Cambelt change necessary after 5 years?

[sid8055]

Hi There,

 

I drive a Skoda Karoq(1.5 TSI ACT), purchased in June 2018. I recently got a email/message from my dealership that I was due a cambelt change after 5 years. I have been quoted 1000 £ for this.

 

I was just trying to get a couple of other quotes from Skoda authorized service centers. And one of them has come back saying there has been an advisory update/change from Skoda (only today!!!) that the cambelt change is not necessary every 5 years anymore. Their email is as below.

 

 

Good afternoon,

 

Further to our conversation earlier today, I can confirm that Škoda is removing the recommendation to replace the cambelt every five years.  This means that there is no service interval at all.

 

Many thanks

 

My dealership say there are not aware of any such advisory change/update from Skoda and still recommend me to change the cambelt as its been 5 years.

 

I am more than happy not to change the cambelt if its not necessary as this is a big expense. But wondering if anyone had any thoughts and advice me on this?

 

Thank you,

Sid

 

[Ootohere]

Welcome. 

 

Well that will save Dealerships lots of work, and owners lots of money.

 

 

Is that Skoda UK removing the recommendation to replace @ 5 years because it was not Skoda CZ or VW Group outside the UK,s recommendation, guidelines, or schedule.

Is that the same for all the other Euro 6 TSI's with Cambelts?

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/510175-karoq-cam-belt-change-start-saving-now

 

 

Edited 3 July, 2023 by toot

[sid8055]

Many thanks for your reply @toot

 

I was sent that email from one of the service centers I tried to book a cam belt change at. When I called them back to check where they got the info from, they mentioned Skoda guidelines and recommendations have changed today and they had received an email only today. When I called Skoda UK themselves , they said they weren't aware of such an update and they still recommend chaning the cam belt every 5 years or 50k miles. So I'm still confused :D

 

Another dealership got back to me saying that it's better I got it replaced as well considering I was past the 5 year mark.

 

I went through the thread you posted above and read the messages. If I understand it right skoda does not really recommend changing the cam belt and it is one for life? So the dealerships are just playing scare tactics and getting customers to change it? 

 

Many thanks.

[kodiaqsportline]

2 hours ago, sid8055 said:

When I called Skoda UK themselves , they said they weren't aware of such an update and they still recommend chaning the cam belt every 5 years or 50k miles. So I'm still confused

 

 If I understand it right skoda does not really recommend changing the cam belt and it is one for life? So the dealerships are just playing scare tactics and getting customers to change it?

 

It never helps when everyone isn't singing off the same hymm sheet.  If there is a recent change then it wont have had time to circulate. Lots of updates or even new models to the UK market take ages to circulate amongst dealers. VAG have a very inefficient way of communicating, that's for certain.

 

As I keep saying everytime the word 'life' is mentioned, the life of what?  The belt, the engine, the car, the owner?  Unless the word 'life' is defined then it's meaningless. Ask 10 people what the life of the belt is and you'll get 10 different answers.

 

Given the sums involved, I'd suggest the majority of cars have gone past the 5yr recommendation. So how many posts are there where owners have complained of the belt going 'snap'?  I'm not aware of any, I'm certainly not aware of UK belts being less efficient that anywhere else. If there are any posts then it's very rare.

[Ootohere]

The majority of 1.5 TSI ACT engines in Skoda Models have not gone beyond 5 years, there are some and more as they get past 5 years old.

There are the sister brands that had these engines earlier and are past 5 years old and VW & Warranty companies will be leaning about any failure rate globally and country by country.

 

The Recommendations, Guidelines, Specifications or even Schedules for Servicing & Maintenance might well change for World Regions including those for the UK.

 

This has happened over generations of cars,  Service Intervals like when Skoda was still Codes for Fixed OIl & Filter Changes in some engines as they went Euro 5 and for a couple of years yet the same engines were in a VW, SEAT or Audi and had a code allowing Variable / Flexible Oil & Filter servicing.

 

The DSG or S-Tronic advice was different and confusion on which was which Semi Automatic.  This still happens.

 

Haldex advice changed, Brake Fluid Schedules also. VAQ diffs, Cam Belt advice and recommendations have changed on vehicles / engines for decades now.

 

You do not know how cars / engines are after 6 years or maybe 80,000 miles until you get to 6 years and 80,000 miles, you learn the percentage of failures and the success of good design, components and manufacturing and you can adjust Servicing & Maintenance advice.

(That is the manufacturers, dealers , garages, parts suppliers and warranty providers that should gain the knowledge.)

Not just a guess from social media / forums and numbers reporting issues or not putting issues out in public.

 

The only issue is that people might not actually bother to learn any of the stuff, learn it on the job from someone without a clue or a care.

Learn about keeping vehicles long term from people that do not keep vehicles any length of time outwith the Manufacturers Warranty.

Or drive the works vehicles like many do in Car Dealerships, Demonstrators, Courtesy cars / Management cars of which they never even lift the bonnet of to check anything or top up including the oil.

Edited 4 July, 2023 by toot

[sid8055]

Thanks @kodiaqsportline @toot for all your replies. This has clarified things for me and I definitely wont be running off immediately to change my cam belt as I have just hit the 5 year mark. I understand there might be a risk involved with this and hopefully I am not the chosen one to be reporting of a cam belt failure on here  

[kodiaqsportline]

9 hours ago, toot said:

The majority of 1.5 TSI ACT engines in Skoda Models have not gone beyond 5 years, there are some and more as they get past 5 years old.

