1.0TSI Cambelt or Chain

[Garrardrj]

My engine No. is CHZ069878
Been told when bought the car that it was Camchain , had it serviced today and service advisor says it is Cambelt.....During their speil on selling a Service Plan

So what has it got ?

He was talking about it costing £600 ish at todays prices . He said if i paid for it over the next few years it would only be £400 split into 35 interest free payments.
My Edition 30 was only around £370 for cambelt and waterpump last time it was donr !

[SRGTD]

The 1.0 3 cyclinder 110 bhp engine which I believe your car's engine is has a cam belt - see discussion topic at link below;

viewtopic.php?t=68989 - 5th post down by RUM4MO is the relevant one.

So how has the service advisor come up with a figure of £600 for a cam belt change on a Polo? Is that their guess at what it would cost to replace it at some future date at whatever the change interval is (normally when the car is 4-5 years old), based on a current cost of £400? Do they have the benefit of knowing what VW's servicing and maintenance charges will be in 4-5 years time? (Doubtful!).

The plan the advisor was trying to sell you would've been the service plan including maintenance, so would include replacement of other maintenance items in addition to the cambelt. Whether it's worth having or not depends on how long you're planning on keeping the car and what maintenance jobs over and above normal servicing will be needed during your period of ownership. The service advisor probably gave you details of what included / excluded, but if they didn't, it's here;

https://www.vwfinance.co.uk/content/sit ... nance.html

[Garrardrj]

He told me that the price to change the cambelt in todays prices is £600 which at present they are discounting to £400. That higher figure is like RRP i think and they never charge the full amount. I think it is a bit of a ploy to get me to buy the maintenance off them and get the £400 cambelt change in the future for the price it is now (thats what he said) it is also to guarantee the servicing of the car for the next four years......Which i won't be doing after the 3 years warranty is up. We will keep the car for at least 7-10 years so VW Servicing is not a necessity after 4 years imho. We only do 3000 miles ish a year in this car anyway.
The plan he was trying to sell me was the next three services , two MOT's and brake fluid change. Total is £906 payable in 35 monthly payments.
That would be two minor services and a major.
The price per month seems ok around £26 per month and another £10 or so for the cambelt change.
I have a written quote and as i will only do two more services with them i don't think i will do it , but then who knows.

Thanks for your Reply SRGTD

[Garrardrj]

Also SRGTD

The launch of the 1.0tsi stated the cam belt would last the life of the engine , as ROMANO eluded to in the linked thread....... Would be good to know what VW say.

[Garrardrj]

This link is a report a out the new 1.0tsi engine, but in a Golf

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06 ... -golf.html

In the report you will see that "they" say the belt should last the life of the engine.

This morning the service department advises me on checking their maintenance schedule for this engine that replacement is 5 years or 160,000 miles whichever is the sooner.

So for piece of mind people will replace it , but is it really necessary ? VW set the maintenance for their engines , but we know they are in the business of making money....... So at 5 years old our car will not have done more than 20000 miles so hiw much actual wear would th belt have. Had the same issue with my Edition 30 at 19000 miles and i replaced it......

How many times has this topic for all cars been questioned i wonder !

[SRGTD]

Its not unknown for motor manufacturers to review and change the maintenance schedules of certain items. The report at the link is almost 2 years old and so VW may have subsequently reviewed the 'lifetime' claim of the cam belt or the design / materials used for the belt and revised the maintenance requirements to 5 years / 160k miles.

Historically, cam belts were considered to deteriorate with age, irrespective of the mileage travelled, hence the need to change them at manufacturer recommended intervals (time or distance). I know that manufacturing technology moves on so this may no longer be the case. However, if I was driving a 7-10 year old car, I don't know if I'd be confident in the longevity and durability of the original cam belt.

On engines with a timing chain rather than a belt, VW also said the chain and the associated chain tensioner were non-serviceable items and should last the life of the engine. However, there have been a number of instances on the mk6 Golf with the 2.0 EA888 series engine of chain stretch and tensioner failures. Where failure has happened out of warranty, many owners have been hit with large repair bills - even where the car has a full VW service history. VW's approach to making goodwill payments to customers with failed chain / chain tensioner out of warranty appears to have been inconsistent to say the least. VW have never acknowledged there is a problem, even though they revised the design of the chain tensioner a number of times. Would VW adopt a similar approach if there happen to be future failures of maintenance free cam belts that should last the lifetime of the engine?

Lots of information on timing chain tensioner failure on the internet.

I think in your position I'd wait until the car is 4-5 years old and check with VW at that time on what the latest advice is on cam belt change for your engine. In the meantime, you could always check with VW Customer Services or contact VW via social media and ask.

[Garrardrj]

How come our old Mini Cooper D (peugeot hdi engine) doesn't need a belt till 10 years old and also our Land Rover Freelander at 10 years too ? Why can't VW make it 10 years if others can ?
On similar note to your MK6 cam chain my sons 2006 MK5 Gti has had two belts and water pumps and now needs a cam chain tensioner and or chain ! This is a common problem too , apparently.

[RUM4MO]

I think that as said already, as time goes on and more experience is gained on newer engines, the things like cambelt replacement miles/years can be changed, but what I don't like is, in the main, unless you have your ears glued to what is going on, you will not be get contacted by the manufacturer to advise you of any changes, what will happen is that either you will read about the revised (which always means shortened) change time/miles in the motoring press, or on car forums, prior to this you will invariably get given duff info from your servicing dealership in a bid to generate more work, which normally seems a bit weird or unbelievable when other marques sharing that engine have stayed with a longer or different change period as will overseas dealerships operating in similar weather conditions and roads as we have - all possibly a bit confusing!
I ran a 1991 VX Cav GSI 4X4 with the amazing "red top" 150BHP 2litre engine, smooth as silk, its original belt change period was, I think, 90K or 9 years. When that car was about 4.5 years old and with about 50K, I just happened to read in a car mag that VX had changed the belt change period to 5 years and maybe 60K, next day I booked it in for its belt change! Now if I had not read that mag, I just wonder how long I would have waited, certainly not 90K or 9 years.
Moral of this tale is to get/be educated about these aspects of car ownership and take action at the correct time based on the latest information - though I can't say how exactly you find that out other by using a few independent sources!