Hi,

 

Thought I'd post this here in case it's of use to others as I found some older threads useful in helping me. I have a 2018 Fabia Combi/Estate 1.0TSI 110HP DSG. At my service last year the Skoda dealer told me I needed to change my timing belt as it was over 5 years old (and not based on any visual inspection indicating damage). They wanted ~€600 for this. Thanks to this forum I discovered that this was not necessarily the case.

I'm due another service now a year later so yesterday I decided to email the main Skoda contact email from the EU website ([email protected]) and ask them if my local dealer (Dublin, Ireland) was correct about needing to replace the timing belt. After providing the VIN, I received the following response:

 

"There is no fixed timing belt replacement interval for this vehicle.

 

The timing belt is checked during the inspection and if the service department finds that it is worn, it needs to be replaced.

 

However, the replacement interval is specified for vehicles that are operated in the so-called "Dusty Countries" and this interval is set at 120,000km.

 

However, Ireland does not belong to such countries, in the list of countries qualified as "dusty" there are countries such as Egypt, Zambia, Vietnam, Syria, Mali, Kenya, Qatar, Senegal and similar."

 

Hope this is of use to anyone else who was in a similar situation to me.
 

The person maybe never read the stuff they should of in June / July last year. 

Cam Belt Guidance change (1).pdf

When I spotted this new thread, I pessimistically thought "oh no, VW Group have revisited this and dropped the replace time/miles" - but not so!

 

So, thanks for posting what the latest official Skoda info is on this !

 

By the way, I've been here/there once before with a 1991 Vauxhall Cavalier GSI - the original time/miles was quietly dropped quite dramatically, I only found that out when reading my monthly car magazine - that got me quickly along to my VX dealer to book it in! 

Edited 10 December, 20241 yr by rum4mo
changed date to time

Dealers in Ireland & the UK and Customer Services were taking the p!th for years with the 5 year / 50,000 miles in this part of the EU / Europe. 

 

This was for the 1.5TSI ACT which brought it to a head when Dealers were quoting £800 - £1,200 and Owners were not getting it done and the Dealers were getting in cars and not a Full Main Dealer Service History, they did not want to put a tech on the job they said took 6.5 hours.  Plus they had not always staff with all the gear and any more then ideas.

Just found this after much searching through the service manual for the 5 year recommendation. (Just inherited a 2017 CJZC with only 20K miles & the £530 potential bill for a timing belt strikes me as crazy! Given the new guidance I think I'll revert to regular checks of the belt condition rather than spend that)

This thread needs to be stickied!

Our 2015 1.2 TSI had the timing belt replaced at 13,000 miles and in 2022, and I think it should have been done earlier, cost then was £102.05 for the belt and £338.40 for the labour. I'll probably replace it again in 2029 - just in case.