timing belt replacement interval

jabeyer

New member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Location
Tampa, FL
TDI
2011 Sportwagen
The first time the owner's manual recommends changing the timing belt is at 130K miles. I have been checking posts for other model years and the longest I have seen is 100K. Have the belts been improved that much for the 2011 CR engines?
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
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Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Trust your owners manual schedule.........................

Every year or so, they seem to stretch the interval. In 98 I think it was 60K miles.
 

acrossthepond

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Location
UK
TDI
several now 2016 Mk7 Golf GTD DSG
You're lucky as VWUK here insist the camshaft belt is changed every 4 years despite the 120k miles in the schedule...

If you don't then its goodbye to any 'goodwill' payment if the engine blows and you've a large bill.

Good old rip-off Britain.
 

PlaneJob

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Location
Wylie, TX
TDI
2010 JSW TDI
You're lucky as VWUK here insist the camshaft belt is changed every 4 years despite the 120k miles in the schedule...

If you don't then its goodbye to any 'goodwill' payment if the engine blows and you've a large bill.

Good old rip-off Britain.
So you are doing maintenance in the hopes that VW will cover a potential out-of-warranty failure that you have no reason to think exists? Sounds like they have you fooled.
 

honda93

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Location
USA
TDI
2010 Golf TDI
You're lucky as VWUK here insist the camshaft belt is changed every 4 years despite the 120k miles in the schedule...

If you don't then its goodbye to any 'goodwill' payment if the engine blows and you've a large bill.

Good old rip-off Britain.
But, you get the newest Top Gear episodes!
 

Ryephile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Location
Metro Detroit
TDI
MkVI Golf
jabeyer said:
the owner's manual recommends changing the timing belt is at 130K miles
Yuppers. If there's evidence showing it's a better idea to change it more often than VW recommends, I haven't seen it yet. Besides, 130k miles is waaaay out of warranty, so at that point VW is just trying to get your car back in the shop to fund the service/parts departments. If anything the belt can go significantly longer than that.

Any one know if this is a free spinning or interference engine?
I would expect it to be an interference design solely based on it being a Diesel. The only combustion chamber is within the core of the piston, the valves sit flush to the head, and it's likely the piston top comes mighty close to the closed valves at TDC.
 

MostroDiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Location
North Haven, CT and Brooklyn, NY
TDI
2012 Passat Gasser VR6; (Sold and missed) 09 JSW DSG Pano Blue Graphite Build Date 05/09
Yuppers. If there's evidence showing it's a better idea to change it more often than VW recommends, I haven't seen it yet. Besides, 130k miles is waaaay out of warranty, so at that point VW is just trying to get your car back in the shop to fund the service/parts departments. If anything the belt can go significantly longer than that.
Very dangerous ground you're treading there Ryephile! :)

This is an interference engine, so if you lose your timing belt you're looking at extensive valve damage, possible piston damage, and in extreme cases, total engine writeoff. So the timing belt job is no joke.

In today's engines, Ryephile, you are probably right that the belt itself can last longer than indicated, given the right conditions. But very often the determining factor is not the belt but the tensioner, pulleys, and water pump bearings which can let go with age and miles. When belts break it is usually a side effect of bad rollers someplace in the system.

For me, since I'll be doing the job myself when the time comes (assuming I still own the car), I will probably get a jump on it and do it at 100K. That's well ahead of schedule, for sure, but in many VWs and Audis the original factory recommendations turned out to be optimistic in the past.

For instance the 1.8t gassers were supposed to go to 120K but many broke prematurely and I think the official (and certainly unofficial) recommendation was downgraded to 100K or 90K or something like that.

Mind you I'm by no means recommending others mimic my paranoia!
 

Ryephile

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Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Location
Metro Detroit
TDI
MkVI Golf
Understanding all angles of the story is dangerous indeed. ;) I definitely agree that having a timing belt fail is a very bad day indeed. Ensuring the tensioner and idlers are in good working order helps a bunch to keep things moving smoothly.

IIRC, in California it's mandated that all engine timing belts last at least 100k miles before requiring replacement. For example, my friends' Evo IX owners manual suggest replacing the timing belt every 80k, unless you're in CA, where every 100k is recommended. LOL, the contradiction is absurd. What that implies to me is the belt really should be replaced at 80k miles, but will likely last to 100k.

As we all know, mechanical things have tolerances and are subject to their operating conditions. Adhering to our owners manual recommended timing belt replacement at 130k miles is likely perfectly acceptable. Chances are, since most of us are paranoid whack-jobs, we'll replace the belt at 100k. Chopping off 23% of the belts' advertised service life is probably a small price to pay for comforting our insanity.
 

740GLE

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Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
My volvo 960 was on a 30K TB schedule and that was an interference enginer too. Only upside was you didn't need to replace the water pump each TB change, (ha go figure) just the rollers tensionsers and other goodies all done to the tune of $600 at the local Volvo guru.

So needless to say I'm happy and not complaining what so ever.
 
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meowguy

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Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Location
Saco, ME
TDI
2010 JSW, 2012 Passat TDI SE
I hate to be a wet blanket on a cold day again, but the harder you drive the car the more often you will need to change the belt. Things such as "launch starts", "driving it like you stole it" blasting away from toll booths and intersections etc. all increase the likelihood of your belt needing to be replaced sooner rather than later. :(

I will have mine done as the manual states.
 

bruce846

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Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Location
North Central Pangaea
TDI
No TDI's
I hate to be a wet blanket on a cold day again, but the harder you drive the car the more often you will need to change the belt. Things such as "launch starts", "driving it like you stole it" blasting away from toll booths and intersections etc. all increase the likelihood of your belt needing to be replaced sooner rather than later. :(

I will have mine done as the manual states.
This is not good news!!
 

Ryephile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Location
Metro Detroit
TDI
MkVI Golf
... all increase the likelihood...
Kinda. The VW 130k mile replacement suggestion is likely assuming "normal operating conditions", which accounts for a certain bell-curve distribution of load, RPM, and temperature ranges. Unless you are lugging the engine all day, at the racetrack all the time, or towing huge things frequently, most people that use the car in a normal everyday situation won't even need to consider them driving outside the expected operating conditions for that service interval.

For all we know, "driving like you stole it" will suggest a timing belt change at 140k instead of 150k miles for a more typical driving style.
 

acrossthepond

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Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Location
UK
TDI
several now 2016 Mk7 Golf GTD DSG
So you are doing maintenance in the hopes that VW will cover a potential out-of-warranty failure that you have no reason to think exists? Sounds like they have you fooled.
Thats right they don't warranty beyond 4 years full stop.
I do a reasonable mileage averaging 22k per year so its a change at 88k.
VWUK made a business decision on previous warranty costs to them in the past & of course to drum up more service business for the dealer network .

In these circumstances I think you would be a fool to ignore the potential huge bill you could be landed with by ignoring their service conditions.

My last cambelt/water pump change cost £299 against initial quotes of £520 so dealers are having to bring their prices down.
 

acrossthepond

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Location
UK
TDI
several now 2016 Mk7 Golf GTD DSG
But, you get the newest Top Gear episodes!
Interestingly a guy I know had tickets for the recording of the two latest Christmas episodes.....waiting list has now grown to 380k! people for tickets according to stats announced at the studio hanger.

Now has a viewing audience of 11m+ here with a worlwide audience of 1bn+ viewers.
You'll enjoy the christmas episodes some parts filmed in US.
 
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