Timing belt renewal

[ECK54]

Apologies no doubt discussed many times, my fabia is 65 plate 1.2tsi with only 28,000 miles on clock. Decision time should I look to change belt or not. When have other users changed there's. If so don't plan on using a skoda garage and will look for quotes from local garages, what price roughly are we looking at. Thanks for any replies.

[nta16]

Have a look at the following thread (and many others) read  it to end and take your pick or go with your belief, I had ours done at 5 years but I wouldn't have bothered if I's seen the info before instead of after. -

 

28,000 miles is a low mileage than can introduce its own issues and possibly need more service work rather than less, you'll particularly want to keep your car battery in good condition and state of charge so as not to upset all the computers and their invasive programs, particular battery and start/stop.

 

[rum4mo]

My wife has a August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS and its present mileage is just over 36,000 miles, maybe I've said in the past that I have plucked 7.5+years out of the air as the point in time that I'll be getting a proper VW Group Indie to change all the necessary bits in that area.

 

I'm following the VW and probably all the other VW Group's marques recommendations on this, which is to check the cam belt visually along its entire length at every annual service after maybe year 6 - though I've been checking that area in general since it was new annually!

[TerFar]

I'm a low mileage user: I have no intentions of changing mine, but will have it inspected (by an independent) at 10 years (estimate close to 50,000 miles by then). 

[AGFalco]

June 2016 1.2 TSI with 58,000 miles.

At the last service I inspected the belt and it looked as good as new.

No plans at all to replace.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

[Eccles]

I asked my very knowledgeable mobile mechanic recently as my Fabia Estate 1.2 is now over six years old. He did some research on the continent (don't know where) and eventually asked how many miles I had done - 17,000 actually. " Forget it" he said, "Those belts are reckoned to be "for life" it seems and vastly better than those made a few years ago so don't even bother until you have done at least 100,000 or you know it has been damaged in some way."

[TerFar]

Ditto for me too. I will probably have mine inspected at 50k mikes, but I expect the car will be 12 or 14 years old by then, so unless it has perished, I'm doubtful it will need replacing. 

My thoughts are that automatically changing them is just for revenue collection! 

[johnh510]

1 hour ago, Eccles said:

Those belts are reckoned to be "for life"

 

I am another who is betting/hoping that this particular engine will be OK - I'm sure I recall seeing stuff about the design of the "EA211" engine, and its long life (Continental?) belt.

 

What I would really like to see, to dot the i's and cross the t's, is for someone from outside the UK to post the recommendations/service schedule for the 1.2 litre version of this engine in their country.

I tried using a proxy server to see what happens in Oz, but never quite got to see anything - they wanted vehicle ID with a VIN before I could "book" anything to see what was required at a specific service.

 

In the mean time, you can take "for life" two ways - if the belt fails it is end of life for the engine...

[TerFar]

It would be good to see GENUINE failure figures for the Cambelt. I dont see a proliferation of reports on cambelts. Just the Guardian who seem biased against everything VAG! 

Earlier 1.2 Tsi engines (especially on Polos) were destroyed by the inlet cam pulley bolts becoming loose (usually preceeded by a minute oil leak) causing failure of the cam and engine destruction. But it was not cambelt failures.

Perhaps VW concealed the facts and covered up by issuing guidelines to check the cambelt at 50k when any oil leak or loose variable inlet cam would be obvious. 

There were no recalls and the fault hasn't been repetitive in engines after 2016. 

[nta16]

54 minutes ago, TerFar said:

Perhaps VW concealed the facts and covered up by issuing guidelines to check  . . .

AS IF !!!! - As if VW* would do anything like that !!  Wash your typing digit(s)!

 

 

 

 

 

* or any other car manufacturer

😄

 

Edited 21 November, 2021 by nta16

[Shaker Steve]

My 66 plate 1.2 Petrol Fabia DSG is due for it's annual service & MOT in early Feb 2022. My dealership tells me that the cam-belt & water pump should be changed. It's only done 7,400 miles so far. Would our experts on here have it done? Thanks.

[TerFar]

There are loads of posts about the belt on the Tsi engine. Your garage is obviously ignorant of some facts as the cambelt doesn't drive the water pump, so it's irrelevant.

 

VW recommendation is to INSPECT the cambelt at 5 years, 50,000 miles on the Tsi unit. 

 

The manufacturer of the cambelt publishes a 160,000 ml warranty. 

 

IMHO, unless you've given the car a hard life in a dirty climate, I wouldn't bother with the inspection until 10 years, 100,000 miles. 

 

It's just a money spinner. Ask VW for detailed information on cambelt failures: of course, they don't exist. 

[Warrior193]

4 minutes ago, TerFar said:

There are loads of posts about the belt on the Tsi engine. Your garage is obviously ignorant of some facts as the cambelt doesn't drive the water pump, so it's irrelevant.

 

VW recommendation is to INSPECT the cambelt at 5 years, 50,000 miles on the Tsi unit. 

 

The manufacturer of the cambelt publishes a 160,000 ml warranty. 

 

IMHO, unless you've given the car a hard life in a dirty climate, I wouldn't bother with the inspection until 10 years, 100,000 miles. 

 

It's just a money spinner. Ask VW for detailed information on cambelt failures: of course, they don't exist. 

Tend to agree with you -  although I 'chickened out' and had my belt and tensioner replaced at 6 years/21000 miles - the old belt and tensioner still looked like new.

The garage who carried out this work also didn't appear to know that EA211 water pump is not driven off the cambelt! Shan't be using them again.    

[nta16]

On 07/12/2021 at 17:44, Warrior193 said:

The garage who carried out this work also didn't appear to know that EA211 water pump is not driven off the cambelt!

