VWUK CAMBELT WARNING!
Discussion
All,
My cambelt broke while driving at 70MPH on the M4 last night. Firstly it's a pretty scary experience and considering my Golf MK4 has only done 30,000 miles very unexpected.
I've just spoken to VW UK customer services and they have left me feeling literally sick. They aren't interested in my case because my car was not serviced within 12 months of the last service eventhough it has just surpassed the required mileage service.
Apparently they informed the retailers in August 05 that the cambelt must now be changed after 4 years or 60 000 miles. Eventhough my car was serviced by a VW dealer after 4 years this was before August 05. I asked why they had not made any attempt to inform the general public and the said informing the retailers/delears was enough from their point of view. I have informed watchdog so hopefully this will be brough to the publics attention in due course. In the interim I hope that I can get this information to as many people as possible to prevent the huge cost that I'm about to endure of possible having to replace the engine.
If anyone knows of any other forums or notice boards it would be worthwhile posting this info, please do. VW could make a killing out of cambelt popping all over the country just because they didn't think it neccessary to make any attempt to inform the VW owners.
My cambelt broke while driving at 70MPH on the M4 last night. Firstly it's a pretty scary experience and considering my Golf MK4 has only done 30,000 miles very unexpected.
I've just spoken to VW UK customer services and they have left me feeling literally sick. They aren't interested in my case because my car was not serviced within 12 months of the last service eventhough it has just surpassed the required mileage service.
Apparently they informed the retailers in August 05 that the cambelt must now be changed after 4 years or 60 000 miles. Eventhough my car was serviced by a VW dealer after 4 years this was before August 05. I asked why they had not made any attempt to inform the general public and the said informing the retailers/delears was enough from their point of view. I have informed watchdog so hopefully this will be brough to the publics attention in due course. In the interim I hope that I can get this information to as many people as possible to prevent the huge cost that I'm about to endure of possible having to replace the engine.
If anyone knows of any other forums or notice boards it would be worthwhile posting this info, please do. VW could make a killing out of cambelt popping all over the country just because they didn't think it neccessary to make any attempt to inform the VW owners.
I absolutely sympathise with your case, what I'm unclear about is are you saying that the car is less than 4 years old and is presumably on the long-life service regime, therefore why would you neccesarily have had it seriviced within a yaer of the last service ?
I have an Audi on the long-life regime and I'm about to have it serviced after 20k miles and 15 months since the last service, which is quite normal.
This subject has also been discussed on numerous bulletin boards including honestjohn.co.uk and dieselcar.co.uk by the way.
I have an Audi on the long-life regime and I'm about to have it serviced after 20k miles and 15 months since the last service, which is quite normal.
This subject has also been discussed on numerous bulletin boards including honestjohn.co.uk and dieselcar.co.uk by the way.
i am a mechanic and i am disturbed by the number vw's throwing belts at early stages one car this week is a mk 4 gti 20v which is on long life it got a belt at 60k (vw uk recommended) not due another until 120k (at 120k the belt and hydraulic tensioner must be renewed together)the tensioner failed at 96k (24k too soon) although the car is out of warranty we thought we may of had a case against vw they refused to take any of their own guidance into account and said that it was tough luck. the head has 9 bent valves and four cracked guides cost of repair £1200 ouch ! i say 30k or three years belt and tensioner
Thanks for the heads-up on this guys. Just bought a 2nd hand 4yo 1600 VW Golf 4, for my better half with 47000Kms. Spoke immediately to my VW dealer who confirmed this. He even had one of the suspect tensioners on his desk and could show me the problem! But as we'de had a full service and TüV done before we bought it, it should be OK. Apparently you can hear it when it starts as a rather deadened rattle seemingly from the front right when accelerating (this is the pulley coating splitting away from the centre, cracks first before it splits and jams everything). Stop and switch off immediately and get towed in before anything big busts!!!
as the vw audi group petrol and diesel have the same tensioning system i would advise this to any make or model the reason being is that the tension roller is held against the belt using a hydraulic ram which exerts a far greater force than a traditional spring loaded tensioner system .... newtons law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction , therefore the bearing within the roller is providing the reaction causing premature failure , i have seen this same issue with skoda octavia diesels and audi petrols the vag group knows about this but the loophole states that when inspecting or relacing a belt previous history must be taken into account and as we do not have proof of the cars upbringing we do not have a leg to stand on... sorry folks the only consolation is that a smart ear will hear a whine rattle or grumble coming from the timing casing and as you have rightly said STOP do not attempt to drive to a garage or say you will get it checked at the weekend it could cost you a lot more than you think ... sorry for blabbing on but i feel very passionate about my job ..
Strange. My Seat dealer didn't replace my cambelt at 60,000 miles (around October 2005). If the they had suggested it I would have accused them of trying to stiff me, as it's not listed on my service schedule.
I've since had to replace it anyway, when the water pump knackered at 65,000 miles. Pretty sure I had the tensioner replaced. I've just checked the bill and looks like it was (assuming that's what's listed as "Roller" on the invoice).
I've since had to replace it anyway, when the water pump knackered at 65,000 miles. Pretty sure I had the tensioner replaced. I've just checked the bill and looks like it was (assuming that's what's listed as "Roller" on the invoice).
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