Interference engine or not ?

[Burhan]

I own Škoda Octty 1.9TDI from the year 2004. Need to know whether the engine is inference or a non-interference so I can decide whether to go for a cam belt change or wait a little longer.

[mac11irl]

when was the belt done last?

top of my head the skoda recommended change on the 1.9 was

1st 100,000miles / 5years

2nd, 3rd etc at 40,000 / 4yrs

 

so your 2004 would be 2009, 2013, 2017,2021 based on age. mileage may vary this though.

[Burhan]

Current Mileage reading is 1,27,381 Miles and I didn't find any history showing the previous owner replaced that timing belt. But looking at the belt it seems it has been replaced a couple of years ago. Belt is not giving out any issues or noise as of now but as a precaution I am thinking to replace it. 

I can upload timing belt images for reference. I wanted to know what consequences am I looking at if timing belt snapped of this TDI engine. 

[mac11irl]

if the belt goes its a potentially (quite likely) destroyed engine...

[Burhan]

Here are the pics to analyse Cam Belt condition. Please analyse and suggest.

[Gaz]

11 minutes ago, Burhan said:

Please analyse and suggest.

 

It is not possible to analyse from photo's of the outside of a toothed belt, where the all important bit is the teeth on the inside.  The belt might look good on the outside but be a mess on the side not shown.  I've certainly seen, and been shown, toothed belts that look good, but are actually unsafe.

 

I'm happy to be corrected, but my understanding is the only true way to check a toothed belt is to remove it, turn is so that the 'teeth' are on the outside, then inspect the teeth for damage, or signs of cracks or perishing at the base of the teeth.  By which time, even if the belt's good, it's might not be sensible to put it back on.

 

Agree with Mac on everything else (although I did think if it's a PD engine, the first change was due at 60k miles).  I suggest if you're not sure, play it safe and change it, or don't and accept the risks.

 

Gaz

 

 

[J.R.]

I have done my analysis and my suggestion is that you take a photograph of the cam belt and not the auxiliary drive belt

 

Your cam belt is likely to be 16 years old, how much longer do you want to wait?

Edited 5 January, 2021 by J.R.

[Burhan]

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

I have done my analysis and my suggestion is that you take a photograph of the cam belt and not the auxiliary drive belt

 

Your cam belt is likely to be 16 years old, how much longer do you want to wait?

Pardon my naivety as I am new to this. But I understand what you wanted to convey. I will surely replace the cam belt rather than risking the engine.

[J.R.]

The belt that you have photographed is not the timing belt, it is the auxiliary drive belt, to inspect the camshaft (& water pump) drive belt you will need to remove the top and middle covers that are just visible in some of the photos, they are held in place by spring clips, easy to remove, a little trickier to replace.

 

The cambelt is shrouded by the covers to avoid dust & dirt contamination, it is likely that yours is on the original belt, I changed mine at 225000 miles but it had less than half the age of yours & was starting to disintegrate.

[srane4213]

Hi Burhan.....
Take it from me...better not to wait for a TB change.
If it breaks it can wreak havoc.
Also when you change the TB, change the tensioner, idler pulleys and also the water pump to be safe.

My tensioner gave away when I was leaving for a long trip.....I had inspected the TB visually and it was in good condition and also I could see the TB was changed when my car had done 70k kms. But the previous owner skipped the tensioner change.....as a result I was stranded midway on my trip and had to get my car towed to the workshop.

[Burhan]

9 minutes ago, srane4213 said:

Hi Burhan.....
Take it from me...better not to wait for a TB change.
If it breaks it can wreak havoc.
Also when you change the TB, change the tensioner, idler pulleys and also the water pump to be safe.

My tensioner gave away when I was leaving for a long trip.....I had inspected the TB visually and it was in good condition and also I could see the TB was changed when my car had done 70k kms. But the previous owner skipped the tensioner change.....as a result I was stranded midway on my trip and had to get my car towed to the workshop.

Yes, I have booked service appointment for timing belt change. New information from previous owner has come to light about timing belt change on 1,00,000 Kms but I am still inclined to do it as the mileage is at 2,05,000kms now.

 

Just out of curiosity, What kind of damaged your engine suffered when the timing belt snapped?

[srane4213]

10 minutes ago, Burhan said:

Yes, I have booked service appointment for timing belt change. New information from previous owner has come to light about timing belt change on 1,00,000 Kms but I am still inclined to do it as the mileage is at 2,05,000kms now.

 

Just out of curiosity, What kind of damaged your engine suffered when the timing belt snapped?

