do not put this job off.i have just picked my car up after having mine changed and the mechanic was shocked to see the cambelt in such a bad way after only 4 years and 54k.he said that it was starting to fall apart and i was very lucky to have had it done when i did.the water pump was also starting to crack so i was lucky there as well.total price for the job was

That seems a very reasonable price for both the cambelt and the waterpump, who did the work ?

I agree, a very good price.

Any chance of a photo showing the condition of the belt?

Ford recommend 100k / 10yrs for mine - I won't be leaving mine that long for sure.

my local dealership is still advertising 5 years or 60k for the cambelt change so i am glad i didnt wait until then;)

I was told that it was 100k when i bought my car, then I was informed that they had reduced it to 80k. Mine is on 75k, so is due to go in, just waiting for one of my mates to get back to me with a price for the parts, then it will be going in next week if all goes will.

so who is correct, 60k or 80k???

Cheers,

Chris

work was done by my local mechanic who i have used for many years and i no longer trust anyone else.i bought the parts from gsf and he fitted them for me.

no pics of the cambelt but he showed me it and there were loads of threads hanging off of it and he said that the only time that he had seen that much wear was on ones that had already snapped.

as for the time to change,i thought that the vrs was 4 years or 60k which is why i wanted it done as mine is now 4 years old.

Just out of interest, is your car kept outside or in a garage? I've noticed a correlation between keeping the car in a garage and the cam belt staying in better condition. Are you going to disprove my theory?

work was done by my local mechanic who i have used for many years and i no longer trust anyone else.i bought the parts from gsf and he fitted them for me.

no pics of the cambelt but he showed me it and there were loads of threads hanging off of it and he said that the only time that he had seen that much wear was on ones that had already snapped.

as for the time to change,i thought that the vrs was 4 years or 60k which is why i wanted it done as mine is now 4 years old.

Mine is the 1.9Tdi, so it may be different!!!

Just been phoning round for prices, and have been quoted

Just out of interest, is your car kept outside or in a garage? I've noticed a correlation between keeping the car in a garage and the cam belt staying in better condition. Are you going to disprove my theory?

outside so that may well be a factor then.

Another tick in my non-randomized, non-controlled study

I recently did some routine maintainance on my 04 Octy 130 tdi - oil, filters - air, pollen etc and I had a look through the schedule and I'm pretty sure the belt on the tdi doesn't need touching till 100K - I would hope the tensioner's automatic!!

This varies greatly model for model but I must admit, I'm gonna get a little sweaty once I'm on the dark side of 90K!!

Maybe I'll check with my local dealer to be on the safe side

The tensioner is manually set on the 04 130 TDi's.

You did buy the full cambelt kit and not just the belt itself?

You did buy the full cambelt kit and not just the belt itself?

yep full kit and only 60 odd quid as well,bargain

Good to hear.

Thats interesting; I had mine changed by Jabba last year at 27,000 miles (the car was four years old though!) and both the belt and water pump were literally pristine when they came off!

Very strange how there is so much variation. The previous owner did garage the car for the first 19,000 miles so now Im wondering - there may be something in that thinking!

Lee

My dealer in Oxfordshire (see other recent post re cambelt) has just quoted me

Isn't there somebody monitoring this forum who is in the know and can quickly eliminate all these urban myths. This forum is currently full of speculation and hear say which detracts from the appeal of having a useful resource.

What urban myths?

Perhaps I should say conflicting information. I'm probably just trying to stir up a reaction.

My dealer in Oxfordshire (see other recent post re cambelt) has just quoted me

Good topic,especially as i am very close to buying a modded VRS at the moment.

The car i am looking at has done about 35k but is a 2001 car,it was supplied and serviced for it's 1 owner by the same main dealer all it's life,and yet it has not had the belt done,so i asked the guy selling it if he would check with his dealer(Surrey),and i would check with mine(Bristol),and they both said it should be done every 4 years irrelevent of miles covered............................suffice to say the owner is a little put out by HIS service manager for not telling him at the 2005 service of this policy,especially as it is now some 16 months overdue for replacement:eek: :eek: :eek:

edit

i did mine on my '01 VRS at 50000, but i always do em early.. better safe than sorry... for a dealer to do it here in Ireland it will cost you 900euros!!!

My official Skoda Service Schedule only mentions mileage for all vehicles - nothing about age. Dealers are bound to make their own recommendations based on experience and/or a desire to denude you of your hard-earned. Guess there's no harm in doing the work early but I'm gonna go with the official Skoda recommendation of 100k for my tdi - I'll punctuate my mileage with a few prayers once I'm in Snapland territory. If the water pump fails early (70k for both my Golfs) then I'll do both jobs at the same time.

I've had a few cars in recent years - VR6 Storm Corrado, Civic TypeR, Golf GTI x2 and still own a 111R Elise - as a tractable and pleasurable everyday drive the Skoda gubs the lot of them quite frankly and another will be definitely on my shopping list once my current steed is pushing up automotive daisies. As for performance, it's easy to drive fast and is every bit as quick as my Golfs which would need a whole handful of revs just to stay with it. It's a pretty big car when all said and done, yet I still average 56mpg and in 45,000 miles, all it's cost me is fuel plus a full set of tyres, oil and filters - done all my own oil changes etc.

Even managed 77mpg Bedford to Sleaford which is a 70mile run. O.K - I drove all the way at 50mph with Hurricaine Katrina up my ring piece, aircon off etc etc but I wouldn't even be able to do that on a motorbike for heaven's sake - This car is the absolute nuts - now the 2.0L oilburner and 146bhp will do me nicely next time thank you!!

After my recent experiece