There are the sister brands that had these engines earlier and are past 5 years old and VW & Warranty companies will be leaning about any failure rate globally and country by country.

 

 

 

Not sure what Skoda says but if we take something like VW Golf Mk7 I had which during it's production run, could be ordered with a150 1.4 ACT engine and the 1.5 ACT engine which superceded it. The belt part number is exactly the same for both engines.

 

That same belt is getting on for 10yr and it's the exact same story - plenty of theory written about catastrophic failures but very little evidence of the belt going 'pop'.

 

Anyway that's not the point - if a manufacturer recommend something and you chose to ignore it then it's as good as waving goodbye to any future goodwill. Will be very interesting to see if their UK policy has indeed changed. 

[Ootohere]

The Belt might well be the same.

Other components being replaced are not the same. 

 

Yes there were and are 1.4 TSI and TSI ACT, and 1.5 TSI non ACT and 1.5 TSI ACT across the 4 brands.

 

I have not heard from anyone's mouth or heard or ready anyplace of any catastrophic failures or issues other than from the work being done and wrongly.

That is an issue.

 

So what we need is THE CAR MANUFACTURERS RECOMMENDATION, 

That is VW, SKODA, SEAT or AUDI, and then you might have the Importers recommendation, guidelines, specification or schedules in writing.

 

Get it from the horses mouth, get it in writing, get it confirmed exactly what is required to be done when in the UK if it is a UK registered car with an Extended or Used car Warranty.

 

The OP has pretty well tried to get the info, has the info from a source and that might or might not be worth the paper or screen it is written on. 

[Crasher]

The EA211 Evo 1.5 ACT Self Study Program says the belt is maintenance free, if you put a Evo2 car into the Digital Service system there is no distance or time interval BUT I would say 100k miles or ten years. Anyone who does one of these MUST have the 007 digital valve timing checker which is £k and currently unavailable.

[FabFabFabia]

My 2018 Karoq Edition 1.5 TSI DSG has done 13,500 miles in 5 years. Should I get my cambelt changed at the next service in September? I'm sure the dealer will advise that this work would now be due...

[agedbriar]

I had the 4 years service done in May by the official Skoda dealer I had bought the car from.

 

Before leaving, I asked when the cam belt change was due and the guy replied that there was no cam belt change in the schedule, so my engine must have a cam chain.

[FabFabFabia]

6 minutes ago, agedbriar said:

I had the 4 years service done in May by the official Skoda dealer I had bought the car from.

 

Before leaving, I asked when the cam belt change was due and the guy replied that there was no cam belt change in the schedule, so my engine must have a cam chain.

This website indicates that my particular model has a cam belt not a cam chain 😞   https://timingbeltorchain.net/skoda-karoq-nu7-engines-models-2017-timing-belt-or-chain-2114

Edited 4 July, 2023 by FabFabFabia

[agedbriar]

Great find FabFabFabia!

 

So mine is cam belt as well.

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/505586-cost-of-cambelt-change/page/2

Edited 4 July, 2023 by toot

[kodiaqsportline]

4 hours ago, FabFabFabia said:

My 2018 Karoq Edition 1.5 TSI DSG has done 13,500 miles in 5 years. Should I get my cambelt changed at the next service in September? I'm sure the dealer will advise that this work would now be due...

 

Not trying to be funny but having covered just 13500 miles in 5years, your car is probably a higher risk of having issues than a car that's had average use.

 

Stands to reason - moving components aren't being regularly lubricated. 

[DSL]

Would be too much to hope that the 2.0 Tdi is the same?  

[varooom]

1 hour ago, DSL said:

Would be too much to hope that the 2.0 Tdi is the same?  

Up to MY20 and after MY21 the belt is 210,000km (60,000km in dust rich Countries)

[kodiaqsportline]

36 minutes ago, varooom said:

Up to MY20 and after MY21 the belt is 210,000km (60,000km in dust rich Countries)

 

"Up to MY21 and after MY21".    Is that another way of saying all of them ?    

[varooom]

1 hour ago, kodiaqsportline said:

"Up to MY21 and after MY21".    Is that another way of saying all of them ?    

Didn't even quote me accurately, and I didn't write the maintenance PDF file.

 

You must be bored 🤔

[sussamb]

Reckon it means all of them except MY21?

Edited 5 July, 2023 by sussamb

[varooom]

10 minutes ago, sussamb said:

Reckon it means all of them except MY21?

No definitely not correct.

 

Up to MY20 then it swaps to a new year MY21 (meaning anything built in MY21 and onwards.)

[sussamb]

Ah ok but that's not what was said above, it said up to MY21 and after MY21 

[kodiaqsportline]

2 hours ago, varooom said:

Didn't even quote me accurately, and I didn't write the maintenance PDF file.

 

You must be bored 🤔

 

It matters not a jot who wrote the maintenance PDF, all I'm saying is  'All models'  is a darn site easier to understand than "Up to MY20 and after MY21" which implies there's something inbetween that doesn't adhere to those specs.

 

It's only an innocent comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 5 July, 2023 by kodiaqsportline

[DSL]

So, have I got this right, my MY20 will need a cam belt change at 5 years?  The car will only have ~25k on the clock when that date arrives. 🙁

[Suuntobob]

I had my Octavia 1.4 tsi cambelt changed at 5 years and 38k miles and asked for the old belt and tensioners back. On inspection they looked brand new. I still have them . I am on hols at moment but will post photos when i get back.