When to change a timing belt on Octavia vRS TDi

[woofy]

Yeah except what's in mine never matched what the dealer said and they have revised it at least three times since by my count.

[gldgti]

hehe this is still going on..... its all written in your service schedule (in the folder in the glovebox that has all your other car documents in it probably...

150,000 (atleast for PD engines)

[wfdTamar]

Was at the dealer today - confirmed, 7 years/105,000 km (at least for the diesel, not sure about petrol).

[woofy]

This is a joint Audi/Skoda dealership that I've seen ream P platers with S3s in servicing without blinking an eye. One guy I saw even had to get his mum to pick him up (as they wouldn't let him have his car back until paid) and go to the bank to make a loan to pay a normal service. I do see a disproportionate about of young guys getting S3s there though, so don't feel too sorry if they don't think too much about what they are getting into.

Reality seems to have left their building a long time ago, but they assume they can treat Skoda customers the same, admitedly I did get an Audi as the courtesy car last time but would have been happy with the usual Octy or Scout I've had before.

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 PM ----------

Had a chat with my source, apparently Audi held onto the 4yr thing longer than vw and Skoda but have now gone 7 yrs. having said that they still would recommend 4yrs for city cars including a water pump change.

After cursing having the belt rather than the change he told me a very interesting bit of info about the current engine used. Umai Naa have you got any comments about that current engine?

[Umai Naa!!]

I'll tell you what, if one of our technicians tried that, they'd be torn a new one.

There's a difference between being thorough, and being greedy.

[Diesel_vert]

Of course it's a popular figure. It's the correct figure for our market. It's on the Australian Service Check-sheets for VW, Audi and Skoda, and those check-sheets override everything else, as they're specific to our market.

Haha, well that's settled then.

I keep forgetting that my cousin is an Audi/VW tech as well, should have asked him as I would have got a straight answer. The dealer has always been saying its an inspection at 60k but reckon to get to inspect it they may as well replace it at an extra cost of $1200 over the already big $800 service at 60k/4 yrs....so will ask them why.

Yeah, might as well - it's 'only' $1200. You'll do anything for your car, right?

Of course, upon inspection, if the belt shows obvious signs of wear and tears, then there's nothing wrong with replacing it earlier than specified.

But just replacing it at 60 000 km regardless of the belt's condition is a blatant money grab, considering the Australian interval (105 000 km) is already nearly half that of the European interval (180 000 km).

So it's quite disappointing (to say the very least) that they're telling their customers to get their belts changed at 60 000 km, especially since it may not be needed, and at great cost to us.

[woofy]

I keep forgetting that my cousin is an Audi/VW tech as well, should have asked him as I would have got a straight answer. The dealer has always been saying its an inspection at 60k but reckon to get to inspect it they may as well replace it at an extra cost of $1200 over the already big $800 service at 60k/4 yrs....so will ask them why.

[Ocy_RS_TDi_Kombi]

Had confirmation from an independent VW specialist in Melbourne and it's 105k or 7 years. Inspection @ 60k. So Umai Naa!! Is spot on.

[Umai Naa!!]

Of course it's a popular figure. It's the correct figure for our market. It's on the Australian Service Check-sheets for VW, Audi and Skoda, and those check-sheets override everything else, as they're specific to our market.

[Diesel_vert]

I'll ring the dealer and confirm. Yeah I got the phone answers, but years ago I found Mazda actually have someone who calls you back and answers the questions, same with Hyundai. If you email the Q to either you hear back usually the same day as well.

Funny how Skoda can't even do that at the best of times, I had an awful time getting info out of them in the early days when there was just one dealer in Melb nowhere near me and the only post here was the one saying SKoda was coming, in the end I got all my answers from Skoda CZ who respond very quickly.

For the record, the belt change interval for the 2.0 l 147 kW petrol is 180 000 km for Europe.

Certain markets specify a shorter interval half that of the European market i.e. 90 000 km.

No mention of a 105 000 km interval, but seems to be a popular figure that pops up here. Again, I reckon it's a bit of an odd interval, but whatever - at least it's 15 000 km more than 90 000 km.

[woofy]

I'll ring the dealer and confirm. Yeah I got the phone answers, but years ago I found Mazda actually have someone who calls you back and answers the questions, same with Hyundai. If you email the Q to either you hear back usually the same day as well.

Funny how Skoda can't even do that at the best of times, I had an awful time getting info out of them in the early days when there was just one dealer in Melb nowhere near me and the only post here was the one saying SKoda was coming, in the end I got all my answers from Skoda CZ who respond very quickly.

[Umai Naa!!]

I wish I knew. It's been 105,000klms for as long as I've been dealing with them.

But as you've suggested, I'd say it was changed to the 105, as it's only an oil/filter service, in order to spread the costs out.

[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?

[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!

[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).