I thank the car gods for this....my timing belt never snapped.....just the tensioner gave away....and car started making all sorts of weird noises.....luckily I was not moving....I was waiting at a traffic signal when this happened....I drove a short distance (~50 meters) to just bring the car to the side of the road.....opened up the TB Cover....and saw tensioner hanging loose.....tightened it up and it was seized up...but timing of the engine was still intact...so towed the car from there....

Edited 7 January, 2021 by srane4213

[Burhan]

New Information arrived from the previous owner:

 

He has replaced timing belt kit on 01-July-2014 at 1,50,952 Kms

Current Mileage is 2,04,700 Kms

 

Is it still recommended to replace the timing belt kit?

[mac11irl]

thats 5 1/2yrs ago.

 

iwould still get it done and the water pump 

[Westbury63]

I would agree, it is time for replacement. Nice car, worth the investment. What sort of cost are you looking at localy?

 

@Burhan I note you are from India, whereabouts? Are there many Skoda cars in India? Be interested to find out.

 

I still have a small crush for a Hindustan Ambassador. We imported them here for a couple of years in the early nougthies, but I've not seen one on UK roads.

[Burhan]

44 minutes ago, Westbury63 said:

I would agree, it is time for replacement. Nice car, worth the investment. What sort of cost are you looking at localy?

 

@Burhan I note you are from India, whereabouts? Are there many Skoda cars in India? Be interested to find out.

 

I still have a small crush for a Hindustan Ambassador. We imported them here for a couple of years in the early nougthies, but I've not seen one on UK roads.

 

Yes the car is really great. I received a quote of 36,000 INR (approx. $490) to replace Timing belt, Idler pulleys, tensioner and water pump. This price includes labour cost as well.

 

I am from Maharashtra near Nagpur. You can find every 7th-10th car to be a Škoda. I know its not a lot as compared to the existing market but its probably considered a luxury brand here. 

 

Yes "The Ambassador" fondly called "King of Indian Roads". It sure has a sweet spot in our hearts.

[Westbury63]

23 minutes ago, Burhan said:

 

Yes the car is really great. I received a quote of 36,000 INR (approx. $490) to replace Timing belt, Idler pulleys, tensioner and water pump. This price includes labour cost as well.

 

I am from Maharashtra near Nagpur. You can find every 7th-10th car to be a Škoda. I know its not a lot as compared to the existing market but its probably considered a luxury brand here. 

 

Yes "The Ambassador" fondly called "King of Indian Roads". It sure has a sweet spot in our hearts.

 

$490 actualy sounds like a lot of money to me. I would expect to pay less than that in the UK! I genuinely expected India to be a lot cheaper than here. Go on then, how much is a litre of fuel?

 

There are a lot more Skoda's on Indian roads than I imagined, probably more than in the UK. I've visited the Czech Republic a few times, and 80% of cars are Skoda, no surprise.

 

The Ambassador, what a car. I am a fan on the Royal Enfield too. Rode a 500 Bullet a few years ago. Such a shock as I ride a Honda 4 cylinder, but the Enfield had so much charm and was great fun.

[Burhan]

48 minutes ago, Westbury63 said:

 

$490 actualy sounds like a lot of money to me. I would expect to pay less than that in the UK! I genuinely expected India to be a lot cheaper than here. Go on then, how much is a litre of fuel?

 

There are a lot more Skoda's on Indian roads than I imagined, probably more than in the UK. I've visited the Czech Republic a few times, and 80% of cars are Skoda, no surprise.

 

The Ambassador, what a car. I am a fan on the Royal Enfield too. Rode a 500 Bullet a few years ago. Such a shock as I ride a Honda 4 cylinder, but the Enfield had so much charm and was great fun.

 

I know 36,000 INR is a lot thats why I asked independent mechanics to send me a quote as well. Expecting a quote around 15-20K INR ($250 - $300) max.

A litre cost around 81.07 INR per litre (Approx. $4.169 per gallon)

 

Škoda is more noticeable in my city because of a trend else Skoda only has a market share of 5% throughout India.

 

In the past I owned RE 500 (Thunderbird). Its a good bike, I completed a Ladakh tour (Including the highest motor able road at altitude +18,000 ft) with that bike. 

Edited 9 January, 2021 by Burhan

[srane4213]

1 hour ago, Burhan said:

 

I know 36,000 INR is a lot thats why I asked independent mechanics to send me a quote as well. Expecting a quote around 15-20K INR ($250 - $300) max.

