When to change a timing belt on Octavia vRS TDi

[K1W1]

I seem to recall that in 2010 or around then the belt inspection/change interval was extended.

[woofy]

I asked last year in Nov but doesn't mean they were paying attention to what I meant. I might ring them tomorrow and see what they say. I'm all for as long as possible, but want to stick to official specs. I don't want to come to sell the car in a few years time and find noone wants it cause things weren't done right. I also wouldn't buy one myself if something like that had been let go.

[K1W1]

I've seen too much damage caused to too many engines by timing belts breaking after the owners decided that they could wait one more service to have them changed. They are one item I would never put off.
Having said that there is no reason what so ever for any manufacturer to be still using belts instead of chains. The chain technology overtook belts in the late 1980's and it's just cost cutting on manufacturers parts if they are still using rubber bands.

[Transporter]

I've seen too much damage caused to too many engines by timing belts breaking after the owners decided that they could wait one more service to have them changed.

Were they in Skoda or VW cars with less than 100,000km and less than 6-7 years old or were they Holden Astra with less than 90,000km?

ContiTech develops belts for lifetime use in common rail engines

...our late 2007 made Golf TDI owner's manual says something like 190,000km replace the belt. I also follow the Czech diesel power forum and I don't see people there replacing timing belts at 60,000km or 4 years.

Dieselpower forum :: Frum

[woofy]

I've seen too much damage caused to too many engines by timing belts breaking after the owners decided that they could wait one more service to have them changed. They are one item I would never put off.
Having said that there is no reason what so ever for any manufacturer to be still using belts instead of chains. The chain technology overtook belts in the late 1980's and it's just cost cutting on manufacturers parts if they are still using rubber bands.

Its is strange as Mazda moved completely back to chains with the advent of the Mazda 6 in 2001 and the 3 in 2004. I'll contact Skoda HQ and see if I can get anything out of them. I don't hold very high hopes.

[buzuki]

same as vw, 105k or 7 years

[woofy]

I rang and asked them and they told me 7 yrs or 105k is what is in their schedule. I asked them if maybe the dealers were doing a scheduled inspection and just replacing it while they were there, but that meant they departed from the script and they couldn't tell me. They did ask which dealer was saying it needed to be done so early. My memories are that Richmond told me each time it wasn't scheduled but a belt inspection was and to do that it wasn't much more work just to replace it, so they did. For $1200 that all sounds suss though.

[buzuki]

inspect the belt from 60k onwards, and inspection is just a visual inspection, you dont remove the belt to do this.

[woofy]

I think the gist was though that the dealers reckoned to get to the stage where you could "inspect" them you may as well replace it as you were 80% already there. Looking at the Uk forums they were all revised by Skoda UK to get them changed at 4yrs/90k in recent times as some of them had the belts go at 5 yrs.

[wfdTamar]

Was at the Skoda dealer arranging for a few service items and got the attached service sheet from them. Shows when things should be done. Doesn't seem to differentiate between TSI and TDI engines. Shows timing belt to be done at 105,000 km/4 years.

SkodaService | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Umai Naa!!]

On closer inpection, it appears your service department has provided you with an out-dated service check sheet.

On the bottom left corner, it's dated at 2008. The sheets have been revised at least 3 times since then. So yeah, the timing belt intervals are 105,000klms or 7 years, whichever occurs first.

[woofy]

I'm still none the wiser, I've emailed them, I've called them adn they tell me different things each time. When I ask about the inspection, they don't know, but then again its usually an Indian call centre. I don't know if VAG Australia have a technical division but Mazda and Hyundai do so weird.

[wfdTamar]

Oh well, that's good as I'm at 68,000/3.75 years and wasn't looking forward to doing it so soon (only had the car a couple of months).

[Umai Naa!!]

I'm still none the wiser, I've emailed them, I've called them adn they tell me different things each time. When I ask about the inspection, they don't know, but then again its usually an Indian call centre. I don't know if VAG Australia have a technical division but Mazda and Hyundai do so weird.

As stated, an inspection is just an inspection of the belt. If your dealership is telling you that peeling a plastic cover back (1min job, tops) is justification to go ahead and spend another 3 hours replacing the timing belt, they're being quite greedy. This is coming from a VW technician!

VAG does have a technical department, but this is for the dealerships only. You could call Customer Assist, but they're just phone answerers. They're not much help, but they're good at buck-passing and finger-pointing!

[Diesel_vert]

For TDI PD diesel engines:

In Europe, the belt change interval is 120 000 km or 150 000 km depending on the engine code and build date.
I don't what the change interval is for Australia, but I'm sure there have been plenty of discussions on this.


For TDI CR diesel engines:

In Europe, the belt change interval is 180 000 km or 210 000 km depending on the engine code and build date.
However, for countries with a high level of dust, the change interval is 120 000 km.
Australia is classified as a country with high levels of dust.

What I don't understand is why it's specified at 105 000 km, instead of more expected 120 000 km, as per the above recommendations in the workshop manual.
Maybe it's to spread out the cost of service, since the 120 000 km service may include gearbox oil change as well...
Perhaps an insider can enlighten us?