Hi all, it's been a while since being on here, after selling my Fabia VRS but I'm going to be back again as I'm buying my daughters 2018 Fabia Monte Carlo ( 1 Litre) The car is currently on 60'000 miles and I'm reading mixed reports about the cambelt service intervals. Some reports stating 60'000 miles / 5 year intervals and other reports stating 15 years !! Can anyone help me out with this quandary .

The robbing b*st*rds at VWŠkoda UK had it at 5 years or 50,000 miles unlike the rest of Europe at least, then in for 1st july 2023 they came clean and in line with Europe at least and put it to - "The new advice is to use the intervals recommended in ElsaPro for all engines. For some variants, this means that there is no service interval at all, with 'fitted for life' items that can be considered as 15 years or '18O,000 miles."

CamBeltchangechange.pdf

Edited 19 May, 20251 yr by nta16

Wow...So if this is across the entire VWAG then it has been a very lucrative business. My wife's 2018 Seat Leon is also Nearing 60'000 miles so I'm assuming same new rules applies to her vehicle ?

15 years and over 100k miles, I've changed one on that recently and swear it could have gone another.

Bearings, belt condition, all very good.

10 years and 100k is a sensible I think

Thanks for the replies guys. Has now got me wondering how long the water pump lasts 🤔

1 hour ago, valvedoctor46 said:

Wow...So if this is across the entire VWAG then it has been a very lucrative business. My wife's 2018 Seat Leon is also Nearing 60'000 miles so I'm assuming same new rules applies to her vehicle ?

Yes lucrative plus manipulates funds, revenue and profit through the various parts of the organisation.

If the 2018 SEAT has a VW engine then yes but as above shows 50,000 miles (not 60,000) and 5 years that would have been in 2023, if SEAT UK operates the same as VWŠkoda UK, unless her car was near or after the cut-off date.

13 minutes ago, valvedoctor46 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. Has now got me wondering how long the water pump lasts 🤔

The belt does need annual or so visual inspections and of course the vehicle needs timely (engine) "services" for the bits associated to and with the belt.

Water pump may depend on which engine your car (and wife's) has, some are separate belt IIRC - the Dealership at the time of the belt rip-off also wanted my wife to have the water pump changed. At "services" and "maintenance" work Dealership(s) gave green/yellow/red tick box sheets of work advised or "required" one was in the many hundreds of pounds with tyres which were fine and 4mm of tread IIRC (I change at 2.25-3mm anyway) another where only the front brakes were a valid mention and another where my wife was told "the clutch pedal is heavy" which worried my wife as we'd had cars with clutch issues, I managed to rationalise wear against it being so worn it needing the (expensive) replacement they quoted for. "Services" are little more than an engine oil and filter change (which doesn't even service the engine let alone the rest of the car) and a look for more chargeable work, much of it possible very premature or dubious.

A lady we know has a 2019 SEAT Leon and that had a simple and common to model coolant leak that took many months and visits to sort, it wasn't to do with the water pump and to be fair the water pump or it needing work on or around it was never mentioned by the garage (or the incompetence of not being able to locate and stop a common coolant leak for model).

She has a s/h model seen as more sporty and they often attract first and subsequent owners that drive them in more spirited ways but some of those also don't bother as much as they should with servicing, maintenance and repairs and the extra need for such with harder driven cars, as a former VRS owner you'll be aware of this. Of course low mileage and use with labouring of the engine is the other side. Buying a s/h car off someone you know can be a nightmare if expectations of ownership are too high.

7 hours ago, valvedoctor46 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. Has now got me wondering how long the water pump lasts 🤔

The water pump, or at least the mechanical water pump, is driven by its own small belt so the belt tension/load will be a lot less than one that is driven from the cambelt.

It might be, I don't know exactly, that the 1.0TSI having variable timing on both camshafts, needs the newer kit of tools to set up or re-set up the camshafts timing when the cam belt is replaced, and if using that kit, it gets fixed, I think, to the rear side of the engine - and that means removing the water pump. So in that case, I'd expect that fitting a new small water pump belt makes sense and the "rule" on the engine coolant is to dispose of it when it gets removed from an engine.

