I have a Skoda Octavia Estate my son has my older model a VRS 2013 model The timing belt needs replaced so he took it in for repair the garage is saying it will cost upwards of£2500 to repair is this extreme he lives in Worcestershire... I would be grateful for any feedback as it seems a lot of money to us

Edited 3 June, 20251 yr by Biggles33
Sorry wrong age of car correct now

These cars have timing chains, not belts. They will last about 150,000 miles unless they have stretched or a tensioner has failed.

Symptoms of failed tensioner/stretched chain is ticking/metallic rattling. (despite there being a million other things in the engine bay that make this sound, too)

I was quoted £1800 by a VW specialist for mine. I didn't go ahead with it though.

Edited 3 June, 20251 yr by Ripmax12345

2 minutes ago, Ripmax12345 said:

These cars have timing chains, not belts.

Depends if @Biggles33 has a petrol or diesel VRS (he doesn't say) - petrols have a timing chain but diesels have a timing belt.

Sorry its petrol thank you

for replying

What mileage is it on? These cars are fitted with the EA888 Gen3 engine. Quite rare for the timing chains to go on these. The Gen2 however, that was plagued with tensioner issues but VW fixed it for gen3.

10000 I think

1 hour ago, Biggles33 said:

I have a Skoda Octavia Estate my son has my older model a VRS 2013 model The timing belt needs replaced so he took it in for repair the garage is saying it will cost upwards of£2500 to repair is this extreme he lives in Worcestershire... I would be grateful for any feedback as it seems a lot of money to us

24 minutes ago, Biggles33 said:

Sorry its petrol thank you

for replying

He needs to find another garage! Not only don't they know that petrols have a chain not a belt, but £2500 for a belt replacement is outrageous!

I used to have a V70R japanese import, beautiful machine. I remember a timing belt replacement on that only cost me £450...

15 minutes ago, Biggles33 said:

10000 I think

Presumably you mean 100k. What @PetrolDave said... find a new garage, they don't have a clue what they're talking about.

To broaden your search you can search for VW/audi specialist garages too.

Also depends on whether the chain has actually failed, in which case i'd just scrap the car at that point. Otherwise £2500 is cheap for an engine rebuild!

Edited 3 June, 20251 yr by Ripmax12345

Hi , really sorry to hear about your son's problems with his car.

£2500 does seem high to me but is the rest of the engine survive the failure ?

Without wishing to know his exact location where does he live in Worcestershire?

Near Ommberslay. Thank you bigcar... I am not sure re engine state he loves that car. So I guess until they open the bonnet they won't know what exactly the problem is - they suspect timing issue as the guys mentioned above.. I just seemed a very high price for work but perhaps not these days.

Thank you

Hi ,

Recharged Automotive 01905 464812 North Worcester

St Johns Garage 01905 420111

Recharged Motors have a good reputation although I have not used them

St John garage I have used and pleased with work carried out.

They rebuilt a Skoda engine for a friend of mine.Pleased with the result.

Must be worth a phone call.

Good luck

Thank you will let you know how he gets on...I think he may just have to pay the amount quoted as he needs the car to get to work as no other car. So cost of hire will be quite a lot as one other garage could not look at it for three weeks.

Many thanks to you all for your help Thank you

al

1 hour ago, Biggles33 said:

he may just have to pay the amount quoted as he needs the car to get to work as no other car.

£2500 is an absolute rip-off for a cambelt and water pump replacement - search on here and you will see MUCH lower prices paid by other owners of diesels.

If your son REALLY has to go to these rip-off merchants then this should be the one and only time they get his business.

I'm not sure if i'm understanding this thread correctly... Has the timing chain actually gone and caused further engine damage? Quite an important detail missing here.

I'd expect to pay anywhere in the region of £2,000-£5,000 to repair the aftermath of a failed timing chain. But just to get it replaced that's absurd.