A litre cost around 81.07 INR per litre (Approx. $4.169 per gallon)

 

Škoda is more noticeable in my city because of a trend else Skoda only has a market share of 5% throughout India.

 

In the past I owned RE 500 (Thunderbird). Its a good bike, I completed a Ladakh tour (Including the highest motor able road at altitude +18,000 ft) with that bike. 

36k is an absolutely ridiculous quote.....I changed the TB kit, Water Pump and the HG for around 17k INR which includes other consumables as well (engine oil, coolant,etc) and excludes labour cost as I did all this myself....IMO you should be able to get it done within 20K if you're gonna use genuine spares and not aftermarket ones.....I would recommend that you look for an aftermarket waterpump with metal impeller as the OEM VAG one has plastic impeller which is prone to failure.

 

Labour costs should be in the 3-4k range for this max. any competent mech can handle this job provided he knows what he's doing....btw if you want I can guide you step by step for the timing procedure.

Edited 9 January, 2021 by srane4213

[Westbury63]

5 hours ago, Burhan said:

 

I know 36,000 INR is a lot thats why I asked independent mechanics to send me a quote as well. Expecting a quote around 15-20K INR ($250 - $300) max.

A litre cost around 81.07 INR per litre (Approx. $4.169 per gallon)

 

Škoda is more noticeable in my city because of a trend else Skoda only has a market share of 5% throughout India.

 

In the past I owned RE 500 (Thunderbird). Its a good bike, I completed a Ladakh tour (Including the highest motor able road at altitude +18,000 ft) with that bike. 

$250 sounds more reasonable. I was wondering, do you have Indian companies that make pattern parts for Skoda, or are they all import? Are they taxed heavily?

 

$4.169 gallon! If you could send some over here!! We pay $7.20. Ouch.

 

Cool bike ride. I've seen some videos on Youtube of Enfields in Indian mountains, looks very perilous. I take my hat off to you Sir!

[srane4213]

3 minutes ago, Westbury63 said:

$250 sounds more reasonable. I was wondering, do you have Indian companies that make pattern parts for Skoda, or are they all import? Are they taxed heavily?

 

$4.169 gallon! If you could send some over here!! We pay $7.20. Ouch.

 

Cool bike ride. I've seen some videos on Youtube of Enfields in Indian mountains, looks very perilous. I take my hat off to you Sir!

Sadly there are no local manufacturers for skoda parts AFAIK.....so even for aftermarket spares we have to rely on import.....if $4.169 a gallon sounds pretty....it was $3.89 a year back.

[mac11irl]

imperial or US gallons?

 

i paid €1.189/litre yesterday for a tank of diesel, about $6.53 / imp gallon going by xe.com just now...

[Burhan]

12 hours ago, srane4213 said:

36k is an absolutely ridiculous quote.....I changed the TB kit, Water Pump and the HG for around 17k INR which includes other consumables as well (engine oil, coolant,etc) and excludes labour cost as I did all this myself....IMO you should be able to get it done within 20K if you're gonna use genuine spares and not aftermarket ones.....I would recommend that you look for an aftermarket waterpump with metal impeller as the OEM VAG one has plastic impeller which is prone to failure.

 

Yeah 36k is a bad quote. I already changed general fluids and filters myself plus I don't even need a HG replacement. So if I take reference of the figure you provided even a 20k mark is a tad bit expensive for just TB kit and water pump.

 

 

12 hours ago, srane4213 said:

btw if you want I can guide you step by step for the timing procedure.

 

That would be really helpful.

[Burhan]

8 hours ago, Westbury63 said:

$250 sounds more reasonable. I was wondering, do you have Indian companies that make pattern parts for Skoda, or are they all import? Are they taxed heavily?

 

$4.169 gallon! If you could send some over here!! We pay $7.20. Ouch.

 

Cool bike ride. I've seen some videos on Youtube of Enfields in Indian mountains, looks very perilous. I take my hat off to you Sir!

As Shreyas informed we have no local options. Even after that, parts cost is the not pressing problem. The real issue lies at the authorised service centres where they charge (sometimes loot) horrendously.

[Westbury63]

8 hours ago, Burhan said:

The real issue lies at the authorised service centres where they charge (sometimes loot) horrendously.

Dont worry, our Skoda dealers have worked out how to charge a lot too! Nice showrooms and free coffee is paid for dearly. Places to avoid once the car is out of warranty.

 

Weirdly though, it can be worth calling them for parts as they are not always any more than aftermarket.