Thanks for your reply
The car is 4 years old on 01/09/2007. I purchased it on 13 July 2007. I specifically enquired when the cambelt change was due prior to purchase as I would have used an imminent belt change as a bargaining tool. My dealer assured me it was not due, and with no reason to doubt them I accepted it. I guess I'll know better next time !!
I've checked with 2 specialists (JBS & Jabbasport) who have come in at £370 (inc VAT and water pump) and £245 (inc VAT, no water pump) respectively.
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Not sure about VAG petrols, but the advice with the diesels is always to get the water pump changed with the belt, so I'd be paying the extra. Does seem a bit steep, but I'm not sure what the job involves on that engine.
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It strikes me that the supplying dealer was technically correct in stating that a cambelt change wasn't due, but was perhaps being less cautious (over-cautious?) that the typical backroomer would be.
I would second Greg's advice to change the water pump too. As I've reported here before, the water pump impeller on Gromit Snr's 1.6 Octavia failed at 34,000 miles/4 years old resulting in a ?1000 repair bill.
This is a known problem on the 1.4, 1.6 and (I believe) 1.8 petrols, and is common enough that our local dealer had the parts in stock to do the rebuild the same day the failure happened.
HTH,
Gromit
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A result of sorts.
I had a chat with a nice fellow from Skoda UK this morning. He again confirmed the cambelt change was due at 4 years and that my extended warranty would be invalidated if the belt was not changed. He also expressed concern that a franshised dealer was giving advice to customers which was contrary to the guidance issued by VAG back in May 2006. He offered to speak to the dealership on my behalf, but I instead decided to have a chat with the service manager and tell him my concerns (my previous visits to the dealership all resulted in conversations with the sales manager). The upshot of all this was an offer to change the cambelt at approximately 25% of the usual cost price.
I have decided to accept their offer and hope this is the end of the matter.
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Seems like a result - of a sort.
Incidentally, I have a November 1999 VW Bora. The cambelt is supposed to be changed at 60k, but about two years ago VW released the information that it should now be done at 40k.
At present the Bora has done 62.5k on what is I presume, based on the service history, the original cambelt - for various reasons, mainly due to my other half's health problems and critical hospital appointments all over the NW, replacement keeps being put off.
Yet the car is still running like clockwork, the cambelt appears to be OK and it's still sporting its original battery and exhaust...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Good luck but surely cambelts run perfecty until the moment of failure ;-).....................I speak as one who changes the Asra cambelt every 4 years (as recommended) but wonder if, at 3k per annum, I am being over-cauttous even if this is exactly in line with Vauxhall recommendations
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Incidentally I have a November 1999 VW Bora. The cambelt is supposed to be changed at 60k but about two years ago VW released the information that it should now be done at 40k.
Yet the car is still running like clockwork the cambelt appears to be OK andit's still sporting its original battery and exhaust...:-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The nice chap from Skoda customer services told me that the new time proviso on cambelts applies to all models across the VAG range fitted with a cambelt, which AFAIK is all of them !
The problem with cambelts though is the consequences of sudden failure, whereas I guess we all change exhausts and batteries AFTER they fail.
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Also with belts it isnt always the belt thats the problem.
As well as the water pump mentioned there is the tensioner and various pulleys. There have been spates of problems with tensioners.
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I'll be buying the cambelt, tensioner and water pump belt from GSF - last time I looked it was done as a kit for about £76 (OEM products) - I do know a reliable independent to do the work; the problem is that the car is tied up so much on urgent journeys...:-(
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I just had my daughter's SEAT Ibiza 1.2 (the VAG 3cyl *cam-chain* engine) serviced at 3yrs / 30K the other day.
I chatted to the Service Manager and he said SEAT make no specific recommendations on changing cambelts, other than that they're checked periodically. However he said he recommended changinging them at 4yrs or 50K miles, and that we should have ours changed next year! He told me it would cost about £350.
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The 4 cambelt change appears to be a VAG UK thing and VW dealers are sprouting leaflets extolling the benefits of a 4 year change. However, a german friend checked with VW gmbH and they appear to be running to what the service book says (milage) rather than age.
Who knows :-(
Joe
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