SEAT Altea - Cambelt change

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Thu 17 Jun 2010 11:26
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - kams

Hi, hoping someone can help,, after a bit of advise. A friend has a Seat Altea which is due a service. The model is a 2.0 FSi on a 06 plate which has done 20k. The service suggests he also has a cambelt change.

Now question is, can he put the cambelt change (do a normal service) off for a year as he needs to get other things done, which are more important (brakes, mortgage)

Thanks.

Kams

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Jun 2010 11:49
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - Rob C

I presume its 4 years or 60k miles, whichever is soonest. Is the engine non interference? If it is then risk is minimal, if not then waiting a year could result in massive engine damage if the belt or rollers give way.

Its your friends gamble. I personally would get it done if the engine isn't non-interference. Brakes and a mortgage are pretty useless when the car doesn't work at all and you can't get to work to pay your mortgage.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Jun 2010 11:57
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - kams

Thanks Rob C, he has decided to do it now.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Jun 2010 13:21
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - trevob

Just one word of advice - make sure they've tightened up the engine mount bolts (and if so correctly) - and keep an eye on them.

My wife's 1.9 TDi had a belt change and we had problems. The dealer were very good eventually but a lot of hassle.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 17 Jun 2010 19:08
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - John F

Is this belt subject to significantly more stress or made of significantly inferior material to the belt on our Focus 1.6 Zetec? [soonest of 10yrs, 100,000m - indefinite as far as I'm concerned].

If not, I suggest pay off some mortgage!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 18 Jun 2010 15:17
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - Glenn 42

Don't know if it's the same now, but SEAT cambelts had to be changed every 55,000 miles or five years, whichever came earliest.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 18 Jun 2010 23:26
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - AWJ

Thank you to everyone that replied. I am that friend of Kams and now set up my own logon. I found some useful posts on this excellent site when VAG UK changed their cam belt change intervals

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=37741

Seems to be a number of reasons, plastic tensioners as a HJ states on the smaller engines (does this apply to my 2.0FSI?), high loads on the belts by some of the diesel engines. Looks like the one size fits all policy was the simplest way of sweeping these all up

The car has sice been pranged (by my wife's boss!) once that's sorted we'll take the advice and get the cambelt changed.

The car was a VAG employees for 12 months sat around for a year before my local dealer bought it there were 12 miles covered in that year between services when we bought it with 4.5k on the clock.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Jun 2010 15:57
SEAT Altea - Cambelt change - John F

HJ is absolutely right - a decent belt should last the life of the engine. Some years ago I changed a whining tension pulley on our 2.0GL Passat, and left the belt alone for 2 reasons. Firstly, it looked in perfect condition, and secondly it was too difficult for me to change. [ the pulley was easily accessible at the top of the engine]. When I eventually sold it at over 240,000m it was still going strong.....with the original belt.

This cambelt malarkey is a great wheeze to empty the punters' wallets twice. Firstly for an unnecessary belt change...and secondly about 20 or 30,000 miles later when a pulley or other driven appliance seizes and fries or breaks the belt. Or when the replacement inferior belt made of black raffia tears.

You can't even win with chains - they seem to stretch and thrash around causing damage, or put the cam and crank sensors out of synch thus compromising the electronic engine management system. [apparently well known on Nissan Primeras]

If it works, don't mend it!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide