When to change a timing belt on Octavia vRS TDi

[Umai Naa!!]

Water pump doesn't come with the genuine kit.

Always get prices from the dealership as a comparison. You'd be surprised sometimes. Expect to pay $250-$300 for the kit.

If going through the dealership, get an exchange water pump from them (and return the old one). They're around $150.

You'll need these: Laser Tools 4346 Volkswagen Timing Tool SET VAG Tool Garage Auto | eBay to lock the crank and cam, and accessory belt tensioner.

Should take most around 5-6 hours to do. Experienced guys can do them in around 4 hours.

Buy new bolts for the crank pulley. The heads of them are made of playdough.

Line it all up first, before you pull the crank pulley and lower covers off.

Check, and double-check your marks (i.e. rotate the crank 2 or 4 times with new belt on), before you start it.

[Transporter]

Ok, well theres no way I can afford to replace this **** right now. Im angered now because the money Ive had to spend on my Crewman just to sell it inflated like no tomorrow, I thought I was finally done with maintenance... And now the car is in for a wheel bearing, and looking at the blue smoke coming out. Im doing the cam follower tomorrow.

So I found THIS DIY which, while it isn't easy at all, seems "easy enough". I think I can tackle it. I've had a play replacing the accessories pulley before so I've been down in that area.. its a start


Do you guys have any words of wisdom/concerns before I go ahead with this? I will also get a quote to get it done, but it seems it will be at least $500-700 labour to even fit the ebay kit.....

Yes, if you make a mistake, it could cost you thousands of dollars to repair the engine straight away. Or if the engine fails while on a long trip or holiday, it could be even worst.

If you never done it, then don't do it, leave it to the pros, keep your car reliable.

[brad]

If you never done it, then don't do it, leave it to the pros, keep your car reliable.

If nobody ever attempted anything that they hadn't done before then we'd still be wearing skins & shivering in a cave.

If mountainbikemike had never done any spanner work before then it's a fair comment but his fabrication skills are very good & he's done a lot of mechanical work already on his vehicle & he works as a mechanic but in a different field.

He's got about as much chance of buggering it up as I have... oh, wait

[Mysticality]

He's got about as much chance of buggering it up as I have... oh, wait

+1 He's pretty good

@Mike- Be careful though, my belt was stretched so the cams were facing half-notch opposing directions, they had to realign them... And that was after 2yr/135k

@Umai- Sorry Funds prohibitive...

[Transporter]

If nobody ever attempted anything that they hadn't done before then we'd still be wearing skins & shivering in a cave.

If mountainbikemike had never done any spanner work before then it's a fair comment but his fabrication skills are very good & he's done a lot of mechanical work already on his vehicle & he works as a mechanic but in a different field.

He's got about as much chance of buggering it up as I have... oh, wait

Oh, it's fine by me brad.
I just see too many cars where people think they can do it, and then call me half way through the job or when it's to late.

...so I don't see anything wrong advising some one not to do the timing belt replacement on their own when they haven't done it before.

I guess, I just crawl back under my rock.

[MountainBikeMike]

+1 He's pretty good

@Mike- Be careful though, my belt was stretched so the cams were facing half-notch opposing directions, they had to realign them... And that was after 2yr/135k

@Umai- Sorry Funds prohibitive...

Thanks for the opinions guys. I to would like to know the experience of the guy who made the diy, as everyone could miss something, especially when cutting small corners.

Matti- does that mean that two of the wheels were opposing each other compared to where they were meant to be, or was one of the teeth one spot further than it should have been? I will need to investigate this, as I'll be at 120k when I do it in about 2 weeks

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[woofy]

It's a pretty critical thing to get right, I wouldn't want to be doing it myself. If you are confident to do it go for it.

[MountainBikeMike]

Water pump doesn't come with the genuine kit.

Always get prices from the dealership as a comparison. You'd be surprised sometimes. Expect to pay $250-$300 for the kit.

If going through the dealership, get an exchange water pump from them (and return the old one). They're around $150.

You'll need these: Laser Tools 4346 Volkswagen Timing Tool SET VAG Tool Garage Auto | eBay to lock the crank and cam, and accessory belt tensioner.

Should take most around 5-6 hours to do. Experienced guys can do them in around 4 hours.

Buy new bolts for the crank pulley. The heads of them are made of playdough.

Line it all up first, before you pull the crank pulley and lower covers off.

Check, and double-check your marks (i.e. rotate the crank 2 or 4 times with new belt on), before you start it.

Dealership had the kit for under $300 but then he realised that was trade and normally $450. He said he'd do trade anyway luckily. Yes $150 for the pump, exchanged.

There's a kit on eBay for $300 with everything..

Also the toolset you linked to, says for tdi and diesel only?

So I'm guessing a final check before turn on as you mentioned in your last sentence, would confirm positioning?

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[Mysticality]

Matti- does that mean that two of the wheels were opposing each other compared to where they were meant to be, or was one of the teeth one spot further than it should have been? I will need to investigate this, as I'll be at 120k when I do it in about 2 weeks

Opposing, same spot on belt, just belt had stretched a bit so the cams had moved apart a little.
Thats all


EDIT: Which is probably one of the reasons VW wants us (hotter climates) to change the belt sooner...

[MountainBikeMike]

I just picked up the belt and pulley kit, coolant, and water pump for $485 from skoda, minus $65 refund when I bring the water pump core back.

Guy accidentally told me trade price on the phone, so he just ran with it.

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[Umai Naa!!]

Yeah you use the timing tools on the FSI as well.

[MountainBikeMike]

Yeah you use the timing tools on the FSI as well.

Damn. Can they be bought in stores and are they 100% neccessary? The diy above didn't use them

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[Umai Naa!!]

You can get away with it, but you must be super careful that the cams or crank don't rotate of their own accord once you've taken the belt off.

[MountainBikeMike]

You can get away with it, but you must be super careful that the cams or crank don't rotate of their own accord once you've taken the belt off.

That must have been what the white markings were for on the diy I posted. A safe guard

[MountainBikeMike]

Hey guys, bit of an update. After 10 hours of swearing and hurting, I'd finally done the timing belt change myself

For reference:

I got the parts from Skoda Brighton. I called and the guy accidentally gave me the trade price, realized what he'd done, and said he'd just do it anyway. This came to (PLUS TAX):
-Repair kit including belt, rollers, tensioner: $275 (list price $358 )
-Water pump $80 (list price $115)
-Water pump core $65 (refundable upon return of used water pump core)
-1.5L of genuine coolant $20 (list $23) which I'm going to take back, as it wouldn't have been enough, and I ended up buying 5L on concentrate (makes 10L) from Repco for $46 (RACV discount)

My mechanic is very cheap most of the time, and he quoted me $650 labour, which I still didn't like the sound of. I would say difficulty wise, you need to be very switched on, and have a high level of perseverance. You also need an excess of time- that was my biggest struggle, and the major cause of stress (had to get it ready for track day Sunday). But there were a fair few times I couldn't see extra bolts thats weren't listed in the DIY's I used (I used two to cross-check).

I didn't need any really specific tools, I just followed the DIY's that can easily be found by googl'ing "FSI 2.0 TIMING BELT". On there it mentioned the job would take someone with experience 4-5 hours, but set aside 8 hours. Including re-filling coolant and some drive testing, it took ten hours for me. I jacked up the car in the morning and rode to work. Started at 5.30pm Friday and went till 1.30am... Then another 2-3 hours Saturday after work. It wasn't too bad doing the techy bits in the dark. The hardest part was dealing with getting the engine mount up and out of the way. The fuel lines needed to be moved in my Skoda, as well as removing the K&N intake so that I could jack the engine higher. Lots and lots of bolts also have to be removed, so its difficult to remember which is which.

I've now driven it 700km including 50 happy laps of Winton and no dramas at all!

The missy being stuck


And by 1am...


Shot of the belt and all rollers off, and the pump out


All the bits taken out of the side of the engine bay


Old vs New water pump. The guy at the dealer told me to give it a good clean before returning for refund...


Aaaaand the following day


For anyone else game enough to save the dough and learn a sh17load about their engine: GLHF!