I am getting conflicting info on when to change cambelt on this engine. Some say 5 years others say lifetime.

What is correct? This a dry belt so one would expect a long lifetime.

Belt long long life maybe. What about the tensioner? It was worth doing a search. Loads of threads. So it was in the UK till July 2023, 5 years / 50,000 miles. But people were not wanting to pay between £750 - £1,200 just for the Cam belt. Cars were being traded in. Dealers would have to do it to have FMDSH or Serviced to Manufacturers guidelines,, recommendations, advice. So changed to maybe 150,000 miles, many many years. Inspect sometime. You decide.

Edited 23 May23 May by Evolution13

Maybe a different engine, but still from the same family, my wife has a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI with the same design of belt and drive, I considered that 7.5 years would be a good point along with a mileage of 45,000 miles, but actually left it to 10 years and just over 50,000 miles(I think) before getting the belt replaced by a local German cars specialist.

My mate, with a 2019 VW T-Roc 1.5TSI DADA, got his belt changed a few months ago and used a local to him German cars specialist, I had warned him that it would probably cost around £1500 if using a VAG Indie and a lot more if using any VW Group dealership's workshop, he reckoned that it was going to be around £800, which does seem cheap to me for these engines with inlet and exhaust adjustable camshaft pulleys which need to get set up using a specialist kit of bits - my wife's 2015 1.2TSI while being from the same engine family, only has adjustable inlet cambelt pulley so seems to be less demanding when it comes to belt changing, so should end up being cheaper.

Hey, thanks for the information. last year a local indie VW garage quoted me £491, it will be more this year I am sure. The car has done 25k.

I used to have a Citroen wetbelt petrol and that I changed at 45k, they found crumbs in the oil strainer, so I felt vindicated!

No way did the Independent understand when quoting that it was a 1.5 TSI ACT. Even dead quickly done it is a 5 hour job. Places specialising in doing them & not using OEM parts are more expensive. Labour, Kit, VAT. £750 is cheap.

Edited 24 May24 May by Evolution13

Ps there are VW Group engines that do not have Wet Belt Timing belts, but Wet belts for the oil pump.

"wet belts" is a very rude topic🙁.

I still have to make contact with my mate that got that job done on his 2019 DADA VW T-Roc, so I'll get the final details when me next meet up.

After I gave him "chapter and verse" about the wet belt in his daughter in law's Pug 205 that they had bought used a year earlier, he soon tried trading it in, no one was interested in taking it in at its age/mileage (6 years old) against another used car, so he finally managed to get small money for it by selling it to a truck garage owner who normally needed to set aside one or two days a week to replacing "wet belts".

The indie garage that quoted 500 for the cambelt, is the garage that services my Scala, so they do know which engine it is.

@RobDunford Maybe ask them again then, because at that price people could have a couple of days away & B&B and have their cam belt replaced and be quids in.