5 Year old VW Golf Should I need to replace cam belt?

photome

Stubod said:

..I have the same engine (5 years old with less than 30k miles). My local indy (VW Specialist) dealer advised me to leave it as the original design specification was for 75k miles. Apparently more likely that the water pump would fail first. ie if you do replace the cambelt it pays to get the water pump replaced at he same time due to the labour costs, (I was quoted around £700 for both).

Ultimately I suppose it depends on whether you intend to keep the car for a longer period, and what your appetite for risk is! As above of the belt breaks it takes out the engine....!   

VW do a fixed price  belt and pump change for £549  and you then get 5 years warranty on those parts

fivetide

£700 is expensive. VW have fixed price for cars over 3 years and it is £549 for the belt and pump. They'll even price match if you find it cheaper so for a VW stamp in the book I send mine to them https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/owners-and-drivers/servicing/pricing-for-cars-over-3.html

oh_really

photome said:

Stubod said:

..I have the same engine (5 years old with less than 30k miles). My local indy (VW Specialist) dealer advised me to leave it as the original design specification was for 75k miles. Apparently more likely that the water pump would fail first. ie if you do replace the cambelt it pays to get the water pump replaced at he same time due to the labour costs, (I was quoted around £700 for both).

Ultimately I suppose it depends on whether you intend to keep the car for a longer period, and what your appetite for risk is! As above of the belt breaks it takes out the engine....!   

VW do a fixed price  belt and pump change for £549  and you then get 5 years warranty on those parts

Audi give 5 year warranty, VW and Seat give two years, unless they have recently changed their terms.

BOWFER

Do you have a local VW specialist you can speak to?
Dealers can't be trusted, they're ripping people off more than ever as they can see a plummet in service and repair income looming with electric cars.
Our Seat Mii (basically a VW UP) was 8 years and 65000 miles, the local specialist said the cambelt wouldn't need touching until double the mileage at least.
He's never known one break and said if ours did, he would replace the engine for nothing to demonstrate how confident he was.
I bet the dealer would have taken £300+ off me no problem.

wazza99

Yes 60 months on the 1.4(CZEA - version with ACT system based on CZDA engine.) fyi the water pump isn't driven by the belt on that engine its on the opposite side. 4 hours stated labour time

Username03725

Moneybot said:

VW in garage for a minor service and MOT. Garage said I would need to replace the cam belt because it should be replaced after 50,000 miles or 5 years. The car has only done 34,000 miles. They said it needed replacing before they looked at the car.

So should I replace the cam belt or wait for another 16,00 mile or wait until it breaks?

The advice is always to do it at whichever trigger point occurs first, that being either time or mileage. VW have said it needs replacing at 5 years, 5 years is up so it needs replacing. Any car owner is welcome to take a gamble on it, but any warranty claim (if still in place) and certainly goodwill for any subsequent work will almost certainly be rejected.

DIYhelp76

Hi, it might not help you much as I have a VW Polo 1.2 Tsi, however, I spoke to what sounded like a very honest VW main dealer. My car has reached a similar age and mileage limit and another VW branch told me I needed the cambelt to be replaced.  The more honest sounding (to me at least) VW main dealer told me that European owners of this car (which are built to the same spec as those supplied in the UK) are not told that they need to replace their cambelts as they are considered long life and not to need replacing at all or not until after around 100,000 miles.  He said it was VW UK only which told owners here they have to replace the belt sooner than this.  I've forgotten exactly what he said, but it was something to do with a more durable material now used in the cambelts.  He said he gives this advice to most of his customers. One still wanted the cambelt to be changed and he said he therefore did so, took it out and it looked as new with no signs of wear at all. It just didn't need to be replaced. I know it's a risk to take at the end of the day, but how can it be that owners in the UK receive completely different advice to owners in European countries?

[Deleted User]

Why design an engine which needs the cambelt changing at such short intervals? 

My car has a chain which apparently will last the life time of the car. 

facade

Deleted_User said:

Why design an engine which needs the cambelt changing at such short intervals? 

My car has a chain which apparently will last the life time of the car. 

Several manufacturers have addressed this issue, by ensuring that when the chain breaks (right after warranty expires) it destroys the engine, and costs so much to repair that the car is scrap- hence "lasts the life of the car"

coffeehound

DIYhelp76 said:

. . . European owners of this car (which are built to the same spec as those supplied in the UK) are not told that they need to replace their cambelts as they are considered long life and not to need replacing at all or not until after around 100,000 miles.  He said it was VW UK only which told owners here they have to replace the belt sooner than this.  I've forgotten exactly what he said, but it was something to do with a more durable material now used in the cambelts.  He said he gives this advice to most of his customers. One still wanted the cambelt to be changed and he said he therefore did so, took it out and it looked as new with no signs of wear at all. It just didn't need to be replaced. I know it's a risk to take at the end of the day, but how can it be that owners in the UK receive completely different advice to owners in European countries?

Could it be that stop-start traffic congestion in the UK is harder on the belt?