2016 Citigo cam belt replacement

[PETER COSGROVE]

Please don’t shout at me, but is there now a definitive recommendation from Skoda Uk for replacement interval?

 

I have read a lot of posts on here, with varying advice, the last one I saw said 5 years or 100,000 miles, whichever is sooner.

 

My 2016 Green tech is under 8,000 miles, so it’s just the time factor for me.

 

Thanks

[RicardoM]

I will not shout at you. I will whisper it.

Relax. Your precious baby will be OK for another 2-3 years. You'll get to 100,000 miles in 30 years.

[greenstripe]

Mine's booked in for a couple of weeks time to get the cam belt replaced - the car is now five years old (28,000 Miles) and I was contacted by Skoda about it.

 

As has been said on here before it's due an inspection every 5 years or 160,000 Km -whichever comes sooner. Any tech is probably going to recommend that it's changed to err on the side of caution, unfortunately it's a pretty expensive job. 

 

My car has a full Skoda service history and I'd like to keep it as I'm sure I'll come to sell it on at some point. After getting a few independent quotes I did manage to haggle the dealer pricing down a bit and I'll have the piece of mind that if anything does go wrong.

 

One of those things really - it'll probably be OK for longer, but if the belt does break or slip, then it'll probably destroy the engine.

[PETER COSGROVE]

Thanks, 5 years was the latest I have heard, so have got a while to save up! I want to keep mine as long as possible, it is just right for me.

The price seems to be around £350 from a Skoda garage ?

 

[Emil]

Does that price include water pump and belt for it too? 

[PETER COSGROVE]

Don’t think so, think the Skoda fixed price cambelt is for everything but Citigo, this was someone talking about a service, who had the cambelt changed at the same time. They didn’t mention water pump.

[greenstripe]

Skoda will most likely quote you nearer £500 - apparently it's a difficult and time consuming job (more so than most cars).

 

No the water pump would not be included in this as it's on the other end of the engine from the cam belt and there is no set interval for replacement.

 

I had two quotes from local  independent VW specialists:

 

1) "Thank you for the email regarding cambelt quotation

Price using genuine parts will be £399.00 inc vat"

 

2) "The price of a cambelt change is £437 this includes changing the cambelt kit/water pump and alternator belt also labour, parts and VAT.

We would need the car for the majority of the day"

 

I managed to get somewhere in between these two prices

 

[Emil]

No set interval for cambelt neither. I wonder why Škoda UK recommends otherwise. 

[PETER COSGROVE]

Could I ask, if you don’t mind, what time interval this was done at, I see your car is 2014, was it done for the first time this year 2019? Thanks

[freemansteve]

I cannot believe that in the real world there is a cam belt in a recent car that needs replacing within, let's say, 60k miles on the average used car. No doubt by saying this there will endless anecdotes about "my cam belt on my Morris Ital" etc. but please, show me your "big data" rather than your religion on this one.... Religion is just another tax on the daft ones...

 

Cambelts do not wear out in a car that is parked in your drive for 5 years having done a trivial mileage. Cam belts do wear as a function of total number of rotations and speed of rotation (which adds frictional wear), which is to say that a low-mileage car that is not thrashed should have a longer cam-belt life. There are plenty of 20 year old cars on the roads with modest mileages with good cam belts.....

 

As I suggest, this is like one of those  oojie-boojie religious faith things where you empty your pockets because the priest says your car will go to heaven with 20 virgin cars if you do what some fake news tells you.... 

 

My advice is to get someone who knows (not Jesus, whose expertise is more about wood and nails than cars) to take a look at the belt every so often and make a judgement on wear or slackness so you can get actual data on the need to change or not.....

Edited 27 December, 2019 by freemansteve

[greenstripe]

3 hours ago, PETER COSGROVE said:

Could I ask, if you don’t mind, what time interval this was done at, I see your car is 2014, was it done for the first time this year 2019? Thanks

My car was registered in November of 2014 so yes this will be the first time. Skoda contacted me in November about it and I said I'd get it done on the next annual service in January.

 

 

[PETER COSGROVE]

Thanks Green stripe

[Ju1ian1001]

12 hours ago, freemansteve said:

I cannot believe that in the real world there is a cam belt in a recent car that needs replacing within, let's say, 60k miles on the average used car. No doubt by saying this there will endless anecdotes about "my cam belt on my Morris Ital" etc. but please, show me your "big data" rather than your religion on this one.... Religion is just another tax on the daft ones...

 

Cambelts do not wear out in a car that is parked in your drive for 5 years having done a trivial mileage. Cam belts do wear as a function of total number of rotations and speed of rotation (which adds frictional wear), which is to say that a low-mileage car that is not thrashed should have a longer cam-belt life. There are plenty of 20 year old cars on the roads with modest mileages with good cam belts.....

