I have been trawling through all my documents for my car - it says the cam-belt kit and water pump was last changed in December 2013 at 88,000miles

 

I am now on 115,000miles and wondering what are the signs that it's on the way out??, I will be changing it in June but am hoping it will hold out until then! (fingers crossed)

 

Will it randomly snap?, or will there be things that happen to the car indicating I should get it done ASAP..

 

Thanks

The most conservative recommendation I've seen is 4 years or 40_000 miles, which would mean the change isn't due until Dec17 or 128k.

I thought it was every four years or 140000 miles, mines had two and done 88000+ in 5 1\2 years.

Cambelts just snap without warning

 

You can assess the state of the belt by opening the cambelt cover and having a look, but that's just guessing really. It's down to personal preference really - some like to do it every couple of years, some rinse them out to 100k miles. 

 

Fundamentally though, a cambelt change is much much cheaper than a cylinder head rebuilt 

Is it absolutely necessary to do the water pump ? Mine's a 170CR vRS with 63k and 5 years old. Simpsons want extra to do the pump, typically !

On a 5yr old pump, you're just asking for it to fail - the sudden release of tension when the belt is removed will usually damage the impeller seal, which will then leak, ruining your new belt and causing you to do the same job all over again. Very rarely the impeller shaft will break, which can wreck the belt - but never seen this happen myself.

 

price wise, a new pump should be in the region of £50 (I get all my stuff at trade prices from TPS, so never quite sure what anyone else pays)

 

fitting time is a matter of minutes extra when doing the belt, as all the necessary bits are removed, plus another quarter of an hour farting about with coolant.

 

Honestly, it's a false economy not to do it. 

Changing the pump at the same time is a no-brainer. A Skoda main dealer will charge you an extra £100 (fixed price) to change it whilst the cambelt is off and the coolant drained.

On 20/02/2017 at 14:35, Pudq1 said:

I have been trawling through all my documents for my car - it says the cam-belt kit and water pump was last changed in December 2013 at 88,000miles

 

I am now on 115,000miles and wondering what are the signs that it's on the way out??, I will be changing it in June but am hoping it will hold out until then! (fingers crossed)

 

Will it randomly snap?, or will there be things that happen to the car indicating I should get it done ASAP..

 

Thanks

 

You are way off the mileage, but time wise the interval is 4 years (5 years on cars registered after September 2010).