I'm not so sure about that, (ETA: Wot!?  Sorry a typo/edit mistake or another brain-fade.) had the belt changed last year on my wife's car before I saw all this and they asked about doing the water pump and IIRC they even put something on the paperwork to say it'd been offered - and this is the official Skoda Dealership in Northampton.

 

And they asked about the belt change when my wife went to collect the car from a service after they'd been asked to tell us all the work service required so could budget for it, and at that time they forgot so had to be reminded that the brake fluid change was due.  My wife didn't want me to talk with them as I found it rather annoying when she returned home from picking the car up from the service.

 

No matter where the car is made you still have to deal with the English Dealerships (well in England anyway) and apart from the pre-VW Skoda Dealership (they told me build quality actually went down when VW first took over) I've never dealt with a really decent Dealership, they may exist but I've not encountered them.

 

Edited 9 December, 2021 by nta16
ETA:

[AGFalco]

Skoda SSP-511_The_New_EA211_Petrol_Engine_Family

 

Thermostat housing with integrated coolant pump.
The thermostat housing is installed on the cylinder head on the gearbox side.

The coolant pump has been integrated into the thermostat housing to produce the most compact cooling system design possible.

The coolant pump is driven by the exhaust camshaft using a toothed belt.

 

 

This is from a VW Service Training info PDF that I have.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

[Warrior193]

The auxillary belt (drives coolant pump) on my MY16 2015 1.4TSI was a multi V-grooved one - not toothed. 

Edited 9 December, 2021 by Warrior193
added note.

[nta16]

Sorry, both, I wasn't disbelieving anyone, I'm not sure what I meant to put, I meant I wasn't sure about what the garage said, typo/editing error.

 

I meant the Northampton Dealership asked the same to either get more work or it's something the bookings/collection person is told to say - yeah so just looking for more work really, to confirm that Warrior193's garage wasn't alone in this practice.

 

[TerFar]

Yes. Most garages seem to be at it. Even Halfords tried to persuade me when it was serviced last January!

[AGFalco]

33 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

The auxillary belt (drives coolant pump) on my MY16 2015 1.4TSI was a multi V-grooved one - not toothed.

Don't think this engine has been fitted in the Fabia III.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

[rum4mo]

5 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

The auxillary belt (drives coolant pump) on my MY16 2015 1.4TSI was a multi V-grooved one - not toothed. 

 

I'm a bit sceptical about that comment, if your MY16 2015 1.4TSI is the one listed against your Octavia in "your details", you say it is an CZDA which is one of the EA211 family, so I'd expect it to have the mechanical water pump in the same position as the EA211 1.2TSI engine, ie at the "rear" of the engine driven of the exhaust(?) camshaft by a small toothed belt.

 

The "front" mounted auxiliary belt is indeed multi grooved but it only drives other things like alternator AC pump and maybe nothing else.

Edited 9 December, 2021 by rum4mo

[Warrior193]

16 hours ago, rum4mo said:

 

I'm a bit sceptical about that comment, if your MY16 2015 1.4TSI is the one listed against your Octavia in "your details", you say it is an CZDA which is one of the EA211 family, so I'd expect it to have the mechanical water pump in the same position as the EA211 1.2TSI engine, ie at the "rear" of the engine driven of the exhaust(?) camshaft by a small toothed belt.

 

The "front" mounted auxiliary belt is indeed multi grooved but it only drives other things like alternator AC pump and maybe nothing else.

Hi Rum, thanks for that - I will have to check, but if that is the case the muppets who carried out my last service (plus cambelt change) have replaced the wrong belt! - I requested them to replace the water pump belt at the same time as the cambelt! Another reason to not use them next time as they also didn't use the Fuchs engine oil I provided for the service.

[rum4mo]

2 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

Hi Rum, thanks for that - I will have to check, but if that is the case the muppets who carried out my last service (plus cambelt change) have replaced the wrong belt! - I requested them to replace the water pump belt at the same time as the cambelt! Another reason to not use them next time as they also didn't use the Fuchs engine oil I provided for the service.

 

If I'm correct the mechanical water pump belt is toothed and hidden from view and if it breaks it would only cause the temperature to increase, also probably breakage would end up be due to an issue with the mechanical water pump, so both would end up getting replaced.

[Carbon14]

Hello

 

I believe this article from Professional Motor Mechanic shows the cambelt and waterpump change procedure.

 

https://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/how-to-install-a-timing-belt-kit-on-a-skoda-octavia/

 

It shows the 1.4 litre engine, but I think the 1.2 and 1.4 EA211 engines share the same layout and procedure.

It also shows the waterpump housing bolt tightening sequence.

[AGFalco]

 

1 hour ago, Carbon14 said:

I believe this article from Professional Motor Mechanic shows the cambelt and waterpump change procedure.

This quote below from the article is wrong.

 

''Now, remove the water pump with the belt drive and after flushing out the cooling system to remove any debris and cleaning the water pump facing, reposition the replacement pump with the new belt, Dayco 941094, at the same time.''

 

This is the camshaft timing belt not the water pump belt which is on the gearbox side of the engine with the water pump and both thermostats in a housing.

 

See here:-

https://7zap.com/en/catalog/cars/Skoda/brand/17/0/Fabia/Fabia (2016 - 2019)/Skoda/bkxoUzRUbHA1YUk4czZBM29VVThKdz09--/ssd/universal/10107->10188->10191/723121050::121005

 

Thanks, AG Falco

[Carbon14]

Here is a video from Dayco that looks like it shows the gearbox side of the EA211 engine from 4:16 onwards