Following on from the 70,000miles service  our citigo ASG has now just had its 80,000mile service being nearly 5 years old

 

It took speaking to Skoda UK to get an exact change date/miles for the cambelt on the citigo ... which is 5years or 120,000miles (whichever is sooner). Our Citigo is approaching 5 years so we have decided to have it done now at 80,000miles by our choice. I'd be interested to know how many 5year old Citigo's have had the cam belt change.... even with lower miles on the odo.

 

The cost was was an agreed price of £160 for the oil service and £340 for the cam belt change

The service provided included a taxi to cover dropping off at work and later collection back to the skoda dealership.... around 16mile round trip.

 

Our citigo remains faultless but we are disappointed we cannot order another the same as our current one.

 

 

I did ours at 40,000 miles and five years.

Mine has done 47000 miles and at the last service (March) my Skoda dealer informed me that the  cam belt change was only due on inspection and not on any schedule from Skoda. What is the truth on this one?

1 hour ago, mickey the vrs said:

Mine has done 47000 miles and at the last service (March) my Skoda dealer informed me that the  cam belt change was only due on inspection and not on any schedule from Skoda. What is the truth on this one?

Change it at 5 years IMO.

45000 miles and 4 and a half years

I assume they didn't change water pump and belt for it for that price?

 

Every 5 years sounds good for peace of mind. Even though Skoda says it doesn't need any maintenance until 240000km. 

23 hours ago, Emil said:

I assume they didn't change water pump and belt for it for that price?

 

Every 5 years sounds good for peace of mind. Even though Skoda says it doesn't need any maintenance until 240000km. 

 5years or mileage - which ever is met soonest?!

Who says that? Car manufacturer, dealer, or importer? 

 

 

On 02/11/2018 at 09:28, Emil said:

Who says that? Car manufacturer, dealer, or importer? 

 

 

Skoda UK

Hi Tashas is booked in for a cam belt this Thursday her citigo is just over 4 years old and has done 72000 genuine VAG parts having it done for peace of mind,I personally think some of the quoted mileage’s for a cambelt to be checked are too high,just my opinion though cheers Paul n Tash 

So my Mrs citigo sport turned 5 years 45000 miles. Skoda contacted her to say cambelt needed changed. Left the car with dealer and upon collecting it they told us it was chain driven and did not need changed. Several days later skoda contacted her again saying belt needed changed. A lot of confusion when even the manufacturer doesnt know whats what. 

That dealer must be true professional! 

Funny that in Europe they only need inspecting but in the UK they have to be changed. Not that I intend to keep mine for 5 years but if I did there is no way i'd be paying the thick end of £500 for a cam belt change.

I had the chance to flick through an official Skoda service manual for the Citigo today, so had a quick look at what's stated for the timing belt (and it is a belt, not a chain!) The kilometer schedule - couldn't find anything for miles in the short time I was looking - says the belt is to be inspected (but not necessarily changed) after 240,000km, then every 30,000km. The inspection involved is pretty much all visual, looking for damaged teeth, frayed cords, damaged teeth etc. The same applies for the drive belt for the water pump. Is that a separate belt? Unlike just about every other item on the maintenance schedule, there was no time interval given for the belt inspection. Just mileage. All of this applies to 2014 model year and after. I didn't get time to see if the schedule for earlier cars is any different.

 

As an aside, I also had a look at the manual gear ratios for the 60ps and 75ps engines as I've read so many conflicting things about them. The ratios 1st-5th are the same for both engines, but the final drive on the 75ps is actually lower than that for the 60ps: 75:18 (4.166:1) for the 75 and 74:19 (3.894:1) for the 60. That applies for all model years, as far as I could tell.

13 hours ago, Citigopher said:

The same applies for the drive belt for the water pump. Is that a separate belt? 

 

 

Yes it it as water pump is at the other end of engine. 

17 hours ago, Miller73 said:

Funny that in Europe they only need inspecting but in the UK they have to be changed. Not that I intend to keep mine for 5 years but if I did there is no way i'd be paying the thick end of £500 for a cam belt change.

ours was £340?!

