Hello everyone

Well i thought my first post would be a hello in the newbie area, but I'm afraid I need to ask for some relatively urgent advice instead.

I've bought a Superb V6 TDI on the 10th, but it's delivery was delayed while a 'blip' in the service history was resolved and the cambelts changed.

Car was delivered the day before yesterday, but has since gone back on a low loader due to erratic starting and being a non-runner. They have since confirmed that it's failure of the automatic cambelt tensioner (bear in mind here that it had a full cambelt kit change three days ago).

The garage have just left a message on my mobile stating that the automatic tensioner is not part of a cambelt kit.

Can anyone confirm for sure if this is the case?

I've spoken with Trading Standards and Consumer Direct and am of a mind to reject the car if it's not the case, so you can see I'd really appreciate if someone can confirm this for me.

Hopefully all will be well and i'll be back to say a proper hello with pics of my new (to me) motor.

Thanks in advance.

Gary

They've ballsed it up. The tensioner is included in a cambelt kit.

Get your money back and run - fast. Any poor work on this engine will wreck it. If the water pump is not renewed, the engine will soon wreck itself.

rotodiesel.

Thanks RD, I thought it didn't sound likely.

The water pump was changed on my instructions.

I've been looking at the picture on ECP and you can clearly see a tensioner with a locking nut, one without and what looks like another roller.

I'll challenge them about it tomorrow. Shame coz it's a 44k car, Nov 05 car, in great nick, but hadn't had a belt or water pump change in its life.

Bit of a sod that I've paid for it, but there you go.

Gary

Technically the hydraulic damper that goes under the tensioner roller isn't part of the kit from Skoda, that much is correct.

However it's pretty stupid not to change one given what can happen, along with the water pump.

Shockingly though the water pump is not part of the cam belt kit, never understood why. My car had had a new cam belt kit at a Skoda dealer 2 months before I bought it only to then discover that: 1) they did not re-assemble the front of the car right, so headlights were misaligned and the bonnet was hitting them, and 2) I had to have the work re-done with a new w/p at my own cost at an independent.

Shows that having full dealer s/h is not necessarily a good thing and not necessarily that all the work is done as it should be done!

Skoda don't advise a water pump change so a dealer won't change one as the job doesn't include it.

That said why someone wouldn't upsell something like that is beyond me, it's good practice and you make money on the water pump, coolant and additional labour.

It's good business.

_{Water pump is a definite must on 1.9TDI, on 2.5TDI it's worth inspecting it but replace only if there is any increased play in the bearings.}

_{When I replaced TB on my 2.5TDI, water pump on the car had same amount of play as the one I bought to replace it. So the new pump is on the shelf now, waiting till 2014 for the next TB job...}

_{I agree with one thing though, it is very easy to mess up the 2.5TDI belt change, and that is why I did the job myself. 25k miles later I still have the car as good as the day I bought it - actually better now...}

_{Automatic tensioner is definitely part of TB job, and it is also worth replacing the small round tensioner for airco belt, as it is usually corodded.}

_{Spray some zinc on this area including the clutch but not the belts, bottom part of airco belt drive is bathing in water and salt every winter.}

Very many thanks for you input Chaps - much appreciated!

After much umming and arrring, I've decided to give it a go.

Turns out it wasn't the tensioner, but the damper that wasn't changed. Garage have now changed it and confirmed that the belt was still timed up and no engine damage.

So all appears well and sounds lovely and burbly (as in how it should).

I'll pop some pics up shortly and go and say a proper hello over in the right place.

Cheers

Gary

The cambelt controls the operation of the valves with respect to the position of the crankshaft ( and hence pistons, position on cycle etc.)

I can't really see how a belt damper or tensioner can cause erratic starting .... the belt might be a bit loose, but it's teeth should still be engaging and causing the camshafts to operate and open the valves correctly. If the looseness caused the teeth to jump ( shudder) then mayhem would break out and valves would start head butting pistons with horrific results.

I would have thought it more likely that the problem was to do with the fuel pump timing. This is provided by a separate belt that drives from the near side cam by means of a "daughter" toothed sprocket that is connected to the toothed sprocket that drives the cam (by means of the cam belt).

There are three bolts that attach the daughter sprocket to the cam sprocket, and these engage in slots in the daughter sprocket so that the fuel timing can be adjusted to give the best timing. When we did mine, if I'm honest, I think we got lucky and found pretty much the right position first time, but I'm pretty sure that VCDS can actually tell you if the timing is correct ..... it's a job I'm meaning to do sometime.

Wouldn't surprise me if the problem was cured purely by adjusting the position of the daughter sprocket on the cam sprocket ?

I put some pictures up on the net when we did mine as shown at http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/199449-v6-cambelt-change/page__fromsearch__1

Edited 28 February, 201214 yr by CRC