In most of the cases I've read of, the reason the water pump was removed was that the owner was reporting overheating, and the thermostat and fan sensors were proven good. This rather supposts the theory that the impellor is failing first, and not being broken by the removal. So to does the fact that most thermo-plastics aren't normally designed to be run at 90C in 50/50 water/glycol mix. In fact, in at least one case, the owner of an overheating car had the water pump investigated at my recommendation and reported that the impellor was fine, apart from the fact that that the drive splines on the plastic side had stripped!

Really? In most of the cases I've read of, the reason the water pump was removed was that the owner was reporting overheating, and the thermostat and fan sensors were proven good. This rather supposts the theory that the impellor is failing first, and not being broken by the removal. So to does the fact that most thermo-plastics aren't normally designed to be run at 90C in 50/50 water/glycol mix. In fact, in at least one case, the owner of an overheating car had the water pump investigated at my recommendation and reported that the impellor was fine, apart from the fact that that the drive splines on the plastic side had stripped!

Are you for real :confused:

PMSL

The VAG specialist who's doing mine said I should definitely go for a metal impeller- he said every other one he changes is in bits and it's not worth the risk for a couple of quid more. Maybe some are damaged in removal, but if they're that good, surely they shouldn't come apart that easily full stop?

Although I've no doubt the plastic blades do fail in use, it is also quite likely many are actually broken as they are taken out, any force used to extract the pump will undoubtedly result in blade damage (like many engines I'm assuming, they are often stuck to the block and the blade is a close fit).

The impella spinning on the shaft and losing all pumping action is well known, not a laughing matter if it happen and you don't have the cash for a repair :eek:

Are you for real :confused:

PMSL

I had my cam belt etc. changed at 4 years 29k and the pump as well.

When it was stripped down the pump with the plastic impeller was 50% missing.

A good choice of metal pump is from Follets, good service and very helpful.

A number of other people on this forum have used them as well. Pump inc del. was about £28. Just quote engine type.