Hello,

my car is due it's 60K service and I believe that is time for the timing belt to be done. Does anyone have an idea of price for the part and the labour before I get stung by SUK?

Parts should be around £100 for the cambelt and tensioner.

Labour 3.5 hours at whatever labour rate.

Thats ok then, they have just quoted me £252 all in so that doesn't sound far off, will be a bloody expensive service all in all! £252 belt + £193 service +£8 courtesy car = unhappy bank account!

£252 is very good for a cambelt, looking about £350 from us (VW main dealer).

Allow for a new water pump as well unless you know that you have a later modified one fitted.

Water pump as well, oh dear, glad i've been saving up! They forgot to mention that when they called me to book my car in!

Water pump as well, oh dear, glad i've been saving up! They forgot to mention that when they called me to book my car in!

Cambelt change time is a convenient time to do a precautionary water pump change. Should the water pump fail at some stage after the cambelt change, as happened to a friend of mine, then you will face another bill for a cambelt change in addition to replacing the water pump with a modified one. The latter costs around

What the hell!!! Cambelt change at 60k miles on a petrol car....Why???

I drove my honda for 110k kms and there was no mention of a cambelt change or water pump change. are these germanic origin companies robbing us blind?

They would be well advised to hold up a bank at gunpoint instead of doing all this. At least that way they'll make more money per hold up.

Cambelt change time is a convenient time to do a precautionary water pump change. Should the water pump fail at some stage after the cambelt change, as happened to a friend of mine, then you will face another bill for a cambelt change in addition to replacing the water pump with a modified one. The latter costs around

What the hell!!! Cambelt change at 60k miles on a petrol car....Why???

What cambelt change interval does SkodaAuto India advise for the 1.8T engine? And what is the normal service interval?

Vauxhall was every 40k when I worked for them for the cambelt and rollers.

What the hell!!! Cambelt change at 60k miles on a petrol car....Why???

I drove my honda for 110k kms and there was no mention of a cambelt change or water pump change. are these germanic origin companies robbing us blind?

They would be well advised to hold up a bank at gunpoint instead of doing all this. At least that way they'll make more money per hold up.

its called precaution mate.250 quid or thousands for a new motor should it fail early.

mines booked in at awesome soon for belt tensioner and metal impellard water pump.

Apparently 60k is the first service where the belt's inspected (and then every 20k beyond that)...so it might not need doing. That said, my dealer advised that with the belt being over 4 years old it would be a wise precaution to change it...quote is about

So being as that my 60K service will be coming up sooner than i think how would you tell if the water pump is a later varient? Also if someone would like to post up some service part number for this little lot (ie belt, tensioner, pump & coolant) would me much appriciated.

its called precaution mate.250 quid or thousands for a new motor should it fail early.

mines booked in at awesome soon for belt tensioner and metal impellard water pump.

What cambelt change interval does SkodaAuto India advise for the 1.8T engine? And what is the normal service interval?

I'm sure the change is the same as UK. The service interval is 7500 kms or six months

Sam B - The last Honda I looked at had a timing chain drive, not a belt. Also 110_000km is only about 68_000 miles.

As i said for my honda there was no talk of replacing the timing belt before 150,000 kms. Go figure.

That equates to 95,000 miles(ish) the book mileage for the Octavia is 120,000 miles. They do however inspect it from 60,000 miles onwards. Most people prefer to change them early as a new engine is expensive. I always wondered on mine if, with an unlimited mileage warrant, if it was inspected and they never recommended a change - if it goes bang at 115,000 miles, would it be covered under warranty or is that seen as a consequential loss and therfore not covered? :confused: Neither the dealer or Skoda UK could give me an answer on that one

I changed mine, and the water pump, at 80,000 miles on the diesel and 60k on the RS

I'm sure the change is the same as UK. The service interval is 7500 kms or six months

Our service intervals are either variable (the car lets you know when it wants a service) or 10,000 miles (16,000 km) / 12 months

Octavia 4x4 at approx 72000 miles. ARX 1.8 T engine

Asked Skoda dealer for confirmation re Skoda recommended mileage for cam belt change. New and revised from Skoda - its now 80,000 miles or 4 years which ever is the sooner. From threads on this website recommending cam belt change at 60,000 miles, I asked dealer for update every time car was in for another poor quality VW component replacement. Dealer was emphatic that Skoda recomended 80,000 miles (no time interval).

