I have had my cam / timing belt changed a few hundred miles ago, and took the cover off to have a look. The new belt seems to have marked on the outside, although was quite tight etc. I don't know if the belt was coated with a kind of paint or what, but it appears to have degraded in a pattern, with what appears to be splodges of belt coating left. Reading the literature, it appears that the only thing that touches the outside of the belt is the tensioner, which has been replaced also. Could it be too tight? The car is driving spot on.

The belt will flex as it goes around the rollers, so I would expect the marks to have degraded. When I changed the belot in my TDi I just used some tippex to make the marks.

The tension is auto adjusting (assuming it was tensioned correctly to start with), and should hopefully be fine!

I have taken a photo of it. The piece to the left is the cam belt cover that I was holding open. You can see the teeth just to the left of the belt, which as you can see is wierd looking. It feels completly intact though.

That looks weird.... my belt with had done 60k did not look anything like that when it came of.

Who changed the belt? dealer, indy or back street bloke?

He's a local who deals with a lot of German stuff. Lots of taxis, Octavias and Superbs etc

I'm not happy though. I thought he was fairly straight and knowledgeble. Told me he had bought proper vw stuff. Seen him in the middle of the job, seemed to know what he was doing. Looked like a right bugger of a job. The guy had proper dealer only tools too.

That looks a bit odd to me, too. I would take it back and get him to look at it... it's in his interest to make sure it's right.

Take that back; that belt is, IMHO too tight.

How can you tell it's too tight? Is it overheating?

looks like it is melting!

When I changed mine, it was a pig due to an engine mount being in the way :-(

take it back and get it checked atleast for peace of mind, also consider getting it checked elsewhere for a second opinion incase he tries to cover his own back.

As others. I've never seen a wear pattern like that either.

Thank you all for your help. I was speaking to a guy dealing with autoparts, he tells me the tensioners can be fitted incorrectly with drastic results. Sounds like the problem, and the guy will fix it tomorrow. Hope he will, and won't be back to him again. Does anyone know if this is possible to do with fairly rudimentry tools? I'd like to do it myself if I could, but it looked a right bugger with several dealer only tools involved. My notion is that if I don't understand it, I don't mess with it.

My notion is that if I don't understand it, I don't mess with it.

:iagree:

with it been your cam belt get it done properly.

Thank you all for your help. I was speaking to a guy dealing with autoparts, he tells me the tensioners can be fitted incorrectly with drastic results. Sounds like the problem, and the guy will fix it tomorrow. Hope he will, and won't be back to him again. Does anyone know if this is possible to do with fairly rudimentry tools? I'd like to do it myself if I could, but it looked a right bugger with several dealer only tools involved. My notion is that if I don't understand it, I don't mess with it.

It needs a new belt, and timing checking afterwards. Fitting a new belt properly means removing an engine mounting.

Removing the engine mount was a right pain in the backside on mine! Plus you need a tool to tension then cambelt tensioner.

Having done it once, I might do it again, but not sure....depends on if I have plenty of time to spare one weekend!!!

If you take it back to get the guy to fix the tensioner make sure he puts a new belt on it again. The labour is the cost and the belt is a very cheap item.

I think it's too tight due to the stress/heat pattern in the belt and think that it will have been weakened by this. Also is the belt actually OEM or just OEM equivalent from GSF or the like?

The mechanic told me today that there is a bit of heat generated as the belt beds in. He says he checked the tensioner and everythings ok. He told me its the real belt, not an equivalent.

I would go somewhere else and get that belt changed, it is definitly not right, and should not look like that after a few hundred miles, not even after 40k should it look like that.