15 hours ago, Citigopher said:

I had the chance to flick through an official Skoda service manual for the Citigo today, so had a quick look at what's stated for the timing belt (and it is a belt, not a chain!) The kilometer schedule - couldn't find anything for miles in the short time I was looking - says the belt is to be inspected (but not necessarily changed) after 240,000km, then every 30,000km. The inspection involved is pretty much all visual, looking for damaged teeth, frayed cords, damaged teeth etc. The same applies for the drive belt for the water pump. Is that a separate belt? Unlike just about every other item on the maintenance schedule, there was no time interval given for the belt inspection. Just mileage. All of this applies to 2014 model year and after. I didn't get time to see if the schedule for earlier cars is any different.

 

As an aside, I also had a look at the manual gear ratios for the 60ps and 75ps engines as I've read so many conflicting things about them. The ratios 1st-5th are the same for both engines, but the final drive on the 75ps is actually lower than that for the 60ps: 75:18 (4.166:1) for the 75 and 74:19 (3.894:1) for the 60. That applies for all model years, as far as I could tell.

yes the water pumps inst on the cam belt assembly

On 30/10/2018 at 09:05, Tech1e said:

I did ours at 40,000 miles and five years.

 

Did you do the belt change yourself?

12 minutes ago, Citigopher said:

 

Did you do the belt change yourself?

 

Nope, could have done but in fairness I don’t do many of them so wasn’t worth buying the tools etc to not use them again. 

"Toothed belt for valve train. Due to its design, internal friction in the small three-cylinder engine of the Golf TSI BlueMotion is already rather low. Moreover, this engine also benefits from the overall innovative design layout of the EA211 engine series and related measures implemented to reduce internal friction.

This not only relates to the crankshaft group, as mentioned above, but also to the valve control and auxiliary drives. The 1.0 TSI is equipped with inlet and exhaust camshaft adjustment; the adjustment range is 50 degrees of crankshaft angle on the inlet side and 40 degrees on the exhaust side.

By taking this approach, the designers of the three-cylinder engine achieve a powerful torque build-up at low engine revs and high power at high revs. The two overhead camshafts are driven by the crankshaft via a toothed timing belt. Compared to a chain drive, it exhibits around 30% less friction. Due to its high-end material specification, this toothed timing belt’s service life reliably spans the entire life of the vehicle. As a result, it is no longer necessary to perform the previously obligatory replacement of the toothed belt as a maintenance item. Overall, the harmonized forces of the toothed belt drive lead to low friction, improved fuel economy and greater durability."

 

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/20150602-golf.html

 

The water module is driven by a second very small cambelt at the rear of the camshaft. This is a lifetime belt. If it fails,  it does not affect the valve gear.

 

SSP-539_1_0-l_3-cylinder_TSI_Engine.pdf

 

 

Other things may fail, and not because they were left too long, see here

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/11/engine-failure-left-vw-owners-picking-up-a-surprise-6700-bill

 

 

Edited 25 November, 20187 yr by xman

That pdf is for the turbo (TSi) version of the engine, but it has some very interesting reading as I have a long term dream to fit that unit to another car. Thanks for posting!

The only person I know who has suffered a cambelt failure says that it occurred just a few-hundred miles after having the cambelt replaced.

 

I think the moral of the story is - let sleeping dogs lie. There is more change of suffering a faulty-install than having the original belt slip/fail.

 

 

On 31/10/2018 at 22:06, SuperbTWM said:

Change it at 5 years IMO.

Skoda UK say change at 5 years.  Skoda say it's a lifetime item.  As Orville says, sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie.   If I do change the belt, I probably won't go to a main dealer.

 

John

Edited 3 December, 20187 yr by jst_at_home

@ the Main Dealers / VW Group approved repairers you are at least getting 2 years guarantee / warranty on OEM parts.

They might try on saying on your bike, we broke your car bog off.

 

But anyway 'they advertise 2 years warranty on OEM parts & labour',  and you are doing things to 'Manufacturers Guidelines' or to Manufacturers Schedule'.

It just so happens that Skoda & Skoda Main Dealers & Approved Repairers have little idea what Guidelines or Schedules are in the UK.

 

Best IMO to use the Main Dealers / VW Group Approved repairers, if they Coc-k up there is come back on Skoda CZ / Skoda UK or where ever globally.

Then there are the Approved Repairers that Skoda / VW can take it up with and the Dealers can tell VW group about the confusion from themselves.

 

Vorsprung Durch Technik = We still do not know our arse from our elbow and we have been designing engines for many many decades.

Edited 3 December, 20187 yr by Offski