So, that still leaves the water pump, I think that it does cost quite a bit as it gets fitted to the thermostat plastic housing, or maybe now comes with a new thermostat housing - and I can't see that particular plastic moulding surviving any longer than any other similar(ish) VW Group thermostat plastic housings - so maybe there is some logic in getting it replaced at this point as well, that is just my thoughts on that, some will consider it to be overkill, and maybe it is.

My wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS only has variable timing on the inlet camshaft, so I don't think that the official way of replacing its belt involves any re-setting the timing using the later kit of tools, I'll need to find out about that as I'm thinking that at 10 years - only 54,000miles, it is time to get that job done. I've already bought new VW Group G12evo so I plan to replace it also this year, but I need to know if doing that is a waste of new coolant if my local VW Group Indie plans to use the new kit of tools and so will be removing the water pump!

Thanks for all the info guys. So basically the belt needs a visual check but should be good for 15 years. Amazing for a piece of rubber . I'll try and post some pics of Monte when I get him . No doubt there'll be more questions along the way.

Well yesterday - at Marshalls Skoda I was "advised" that my Wife's 1.0tsi should have a change at 5 years. When I queried this with the service department they said that "although it is the manufacturers policy to no longet specify an age interval, Marshalls, as a group, have been told be head office not to go with this recommendation and to oficially advise customers to get it done at 5 years.

I feel this is a total con and needs to be called out - I wonder if I should actually report them to trading standards. On the work sheet (and SMS / email they send) it is not made in any way clear that this is a Marshalls "suggestion" and not the manufaturer recommendation. Here is a screen print of the work sheet.

I would ask the Dealer Principal in writing if this is their Policy.

As it was and is.

The 5 years /50,000 miles up til 2023 was only for the UK which is not a Dust Rich country.

Edited 16 July, 202516 Jul by Ootohere

Personally I consider, in this case, that there is some wisdom in aiming to reduce the risk of cam belt or its support parts failing and so ending up with a trashed engine, a bit earlier than the manufacturer's recommended time/distance.

The only thing that I have not worked out is just at what point this work should be carried out time/distance.

Coming from running cars that came with initially "4 years" cam belt replacement, then onto the next engine improvement that lead to "5 years", for both cars I did get that work carried out at the recommended time/distance, I am now in the position of running a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS that is now at nearly 55,000 miles, and so I'm strongly considering that after its MOT later this month, I should be booking it in for cam belt etc replacement - if I don't do that, I think that I'll just have this nagging feeling that "what if" - so getting that work done should avoid that happening. We've owned this car from new and so will probably move it on within the next 6 years, so with that in mind, even if I stuck to VW Group recommendations, I'd still be ending up paying for that work to get done.

That is just my thoughts on this.

There is no doubt that your dealership is praying on the "what if" factor, but at what point does that convert into greed or "over selling" - that is the bit that could be hard to work out. I initially considered that when the 7.5 year point was reached, I would get this work done and so consider that when compared the "5 years" recommendation of the previous engines, I had gained 50% extra service life.

Just a tale that I have probably told on here in the past:- a neighbour who would own up to knowing nothing about cars, bought one of the first front wheel drive Ford Escort 1300 with the CVH engine - he bought it from his friendly local "Ford agent" - these did exist years ago, so all good, a sensible price for his traded in Ford Fiesta and a sensible price for his new Escort 1300, he handed it in on time for all its servicing - then one day "bang" cambelt snapped, it was recovered to this garage, when he was told what the repair cost would be he was quite annoyed, and so asked why this had happened - the only answer he got was that this was sometime that could be expected to happen by that age/mileage if he had not got the cam belt etc replaced! Yes a friendly local garage, but one that was not helping the owner to avoid big failures like this, they would know that he was not a "car man" so it sounded a lot like they had let him down by not firmly suggesting that remedial extra work was getting carried out in time.

