Can anyone confirm if a car I'm looking at has a timing belt or a chain. I've tried searching but am still none the wiser.

The car is an Octavia VRs 2.0 TFSi on a 2011 plate.

Dealer says chain but I thought they were belts till they became TSi engines - but I'm no expert.

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/320854-octavia-mk2-engines-dpfs-cambelts-oils-brakes-and-servicing-info/#entry3843172

VRS on 2011 is facelift with TSI engine. It is chain driven.

TSi chain driven.

If it's at a dealer - ask them why they don't know what engine should be in a 2011 vRS

If they still say it's TFSI - try to find out what makes this one special to have the older engine after it was phased out.

It's not a Skoda dealer, it's an independent used car place. To be fair they did say it had a chain - it's the auto trader advert which says TFSi - which got me thinking.

Thanks for all the replies confirming.

I have the same vehicle, mine is a December 2011. Interestingly, on my engine cover it says TSI, but in the log book it states TFSI. Either way, it has a chain not a belt. 

Chain. ..and if your lucky enough the tensioner won't fail.

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Chain. ..and if your lucky enough the tensioner won't fail.

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That post makes it sound like it's more likely to fail than it won't.

When you consider the quite literally thousands and thousands of these engines on the road and the number of failures - this most definitely is not the case.

 

If you are completely and utterly unlucky then it might fail - also add in that it's a 2011 model, so the tensioner has had at least one revision from the 09/10 cars which, with the extremely limited information we've seen, make up the majority of the failures.

I have the same vehicle, mine is a December 2011. Interestingly, on my engine cover it says TSI, but in the log book it states TFSI. Either way, it has a chain not a belt.

Mine is the same, definitely a TSI and the engine cover has TSI. Yet my log book, invoices from Skoda and my insurance company all have it as TFSI.

That post makes it sound like it's more likely to fail than it won't.

When you consider the quite literally thousands and thousands of these engines on the road and the number of failures - this most definitely is not the case.

 

If you are completely and utterly unlucky then it might fail - also add in that it's a 2011 model, so the tensioner has had at least one revision from the 09/10 cars which, with the extremely limited information we've seen, make up the majority of the failures.

Well, I'm on my second engine!

Another case of TSI engine and states that on the engine cover....but logbook says TFSI! Caused me some confusion at first....learned to live with it!!

Well, I'm on my second engine!

Yup and I'm sure it was annoying and a pain in the arse.

Doesn't change the fact that the number of failures is minuscule compared to the number of engines out there.

 

I had my PS3 fail on me within 4 weeks of owning it. I cannot now say "well if you're lucky your PS3 wont fail and go totally wrong" - even though there are plenty of others out there who had a similar issue. It's all down to numbers and when you even attempt to work those out based on the number of these TSI units sitting in Skoda, VW, SEAT and to a degree (although modified) Audi's it's unfair to say "Only luck will stop you getting a failure".

Well, I'm on my second engine!

Luckily, I'm still on my first  :p