BEW guys, 80k means 80k! (Or 5 Years)

flan

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04 tdi jetta
80k! Not 81k. 82k, OR 84k on your timing belts (where I am now) or you end up with stripped teeth, like me! I just ordered and took delivery of all my replacement TB stuff and cam stuff and tonight she lost power and died on the way home. I was scheduled to replace all the stuff next week. I Pulled the top cover off and see teeth sitting on the small roller. Capitol ***. My fault, I own this one as I know better but personal time slipped away, as my belt did. Put it off a week too long. Since I have tb kit, cam kit with lifters, etc what’s my next move? More than likely bent valves? Any way of checking without pulling the head? I feel like Im all in since I have most of the stuff already....
 

PakProtector

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Mk.4's and the Cummins
Yeah...that is indeed a nightmare. My condolences. 81k should effectively be the same as 80k...statistics wise. The MTBF should be well over 80k, so there is a wee tail of failures at 80k. Not that I am going to conduct that experiment.
cheers,
Douglas
 

burn_your_money

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Pull the cam and then put air pressure into the cylinder using the glow plug hole. I welded an air compressor fitting onto an old glow plug that I drilled out. If you have air gushing out the intake or exhaust, you need valves. You can try lightly tapping on the lifter to see if reseating the valve helps.
The odds are strongly against you though. And even if everything checks out with the air pressure, if the valves did kiss the pistons, they are liable to drop the valve head in 10k and really make a mess. Any spider cracking on the lifters is 100% pull the head and verify things.
 

Nevada_TDI

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Flan, there are many stories of the "I wish I would not have waited another xxx miles",
When there is a timing belt occurrence, the head always needs to be removed and rebuilt.
When my first timing belt broke while driving, and not stopping immediately added another $500.00 to the repair bill.
What does that old tv commercial say... pay me now or pay me later.
 
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tgray

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Even if things work now, things can be damaged where you can't see. My rule is if a valve got bumped at all it is replaced. The only way to know if a valve is bumped is to pull the head. If the belt broke you can be sure at least one got hit. I have read stories of those who thought they looked good. What a bummer for that to happen so soon. I have run mine at least once up to 100,000 before I realized what I was doing. I had an old Ford let loose on me at 60,000 and they recommended the interval at 60,000. You never know. How old was the belt? Sometimes age or environment affect them. Maybe something dropped down into the area? I have a good head taking up shop space if you can't find one.
 

kennethsime

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I owned an ALH last, and the interval was 100k. Is the interval for all BEWs 80k?
 

flan

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04 tdi jetta
Post mortem investigation. Tore it down quick and dirty...

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flan

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04 tdi jetta
Orig cam with 240k on it, not as bad as I thought it would be. Lifters a little hogged out. Some spider web cracking as seen. Not sure if from recent TB event or because of cam wear.
 

Nero Morg

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Man that hurts my soul.
I'd play it safe and do the head.
 

PakProtector

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Mk.4's and the Cummins
yah...you should probably do the head. I am sure you are going to find that valves have made solid contact wid the pistons. best o' luck...I have not yet seen my BEW's cam. TB has another 28k to reach 80k and by then I will likely be confident in my ability to do one. Am at about the .5 count now, soon to be 1.5, but on ALH. Love having the tools.
cheers,
Douglas
 

Zak99b5

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Albany NY
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2003 Jetta TDI
Any idea what component failed to strip the teeth off the belt? Or is the belt just that bad that they fell off?

My timing belt (ALH) had a similar groove on the outside that yours had. It was from a bent tab on the metal middle timing belt cover.
 

flan

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On my couch
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04 tdi jetta
I haven’t got other lower portion tore apart yet to see if the pulley, waterpump or tensioner has locked up. I have decided to pull the head to install new valves, intake and exhaust. Parts I’m in it for less than $300 including the head gasket kit with new bolts, etc. while the mileage is right about at the replacement interval, I think the age probably has more to do with it.
 

tgray

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Make sure you check piston height when the head comes off.
 

Tdijarhead

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I had a similar experience a few years back. I had a much shorter groove in my belt caused by foreign debris. What ever caused the groove in you belt likely caused the failure also.

 

gforce1108

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The BEW was originally 100k, lowered to 80k. I did my first at 95+ and my second at 190k, not knowing until I ordered the parts that it had been reduced. Both easily could have done 100k. 2 years ago I replaced the original 2006 belt on a BRM with 130k. No signs of age (scary how good it looked).
 

Genesis

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You just never know.

I was just forced to short-time a belt on an ALH due to a water pump seal leak. Well, when I got it all apart everything looked great EXCEPT.... the lower roller, which was a bit loose. The entire kit had 4 years and ~40,000 miles on it, WELL before interval.

Would that roller been ok to 100,000 miles? I don't know that I would take that bet, and if it comes apart the belt will lose tension, skip, and then the head is screwed so...... yeah. That of course assumes when it goes the pieces don't go places you really don't want them, and the odds are good they will.

Was the leak a blessing? I'll never know -- but it might have been. Everything else that came out was perfectly suitable for continued service.
 

oilhammer

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outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I've never seen a BEW not go to 100k miles without an issue. I always wonder what actually happens to have one fail prematurely, to be honest.

I have seen a couple have the beginnings of water pump failure around that time (pink crusties, and sometimes a tiny wet spot), but that's about it.
 

DonL

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Kingman, Arizona
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2005 Jetta TDI wagon (BEW)
I have a 2005 BEW. I replaced the timing belt at almost exactly 100k, 200k and 300k. Last belt looked so good I thought about stretching out the next one by a few thousand miles. Now you tell me they only go 80k. Sigh....
 

PakProtector

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Mk.4's and the Cummins
Examine the statistics...if 80k gets darned near everybody there safely, then it just depends on the shape of the curve as to how safe 100k actually is.

So what causes the stress? My money is on the injection pumps. Sooo...a tune that holds them open longer, without bumping nozzle size is likely less good. Bumping the nozzles( say to DLC1043's ) is going to be better( less peak force ). Both belts drive the pump, and the BEW's is wider...and has 20% less duration specified.
cheers,
Douglas
 
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