So, which way would you prefer to play this, 1) greedy garage looking for extra work, or 2) friendly garage that lets you end up needing to spend a lot of extra cash ?

The thing is though - a lot of people in my area are "more mature" and not so wise when it comes to these things. I think it is preying personally and.. more to the point they are making it look like it is a manufacturer recommendation (or at least being very ambiguous). Seems underhand to me. Sure, have a conversation and explain that it might be good to consider it but also, at he same time, be clear that the manufacturer stipulates no time interval (and, if you have an all-in-one like me then a snapped belt and associated damage is covered under the warranty - at least for another year).

Ford 1300 CVH 4 decades back is a whole different kettle of fish.

More worrying is in the last 5 years right up to now Wet Belts in Diesel Fords / VW,s. Partners.

Often Belts are not the issue. 1.6 TDI VW dry belt, but tensioners.

So here the discussion might be 2014 on 1.2 & 1.0 TSI,s and 1.5 TSI ACTs. Their own Can of Worms.

Those "Visual Health Check" (lies) ticksheets are more of a confidence trick than not, trying to rustle up additional chargeable good revenue and profit work for Marshall's. I was showing my wife's her instance of Marshall's conning only last night - of course Marshall's would say the one for my wife was an administrivia oversight and then have an explanation for the following oversights and bang the con back on. No doubt they trued it on with my wife as she was a woman and wasn't repeated when I was contacting them.

They will get out of it by saying it's their recommendation (eta: though as you put they don't make it clear that's it's THEIR recommendation and not VWŠoda's) which is fair enough if they have been doing annual checks of the belt, tensioner and perhaps water pump which they won't have otherwise they would have detailed it and charged you for it.

You are luck they put 70% and 80% remaining for your brake rather than just 70and 80% perhaps suggesting that is how much they're worn.

The lie sheets can be amusing seeing issues completely disappear in only 20 days and a number of hundreds of miles, and tyres increase in treads depth in a few months, reports on non-existent spare wheels - all administrivia mistakes I'm sure.

You could ask Marshall's what evidence they have for picking 5 years change recommendation (other than wanting the revenue and profit).

Edited 16 July, 202516 Jul by nta16
eta

3 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Ford 1300 CVH 4 decades back is a whole different kettle of fish.

More worrying is in the last 5 years right up to now Wet Belts in Diesel Fords / VW,s. Partners.

Often Belts are not the issue. 1.6 TDI VW dry belt, but tensioners.

So here the discussion might be 2014 on 1.2 & 1.0 TSI,s and 1.5 TSI ACTs. Their own Can of Worms.

@Ootohere , maybe consider what is written in more of the postings that you make reference to, it was not a discussion about different engines, but a discussion on the approach that some main dealerships take to some expensive recommendations - in this case replacing cam belts.

The OP was discussing the sharp or possibly seen as nasty or opportunist side of a main dealership's approach, my example, which unfortunately also centred on cam belts was the opposite and more expensive way that a "extra service task" can be handled - as in my example it did go wrong and caused engine failure.

Service Desk staff, Service Managers, on job training, and Up-selling.

Ask the Dealer Principal, or the Area Manager, even the Groups Director or Directors, is it their Policy.

The Unique position that VW Group UK and Skoda, SEAT, VW & Audi took with the 5 year / 50,000 miles over therest of Europe / EU is what is really strange.

But then there were other countries / regions with only 2 year warranties and not 3.

VW Group Main Dealerships liked car to sell with FMDSH and that history to their Guidance, Recommendations, schedule or specification.

It is nice for them that vehicles with over 50,000 miles had the cambelt done already.

PS

Always worth asking if the Master Tech is available and if they recommend the Cam Belt replacement.

Personally with a keeper i know how i drive a car and full servicing and maintenance is just 'Simply Clever' if doing the miles and having the vehicle for many years.