 

As I suggest, this is like one of those  oojie-boojie religious faith things where you empty your pockets because the priest says your car will go to heaven with 20 virgin cars if you do what some fake news tells you.... 

 

My advice is to get someone who knows (not Jesus, whose expertise is more about wood and nails than cars) to take a look at the belt every so often and make a judgement on wear or slackness so you can get actual data on the need to change or not.....

Go on take the chance, the cambelt is a rubber/fibre construction so the rubber will and does harden over time (as do tyres) that is why they are given time/mile intervals, Skoda errs in the side of caution and gives a 5 year interval because of this reason if the milage is low, but if you want to risk it thats your choice (by the way i have 24 years as a mechanic/ mot tester to be able to says, oh and i would not trust a twenty year cambelt even if the had 8 miles on the clock it would be changed straight away.)

[freemansteve]

Yes but I'm reacting to the OP with a 3 year old car and under 8K on the clock - I'm not suggesting ridiculous extremes!

 

Edited 28 December, 2019 by freemansteve

[peter3197]

59 minutes ago, Ju1ian1001 said:

 Skoda errs in the side of caution and gives a 5 year interval because of this reason 

Where did you get this for the Citigo? Skoda say 5 year or 160,000km inspection whichever first, not change. The main reason for this , I suspect, is that the waterpump is run separately. If it was a diesel with the pump on it, I would change at 5 years but not the recent petrol engines. 

[PETER COSGROVE]

Skoda UK seem to have different ideas about the replacement than other European countries, no idea why. I honestly can’t remember where my latest info came from. I just know that if I go with advice to leave it, and it breaks, then there will only be one person paying.

I worked for nearly 30 years on all sorts of cars as  an AA patrol, but nowadays my age and the realisation that my knowledge is years out of date leads me to seek other’s advice. I remember quite clearly Ford launching the Mark 3 Escort, they had tested the engine for over a year secretly in a Fiesta, and were confident the cambelt would last the lifetime of the car. The water pump put paid to that belief.

I asked sometime ago if anyone had experienced a broken belt on the Citigo, there were no replies, so either the majority of people replace at the recommended  interval (UK), or they don’t break, or it’s a secret.

If a mechanic inspects the belt, the most likely response is that it looks fine, if there is a mechanic who will guarantee it won’t break within a certain time period, I have yet to find that particular breed.

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/267676-cambelt-or-camchain

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/295006-citigo-cambelttiming-chain

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/431238-cambelt-query

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/450178-cam-belt-change-time

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/457417-80000-service-complete-with-cam-belt

 

[Emil]

Tri-oval sprocket. Only three cylinder. And thick cambelt. That's why cambelt needs no attention. Or at least that's what VW says, cambelt needs no attention. 

 

To be honest I don't know what I would do. Get it replaced every 6 or 8 years? I always want to buy a new little sister before I really have to make decisions. For sure Mii Electric doesn't need cambelt. That's what I'm wanting at the moment. 😊

[PETER COSGROVE]

Does Skoda Finland have a recommendation Emil?  Would be interesting to find out if it varies from UK

[Emil]

I don't know. I have not asked. And I'm pretty sure they don't call to a customer. They try to find another way to make money. 🤔

[greenstripe]

I think it's a case of the cambelt is due an inspection (as opposed to automatic replacement): It's obviously a good opportunity to make money, but also not not getting in to a game of 'he said, she said' as not many Skoda mechanics are going to want to take responsibility for guaranteeing that the cambelt is in good order.

 

Not quite the same, but an example that happened to my partner:

 

She had a 2012 VW Golf 2.0TDi it was always serviced by VW - and the car had a health check done before VW carried out their emissions 'fix' in 2017. 10 days after this the car failed catastrophically, the car requiring many thousands of pounds of work to get it running again including replacing the DPF, EGR and Turbocharger and whatever else (VW put the bill at £7K). However since they had carried out the health check and signed it off prior to the work - VW held their hands up and fixed the car without it costing her a penny.

[Emil]

6 years or 240000km here in Finland is recommendation by Škoda importer. I had to call and ask. 

 

I personally would not be worried about the belt it self but pulleys. Or should I say pulley bearings. 

[PETER COSGROVE]

Thanks for taking the trouble to find out Emil

[Emil]

No trouble at all. Not sure yet if I sell Citigo or up! when Mii Electric arrives. 😊

[snapseller]

Re cam belt changing - how easy (cheap) is it to have the belt examined?

I am now using an independent local garage who appears trustworthy with my '64 Citigo ASG. Thanks.