Purchased 2011 Octavia L&K, Timing Chain issue?

[boblord]

Hi all,

 

Per title have just bought my first Skoda! A lovely 11 plate Octavia L&K edition with 95k miles on the clock.

The car comes with the service booklet showing a FSH, mostly main dealer but unfortunately no additional paperwork.

 

I managed to knock down the seller considerably on the basis of no paperwork, and specifically any work pertaining to fitting of an uprated hydraulic chain tensioner. I understand that the factory fitted tensioners are prone to failure.

 

I have the car booked in to inspect the chain and tensioner immediately after I pick it up this week, and replace if needed just for peace of mind however I'm trying to save myself a few quid by ringing around the previous service garages.

 

One service entry in particular is interesting - the 60k service ticked the box for 'toothed belt replaced', but did not tick the box for 'toothed belt tensioning pulley replaced'.

 

I've not got anywhere with the garage yet, but just wondered if anyone had experience here, and what they would do in my shoes? I'd like to avoid the (upto) £1000 bill to inspect and replace if possible!

 

Thanks

[KenONeill]

2 hours ago, boblord said:

I have the car booked in to inspect the chain and tensioner immediately after I pick it up this week, and replace if needed just for peace of mind however I'm trying to save myself a few quid by ringing around the previous service garages.

 

One service entry in particular is interesting - the 60k service ticked the box for 'toothed belt replaced', but did not tick the box for 'toothed belt tensioning pulley replaced'.

One of these statements seems to be fundamentally wrong, without even knowing the engine code.

[J.R.]

What engine does your vehicle have?

 

It's pointless asking questions like yours without specifying the engine and its code if you know it, double pointless when you refer to both a timing chain and a timing belt.

 

 

[J.R.]

2 hours ago, boblord said:

I managed to knock down the seller considerably on the basis of no paperwork, and specifically any work pertaining to fitting of an uprated hydraulic chain tensioner.

 

2 hours ago, boblord said:

I'd like to avoid the (upto) £1000 bill to inspect and replace if possible!

 

Cake and eat it?

 

2 hours ago, boblord said:

wondered if anyone had experience here, and what they would do in my shoes?

 

Well I can answer that without knowing whether your vehicle has a belt or chain, you got the vehicle for a reduced price, its 12 years old so cannot stand you in a lot of money, you want to avoid the bill for a garage to do the work.

 

I am in your shoes and I/you have 2 choices, replace the belt myself/yourself (mine is diesel) or ignore it and hope for the best.

 

I actually do something between the two, I regularly inspect the belt and replace it when I can see signs of impending fraying, I took my MK1 Octavia up to 225000 miles like that and then spent £8 on a belt, no pulleys, no tensioner.

 

I checked the one on the Yeti last week for the first time at 120K miles, it was like new (its never been changed) and looks like it will go on to do a similar mileage.

 

I pay what a car is worth to me and dont expect a seller to pay me for work to be done by a garage that I don't intend having done.

 

Editted, I had not registered that you have the car booked in for inpsection/replacement, the above is a bit harsh in which case.

 

No garage is going to inspect and say that everything is OK and you can continue driving, firstly they are foregoing income, normally the minute they have your vehicle apart they try to find/create work, secondly if they did so and you suffered a failure you would look to them for redress.

Edited 28 February, 2023 by J.R.

[boblord]

Apologies folks, I thought the Mk2 L&K came in only one flavour

Its the 1.8 TSI, and its the higher spec version of the engine... 160bhp?

[boblord]

22 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

One of these statements seems to be fundamentally wrong, without even knowing the engine code.

Agreed! The 1.8TSI has a chain, but the service manual refers to a 'toothed belt'. I find this confusing, but presume that Skoda consider the term 'Toothed belt' interchangeable between cambelt and chain.

 

4 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

 

Cake and eat it?

 

 

Well I can answer that without knowing whether your vehicle has a belt or chain, you got the vehicle for a reduced price, its 12 years old so cannot stand you in a lot of money, you want to avoid the bill for a garage to do the work.

 

I am in your shoes and I/you have 2 choices, replace the belt myself/yourself (mine is diesel) or ignore it and hope for the best.

 

I actually do something between the two, I regularly inspect the belt and replace it when I can see signs of impending fraying, I took my MK1 Octavia up to 225000 miles like that and then spent £8 on a belt, no pulleys, no tensioner.

 

I checked the one on the Yeti last week for the first time at 120K miles, it was like new (its never been changed) and looks like it will go on to do a similar mileage.

 

I pay what a car is worth to me and dont expect a seller to pay me for work to be done by a garage that I don't intend having done.

 

Per above I've already booked the work in to be done. I'm just trying some avenues to see if its absolutely neccesary. 

Shoe on the other foot - as a seller I would keep the documentation if possible as it adds value to the car. No documentation = lower value. If my buyer  then goes and does the legwork to ring around and try and piece together the history (which the seller could also have done), then I think thats fair enough.

[jong123]

you are futureproofing the car by getting it inspected/replaced you've saved on the purchase price,  it is what it is.

[Nuclear_Jules]

1.8tsi what’s the oil consumption like? I had pistons conrods replaced and all chains and tensioners.

[boblord]

On 26/03/2023 at 11:28, Nuclear_Jules said:

1.8tsi what’s the oil consumption like? I had pistons conrods replaced and all chains and tensioners.

 Funny you mention that, back in the shop as we speak for an oil level warning light (orange) showing up 200 miles after service!

 

The car will be burning some oil, but 1litre in 200 miles is worse than I've seen by some margin. There is a bit of wet oil around sump seal and some other places, and service noted a 'small oil leak' also so I guess this just needs to be tracked down.

 

What did you pay for pistons, conrods, chains, tensioners? Water pump too?

[Nuclear_Jules]

My one was under warranty from a Skoda dealership. They initially said it was the turbo and changed it. After going through a litre in 150 miles they then agreed to replace the pistons to the redesigned ones which required new conrods. Lucky for me they also wanted to change all the timing chains. They left the water pump.

Dealership figures were approximately £1200 for the turbo and £5000 for the other engine parts and labour.