As for a 1.5TSI ACT. That i would just not have as a keeper.

Edited 16 July, 202516 Jul by Ootohere

3 hours ago, smipx said:

The thing is though - a lot of people in my area are "more mature" and not so wise when it comes to these things. I think it is preying personally and.. more to the point they are making it look like it is a manufacturer recommendation (or at least being very ambiguous). Seems underhand to me. Sure, have a conversation and explain that it might be good to consider it but also, at he same time, be clear that the manufacturer stipulates no time interval (and, if you have an all-in-one like me then a snapped belt and associated damage is covered under the warranty - at least for another year).

@smipx ,It might be interesting to see how a VW Group cam belt failure was "collected" by a used car warranty - hopefully you will never end up being on the receiving end of any fob offs.

Though surely someone has already been through this, it would be useful if they could chip in with their experiences.

I'm not in any way contradicting/criticising what your general feelings about this are, until this "relaxation" in time/distance change was rolled out by VW UK, Skoda UK etc etc, the rest of Europe and the world that VW AG sells its products into, had already been using longer service periods for these cam belts in "normal" sales regions, not just from a few years back, but at least back to 2000, it was just mainly UK sales area's main dealership service areas that were being encouraged into the initial "4 years" and then "5 years" change periods. I for one was willing to believe that they had extended this change period in UK because more robust materials were being used along with more robust support parts, when in reality it is more likely "the game is up" as we tend to have access to more relevant information.

@Ootohere , yes even the warranty thing was different, when I bought 2 VW cars in Europe - as part of the allowed terms when we were in Europe - so bought Taxfree and tax paid at the point of applying for first registration, it was well known that these cars only came with 12 months warranty as that is all that the manufacturer provided at that time, the 2nd and/or 3rd year warranty was provided by the UK's importers of these cars - and obviously the customer was paying extra to cover that, hidden in or rolled up into the new car cost.

Brake Fluid changes used to be first at 2 years then went to first at 3 years then each 2 years.

Now back to each 2 years.

Haldex was at 4 years / 40,000 miles, then 3 years / 30,000 miles. Still not always a proper service.

Other like Volvo were @ 20,000 / 2 years. ................. VAQ FRint diffs were @ 3 years / 30,000 miles and many were never told required, or 'It is optional'. Now it is at 2 years / 20,000 miles.

Hum, VAQ now "2 years", oh well, I suppose that I'll need to do that job again this year on my daughter's Leon Cupra, pump out this time though - last time was just a fluid change so that I could get a handle on how/what I needed to get that job done without too much mess! Plugs, seals and bolts at the ready, just need a bottle of fluid - a bit of a messy job as it entails draining the fluid down onto a cross member, before it ends up down in a container.

2 hours ago, Ootohere said:

with only 2 year warranties and not 3.

Always amused me (not) that "quality" (maybe last century) marques such as the German ones like VW could only offer 2 then 3 years warranty in the UK yet the "cheap" marques/brands were able to offer 5 then 7 years warranty.

I was pleased in the mid-1980s to get 2 years warranty from Škoda when BL and others were 1 year but this was before corporate VW took over Škoda.

We in the UK allow these companies to get away with far too much, that's why they sell here, we're a soft -touch.

Much of the UK motor trade has been at best dishonest for all of my 50+ years experience with them and it doesn't seem to have got better more recently, attitudes to paying customers absolutely stinks.

Edited 16 July, 202516 Jul by nta16

It’s the “what if “ factor, consequent costs and disruption when ones primary and perhaps essential means of transport is out of action for a lengthy period. Cost of a cambelt change on our 2015 1.2 Fabia 110 bhp in 2022 at 18,000 miles was £340, at the local independent garage that I’ve used for the last 20 years. I tend towards preventive maintenance rather than waiting till something fails. But we do keep our cars for a long while, 15-16 years/30,000 miles for the low mileage one, up to 160,000 miles/10 years on the high mileage one.