"sealed for life" ? Are they not inspected at certain stages etc?

Of course, few engines are really "sealed-for-life" are they.

At least this one should be "sealed-for-the-time-I-have-it " and shouldn't need 'opening up' for any 3/4 year (or so) belt change at £££ whatever! Nice little earner for dealers that, isn't it?

Mines on 94k original water pump and had one timing belt change so far with no problems, as others have said though its a risk you take.

Mines on 94k original water pump and had one timing belt change so far with no problems, as others have said though its a risk you take.

Continued Good luck to you too.

I know of a couple of colleagues who had their cam-belts changed on both Nissan and a VW Golf only to have them snap on both within a few hundred miles of getting the job done....God knows why. Did the mechanics damage them or over stretch when fitting? Was the timing a couple of teeth 'out' on the cam cog causing unneccessary strain? Who knows, but they were gutted and one even had to legally fight the dealer for a whole new engine or rebuild !!

On the other hand , my daughter's 1.6 SE Golf Mk4 had a belt & tensioner failure at 52000 mls with its previous and very careful owner who'd had it religiously VAG serviced by Vindi's Cambridge , luckily no valve or piston damage and has run like a good'un ever since repair. It now has 148,000 mls and I had its belt and tensioner changed a couple of thousand ago just to be safe side.

What is the answer with these things??

My car had its 4th service today (i bought the service plan deal of 2 services when i purchased the car in sept 2010) & when i picked it up i was informed it will require its cambelt replacing in sept 2012 as its 4 years old,no mention of water pump change though,the price the quoted was £299.00 all inc.