Like many others I apologise if this subject has gone before but my case is unique and hence I felt it OK to ask again.  I am looking to buy the following vehicle.

 

Octavia MKII 2L TDI PD L&K Automatic 2008 plate, 67000 miles.   Dealer service at 21K shows cambelt changed. I assume that was because they said it was 4 years old.   So it is now 8 years older but with only a extra 55K miles added over that time.   What is the opinion on time over milage when considering a replacement cambelt please?    Dealer services up to 49K in 2016, no evidence since.  Thx   Bob

There is a sticky on page 1 of this forum.

 

When in doubt ask a dealer directly.

Well I understand but I feel dealers will always err on the side of generating income. My hope was to get a view of experience over marketing. 

Remove the cover, inspect the belt and make your decision, nobody can do it for you.

 

On the one hand it hasn't done many miles, on the other twice the recommended time has elapsed, its condition would dictate my decision but I have been lucky so far and changed one at 250K miles when I could see it was deteriorating, others have had catastrophic problems at lower mileage.

For the PD SKODA recommend 4 years/40k miles. I bought a genuine cambelt kit with waterpump and coolant from vwnewark on eBay for £142 and had my trusted indie fit it.

If you do get it sorted make sure they set the torsion value at 0

 

Mark

My high miler was not a PD, its true the belt does a lot more work on that engine.

 

Re the torsion value make sure it is a true zero degrees (very hard to hit) and not the zero indicated when its outside of limits but the engine running like a dog.

Thank you for the response but sadly it serves to highlight the  problem i.e. time against mileage.   Maybe what I should have asked is what are the worst cases of failure you have experienced ?   Miles and time (age) of failure against services or replacement?  I always get the feeling with questions about cambelts the answer is related to ' are you feeling lucky punk?'   I should add that when suggesting I go look at the belt I come from an age of BMC A series engines and have never moved on 🙂

Nobody can give you any clarity as there are so many factors to consider.

 

Worst case scenario being an otherwise sound old runner becomes an dead uneconomically viable repair when the pistons and valves collide and ruin the cylinder head.

 

Belts can fail for a number of reasons, I would think manufacturer's guidelines are pretty safe but you roll the dice.

Tensioners fail as often as belts, as said pds are harder on cam belts apparently. At 8 years you are double the normal time for a change may be pushing it a bit. Can I ask what sort of price bracket the car you may be buying is in ? Is it private or from a dealer if from a dealer could you get a cambelt change thrown in as part of the deal? If you intent to keep the car for any length of time I would certainly be getting it done unless the car didnt owe you very much and it was being run under bangernomics.

My cambelt snapped at 4yrs and 2 months after the last time it was changed. I service my car myself every year and had covered about 24k miles in that time. 
 

 

5 hours ago, jars said:

My cambelt snapped at 4yrs and 2 months after the last time it was changed. I service my car myself every year and had covered about 24k miles in that time. 
 

 

 

 

Kind of says it all really 

24k miles is well under 40k change recommendation

4 years 2 months is only 2 months over the 4 year recommendation 

 

another poster will say they’ve done X thousands of miles in Y years and no issues

 

In other countries Skoda will state a different time/mileage to the UK

 

essentially it’s always going to be a partial gamble as said many times before 

 

my take on the situation if I owned the car from new I would ( and did ) adhere to manufacture recommendations ( at least you’d have a leg to stand on in the event of a premature failure ) once the car devalues to the point of its next major failure being financially 

if I was buying a car from a dealer and the cam belt was over due or due in the near future I’d ask for it to be done before I purchased ( these costs are built into the screen price if the buyer doesn’t ask then it’s a win win situation for the dealer )

private purchase if such work was due it would ring alarm bells and I’d check everything on the car ( twice ) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, davidwhite said:

 

 

Kind of says it all really 

24k miles is well under 40k change recommendation

4 years 2 months is only 2 months over the 4 year recommendation 

 

another poster will say they’ve done X thousands of miles in Y years and no issues

 

In other countries Skoda will state a different time/mileage to the UK

 

essentially it’s always going to be a partial gamble as said many times before 

 

my take on the situation if I owned the car from new I would ( and did ) adhere to manufacture recommendations ( at least you’d have a leg to stand on in the event of a premature failure ) once the car devalues to the point of its next major failure being financially unviable I’d have a long hard think before spending my hard earned on what essential is a preventative gamble ( not just cam belt but any major cost rectification clutch, egr etc etc )

if I was buying a car from a dealer and the cam belt was over due or due in the near future I’d ask for it to be done before I purchased ( these costs are built into the screen price if the buyer doesn’t ask then it’s a win win situation for the dealer )

private purchase if such work was due it would ring alarm bells and I’d check everything on the car ( twice ) 

 

 

 

Amended post to the above !!

 

 

 

Edited 29 July, 20205 yr by davidwhite

What you've got to weigh up is the cost of a timing belt & pump etc change costing £250-£350 at a decent garage against the inconvenience of a snapped belt and wrecked engine ... 

Most of the quotes I have had are running between £400-500 and that in the impoverished North of England.  

Have you tried a local vw indy as they tend to be cheaper that your local Skoda dealer.  I paid no more than £320 last time for cambelt + water pump. If you let folk know which area you live they might be able to recommend some decent places.

My cambelt on my VRS will be due soon. 
 

For a water pump and cambelt I’m getting quotes around the £400.

 

I will be getting a few other things such as a full service and Rear whiteline ARB fitted as well I expect but with 154,000 miles I do like to make sure the car is in top condition