Re Jap car cam belts had a Carina II for which the recommended cam belt change interval was 60,000 miles only if car was used for stop start motoring - no interval was given for any other driving condition. Asked Toyoto dealer to confirm and he insisted 60,000 miles was mandatory full stop. Due to a faulty memory, cambelt changed at 120,000 miles - no signs of perishing and minimal wear, possibly due to minimal stop start motoring ?

I had mine changed at 61000 (2.0 8V Petrol) and the dealer showed me that there was wear on it. It could of lasted a lot longer but it might have not???

Like Rob said, I could afford the belt but not a new car.

Its funny how the first one lasts 60,000 but then they need cheking every 20,000?

I'm not sure if checking it takes the 3 1/2 hours labour or theres a quick way?

Mr Lummox whens the baby due?

Regards

Roger.

Further thought or whatever on the milage debate - I bought the Oct on 62_000, with full Skoda dealer service stamps, and they show the cambelt as having been changed in the 60_000 service.

Its funny how the first one lasts 60' date='000 but then they need cheking every 20,000?

I'm not sure if checking it takes the 3 1/2 hours labour or theres a quick way?

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The way I read it (though it is a bit ambiguous), is that they don't check the cambelt for the services up to 60k miles, but then for every 20k after that they do - so if it's not changed at 60k, they'd check it at 80k and change it if need, etc.

In theory if it's changed at 60k then the new belt should last to 120k/4 years assuming same driving patterns/conditions/etc.

Checking the cambelt should be part of the "inspection service", so you shouldn't need to pay the 3.5 hours labour as it just needs to be looked at (which I'd imagine would take about 5-10 mins tops!).

My dealer has told me that it's an "engine out" job (not sure whether this is just the service receptionist exaggerating or not), which I suspect gaining access to the cambelt is what takes up the majority of the 3.5hours...

Rob.

Sam B - The last Honda I looked at had a timing chain drive, not a belt. Also 110_000km is only about 68_000 miles.

ahh....i said I had the car for 110,000 kms. The cambelt change was scheduled at 150,000 kms. Plus the belt would have costed me something aroung 100 pounds( where is the pound symbol on the keyboard :confused: ).

The thing is that I'm just questioning the german manufacturer's costing. I'm in business and I make filters for automobiles (OEM Supplier). I, for a fact know that the air filter for the octavia is highly priced and there is nothing special about the original Skoda one to warrant a price tag of 20 pounds. The same size filter with the same media for a Hyundai or Tata (Indian Car Manufacturer) costs less than 5 pounds. Even accounting for economies of scale, the costing does not come to 20quid. The same goes for engine oil, brakefluid etc. The costing is the same for the same standard irrespective of the car brand. So why do they charge so much? Just cos they know that someone who buys a German car (read merc or BMW) can afford to pay that much, hence charge them the same?? This policy is ok for a local neighbourhood business but not for large corporates. Maybe that's why they face so much competetion from the Japs, even though the Jap cars are mostly soulless transports (cept the type R's)

Our service intervals are either variable (the car lets you know when it wants a service) or 10,000 miles (16,000 km) / 12 months

That's interesting. In India the Skoda RS is detuned to 150 bhp. It's the same engine as the one they have in late models RS's in the UK. I think that's the AUQ engine DBW.

So theoretically our parts should last us longer and the service interval should be more as we are not running the car anywhere near it's design limits ( Although a Custom Code remap is available in India, but few get it done).

I guess the conditions in India may be demanding a quicker service (Dusty+heat). Will have to check about preventive maintainance schedules though.