Passat cam belt

[fourstardan]

Hi,

66 plate has done 60k but with the years on the cam belt i'm thinking it needs to be done.

Inspection lights been on for a while, but with lockdown not bothered.

Oil change is up in 4k it says.

Is it worth the risk to just wait till I do 4k on the cam?

[Belle427]

Personally I’d just do it all now.
Certainly won’t hurt to do an oil change early on these cars especially if it’s on a long life interval.

[fourstardan]

Just phoned VW and doesn't need cam till October so will just sit on it for another few months as I won't be doing mega mileage.

Main dealer wasn't bad for a full service, they want 206 quid which I thought was quite good myself?

Also got an independent pricing it to see if its worth while as well.

[Sheepshanks]

There's lots of different numbers floating around for cambelt mileage - I asked VW Germany about wife's diesel Tiguan and they replied 210,000kms, which is 130K miles. When the engine in her car was first introduced VW said the belt was 'lifetime'.

Changing it at 5yrs regardless of mileage seems to be a VW UK thing.

Snag is if you go past the recommended interval and something (belt, tensioner etc) breaks then you're going to feel a bit stupid (and get a very big bill).

[fourstardan]

Sheepshanks said:

There's lots of different numbers floating around for cambelt mileage - I asked VW Germany about wife's diesel Tiguan and they replied 210,000kms, which is 130K miles. When the engine in her car was first introduced VW said the belt was 'lifetime'.

Changing it at 5yrs regardless of mileage seems to be a VW UK thing.

Snag is if you go past the recommended interval and something (belt, tensioner etc) breaks then you're going to feel a bit stupid (and get a very big bill).

Yeh, and its PistonHeads so we all worry

How can a cam belt be limited to age, do they rot/go off?

[Sheepshanks]

fourstardan said:

How can a cam belt be limited to age, do they rot/go off?

VW UK saying change them is a load of crap really. I guess the belt pretty well never breaks of its own accord - usually a tensioner etc fails.

I'm not 100% convinced the dealer changed ours - there's not a mark in the dust under the bonnet. I've got a bit of paper that says they did it though.

[fourstardan]

Sheepshanks said:

VW UK saying change them is a load of crap really. I guess the belt pretty well never breaks of its own accord - usually a tensioner etc fails.

I'm not 100% convinced the dealer changed ours - there's not a mark in the dust under the bonnet. I've got a bit of paper that says they did it though.

I had a mate do my other halfs mk5 golf on the drive, it took him about an hour and a half.

I'm half tempted to ask him to do mine tbh.

[catso]

Sheepshanks said:

I guess the belt pretty well never breaks of its own accord - usually a tensioner etc fails.

Or, as with my Son's Clio, it strips the teeth on the crank pulley and just stops rotating.



No broken belt but the same result...

[Belle427]

It's a piece of rubber at the end of the day so get it replaced for what it costs compared to an engine rebuild.