Hi, I have a 2014 1.4 TSI skoda octavia. I am really confused about timing belt and water pump replacement so please help me. My local skoda dealer is very unhelpful and always giving different answers. 

 

1. When do these need changing? Is 8r both every 5 years or xxxx miles. I don't drive a lot so years is more relevant. Is it both changing or just belt? 

 

2. I was under the impression that there is one fixed price maintenance cost for replacing timing belt and water pump. Seem to remember 8t was around £599. Looking on skoda UK website it says £479 for belt and £379 for water pump. My local official dealer refused to do work on fixed prices. 

 

Thanks again 

 

For intervals it varies from country to country. You cant go wrong with getting it done every 5 years. I would also look for a good independent garage who use genuine vag parts as they are usually cheaper than main dealers. For instance my local VW specialist garage will do my VRS for £385 for both belt and pump using genuine parts. 

I'd get the belt and pump changed. Daft as it sounds its a bit cheaper!

On the EA211 1.4 TSI the water pump is driven off the other end of the engine from the timing belt.  As such, I doubt there's a huge amount of labour saving in having both done at the same time.

 

If the semi-random actions of a stranger on the Internet help, I had the cambelt changed at 5 years old on my car.  I have not had the water pump changed.  My theory, based on my research, is that if the water pump seizes it should only trash its own little drive belt and not induce expensive valve to piston interactions.

 

There's plenty more comments in this thread:

 

 

The other posst are correct, only the diesels have the cambelt and water pumped linked. The diesels have a history of premature (< 50k miles) but non-fatal pump failures so the cambelt often gets changed at the same time.

 

In my own post (July 2018) in the topic linked by @iriches, I said that I had not seen a Briskoda post for a CHPA 1.4tsi water pump failure and of course that was tempting fate.

In Feb 2019 my (2014) 1.4tsi developed an intermittent leak that was initially and incorrectly diagnosed as a water pump housing failure, but which eventually required the pump to be replaced. 

It was an expensive and unnecessarily complicated process for a low mileage car by the local South Australian dealer but I did get to put a lot of distance on their brand new loan Fabia, which quite impressed me.

 

Our car is approaching six years old but it has only covered 65k km so I have made a deliberate (possibly ill-advised) personal decision not to change the cam-belt until recommended by inspection.

The car is not worth a lot on the local second hand market but still performs well, so we will just run it with all other recommended servicing.

It is still one of the best (competent, fun economical) cars I have owned and there are no reasonably priced new cars tempting me to replace it.

 

As far as I know my Octavia is still the only Briskoda reported 1.4tsi water-pump failure.

Edited 20 May, 20206 yr by Gerrycan

21 hours ago, xyz321 said:

Hi, I have a 2014 1.4 TSI skoda octavia. I am really confused about timing belt and water pump replacement.

 

1. When do these need changing? I don't drive a lot.

 

2. I was under the impression that there is one fixed price maintenance cost for replacing timing belt and water pump. Seem to remember 8t was around £599. Looking on skoda UK website it says £479 for belt and £379 for water pump. My local official dealer refused to do work on fixed prices.

 

My tuppence worth

 

a: Answer to question 1 is that IT'S RECOMMENDED every 5yrs.  Skoda does not say it's a requirement.

 

b: Whether or not you choose to have this done at a Skoda dealership is up to you.  If you have a full dealer history then there's an argument that it would be a good idea because if something unrelated in your engine went tits up, then you can always claim that you've always had the car serviced as recommended by Skoda therefore the 'may' offer some goodwill. As soon as you go away from Skoda franchise, that chance of goodwill is zero.

 

c. It's up to your local dealer whether or not they fix prices. I've never really been interested in fixed prices as they're usually too expensive. What garages usually do tho is price match so if you can have the same work done using the same parts withing a rsonable distance, your dealer is likey to match that price. If they don't then walk away. 

 

I don't know about today but it certainly was the case there was a fixed price for both pump and belt, but there were also T&C attached and a disclaimer to say prices are subject to change. The cost may be cheaper elsewhere but I've seen a few dealers offer both a belt and pump change for £529 inc vat. ( £429 for belt only ).

 

I don't know if these prices are curent at the time of writing but by far the best example of how various costs differ is by DMKeith.  Note how prices for a petrol and diesel cambelt differ and that they only quote a cambelt + waterpump change for diesel engines.

 

I wish every VAG dealer provided such clear information so top marks to DMKeith Skoda  

 

Edited 20 May, 20206 yr by Guest

Given where we are at, my tuppence worth is that there won't be much goodwill (b: above) in the auto industry for some long time!

I won't be going to a dealer anytime soon unless they are very, very competitively priced compared with an independent. But my car is nearly 5yrs old now anyway.

It’s interesting that Seat’s 1.4tsi’s cambelt isn’t inspected until 160,000 miles and then only change if damaged! These are the the same 150PS engines are they not?

That could be 16 years or even 32 years before inspected, and who would inspect and not replace while at it?

 

Hence manufacturers might suggest 'time in years',  and VW, Audi, Seat & Skoda might have different Recommended Guidelines for 'The same engines', 

then there are different recommendations for different world regions.

56 minutes ago, Leodis41 said:

It’s interesting that Seat’s 1.4tsi’s cambelt isn’t inspected until 160,000 miles and then only change if damaged! These are the the same 150PS engines are they not?

They are the same. The Skoda workshop manuals state the same thing, inspect at 160,000 miles. Skoda uk recommendation is every 5 years. It’s been well and truly debated and a definitive answer on here has not been reached.

