i'm about a fortnight off of hitting 50,000 miles in my '06 fabia vrs.

i've read conflicting reports as to what work needs done regarding the timing belt, is it @ 50k or 60k?

i'm aware that i should get the water pump changed as well when it ets done, but do i do it now or wait 10k?

the car is running a treat, no problems at all.

any help/ advise would be greatly appreciated

Ben

i'm about a fortnight off of hitting 50,000 miles in my '06 fabia vrs.

i've read conflicting reports as to what work needs done regarding the timing belt, is it @ 50k or 60k?

i'm aware that i should get the water pump changed as well when it ets done, but do i do it now or wait 10k?

the car is running a treat, no problems at all.

any help/ advise would be greatly appreciated

Ben

Hello,

The timing belt is 60k or 4 years, whichever the sooner.

Forget about the water pump mate, that's an old story from a completely different engine, I still have the original one in and it's going fine at 94k. If it were a problem then Skoda/VW would issue a fix to the dealers about changing them with the timing belt.

I think the 50k is just a standard lube service, check in the service book and it will have a chart of what want's doing.

Ben

cheers for the reply,

my cars a july 2006 so i can leave the belt until the summer which will space out the expenditure nicely.

thanks again

I'm not sure about not changing the water pump. It adds about £40 to the bill and it's recommended by almost everyone. Think of it as a £40 insurance policy.

I'm not sure about not changing the water pump. It adds about £40 to the bill and it's recommended by almost everyone. Think of it as a £40 insurance policy.

The water pump failure problem was on a different engine to the 1.9TDi, I'm sure it was a petrol engine.

They may have had a few fail on very early tdi's but they would have sorted that out fairly fast I would have thought.

If the pump 'fails' it's more likely that the impeller has broken up inside, so the pump won't fall off and slip the belt.

You have more chance of stripping teeth off the belt and killing the engine that way than the pump failing.

......how many millions of these engines have been made and used across the VW group?

It's up to you at the end of the day, I asked the Skoda tech in the workshop and he told me it's not something that they tell people to do with a belt change but he does do the odd one or two and the ones he removes have nothing wrong with them.

Ben

I'm just going through this myself on a April 06 Fabia VRS with service, cambelt, bushes, brake discs/pads etc.

For info the cheapest quote I got for a cambelt change was Simpsons in Colne (a main dealer no less), who wanted £300.21p all in. With another £45 on top for the water pump to be changed "If it needed doing, but they don't normally". The most expensive was Hobin in Manchester, who quoted a barely believable £401 + VAT for the cambelt change, or £501 + VAT with the waterpump.

Based on the prices I'm being quoted I'm doing most of it myself (oil/filters/brakes/bushes) and providing VAG parts to a local garage who are doing the bits I can't (i.e. cambelt, I'd only make a balls of it).

the ones he removes have nothing wrong with them.

Yes, and that's good as surely all service parts should hopefully still be working fine when they are replaced. It's the difference between maintenance and a repair.

The idea is that by maintaining the car you avoid a more expensive repair.

The people that do my maintenance recommend that it's done. So I do it.

If the pump 'fails' it's more likely that the impeller has broken up inside

Again, I don't really see the upside to the water pump not working whether it slips the belt or not. You still need to strip the engine again and with that job is almost 100% labour, so it's going to be almost as expensive as doing the cambelt again. For £45 do you REALLY want to risk it?

Edited 11 February, 201016 yr by wja96

Preventative is much better (and cheaper) than breakdown maintenance. The belt and tensioners may be OK but if they fail, you may need a new engine. The water pump is not essential (I didn't have mine changed last year), but if it fails, you need to remove the timing belt to get at it. I will get mine done next time, in 3 years time.

Get it all done mine started leaking and failed so it can happen....