Hi G thank you for your Private Message. We had a look at your vehicle on our system and can confirm that the recommended cambelt change interval is every five years on your OCTAVIA. Please don't hesitate to contact us here if you require assistance with anything else.

 

The five years change interval for the cambelt, is independent of mileage. There is no mileage limit for the cambelt inside your OCTAVIA.

On 20/05/2020 at 11:58, Gerrycan said:

As far as I know my Octavia is still the only Briskoda reported 1.4tsi water-pump failure.

 

I just had the water pump replaced on my 1.4.  Like you said, an intermittent leak that fotced my wife to refill the reservoir 4 or 5 times. They had our car for more than a month, but we got free use of a loaner Karoq.

On 10/06/2020 at 19:04, Leodis41 said:

It’s interesting that Seat’s 1.4tsi’s cambelt isn’t inspected until 160,000 miles and then only change if damaged! These are the the same 150PS engines are they not?

 

What's the source of your information?

 

There's a difference in the length of cambelt warranty here in the UK between SEAT and SKODA but ( see SEAT website for details ) that's the only differece I'm aware of.

 

What does VW say? What does Audi say? They all use the same engines.

 

The bottom line is you should take the advice from your dealership because everything that VW Group put to print appears to contradict itself. Let's use that SEAT website for example. On the cambelt page it states that the cambelt also drives the water pump...   which is *******s, it drives it on some engines but certainly not all of them.

 

We need to be careful when reading VW Group blurb as it's often misleading.

 

This is from VW website here in the UK - FAQ.

 

 

To the best of my knowledge, that's the same advice for Audi, SEAT and Skoda. 

 

Note: It says 'maybe advised to change', it doesn't say it has to be changed.

 

Again VW not being clear but when they say "before 4 or 5 years", I believe what they mean is that it's 4yr on certain engines. From what I can gather, vehicles like the UP and Mii recommend inspection at 4yr, everything else is 5yr. Why should that be?  I haven't a scooby doo.

 

 

14 hours ago, hobbie2k said:

 

I just had the water pump replaced on my 1.4.  Like you said, an intermittent leak that fotced my wife to refill the reservoir 4 or 5 times. They had our car for more than a month, but we got free use of a loaner Karoq.

Was that the Hillcrest site doing the work? I must admit it is not really a convenient location for me and I look forward to their proposed move to West Terrace.

A month is a long time to sort it out, so I guess the lockdown must have affected their sourcing of spares and fitting? I hope it was covered by warranty?

7 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

What's the source of your information?

The source is the factory service manuals from Seat. My point was “why the difference between brands when they use the same engine?”

7 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

There's a difference in the length of cambelt warranty here in the UK between SEAT and SKODA but ( see SEAT website for details ) that's the only differece I'm aware of.

 

What does VW say? What does Audi say? They all use the same engines.

 

The bottom line is you should take the advice from your dealership because everything that VW Group put to print appears to contradict itself. Let's use that SEAT website for example. On the cambelt page it states that the cambelt also drives the water pump...   which is *******s, it drives it on some engines but certainly not all of them.

 

We need to be careful when reading VW Group blurb as it's often misleading.

 

This is from VW website here in the UK - FAQ.

 

 

To the best of my knowledge, that's the same advice for Audi, SEAT and Skoda. 

 

Note: It says 'maybe advised to change', it doesn't say it has to be changed.

 

Again VW not being clear but when they say "before 4 or 5 years", I believe what they mean is that it's 4yr on certain engines. From what I can gather, vehicles like the UP and Mii recommend inspection at 4yr, everything else is 5yr. Why should that be?  I haven't a scooby doo.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

Was that the Hillcrest site doing the work? I must admit it is not really a convenient location for me and I look forward to their proposed move to West Terrace.

A month is a long time to sort it out, so I guess the lockdown must have affected their sourcing of spares and fitting? I hope it was covered by warranty?

 

Yeah, it was Hillcrest. They did it under warranty, and they did blame the lockdown for the parts delay. But it wasn't a big deal because my wife liked driving a new Karoq around.

 

Because we live down south, it is a fairly inconvenient location. But now that we're out of warranty, I may start doing service myself, or find a more local place. There is a VW dealer within walking distance...

On 10/06/2020 at 19:41, Ootohere said:

That could be 16 years or even 32 years before inspected, and who would inspect and not replace while at it?

 

Hence manufacturers might suggest 'time in years',  and VW, Audi, Seat & Skoda might have different Recommended Guidelines for 'The same engines', 

then there are different recommendations for different world regions.

its a piece of **** to inspect.

top cover on left side of engine as you look at it under the bonet near the coolant reseviour, unclip a cable undo a couple of fasteners and you can see the outside and inside of the belt, flick the starter a couple of times you check it all around and your done.

 

PS on the 2017 1.4 TSI ACT its not required to inspect until 5 years old and then its a check for wear, damage or cracking of the belt.

After 7+ years and almost 70,000 miles mine look brand new, there is not even any dust collected on the inside of the cover.

replacement is not based on time at all just condition and from memory the km's limit was somewhere over 200,000 km!

 

thats from SKODA ERWIN their online maintnence manual for the CZDA engine.....

the octy 1,4 from 2014 is probably a different version but check the engine code and pay for a days access to ERWIN to find out the real VW truth not the Weasal words of self enriching importers and dealer "Skoda UK recommend that....."

 

 

Some people do not check oil if no warning or tyres or windscreen washer fluid. .  All a piece of pish to do.      PS.  That info or recommendation  on 1 4tsi ACT was changed last June.  2023.   Changed by VW Group for dust free countries. 

 

 

Cam Belt Guidance change (1) (2).pdf

Edited 19 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere