NoSmoke
Veteran Member
The topic of when the timing belt and associated hardware should be replaced, over and above the recommended mileage limit, has arisen here from time to time. My particular case might prove to be instructive for those maybe wishing to push their luck a bit i.e.drive over the limit and hope nothing breaks.
My 02 Golf has around 475,000 kms and is getting a bit on the tattered side although it still runs well. My timing belt came due about a year ago and, since I was going to replace the car with an electric vehicle in the not too distant future, I decided to forego spending the about $1K it would cost to have the belt replaced and hope nothing happened until I sold the car. As it turned out, the elect vehicle I was planning on, the VW ID3, will apparently not be available in North America for while, if at all, so I decided to keep the 02 another few years or so and spring for the belt replacement.
At that point I was about 30,000 Km over the recommended limit. I just had it done and asked the mechanic to keep the old parts as I was very curious as to what kind of shape they would be in. My observations are a bit subjective as I have no real basis of comparison except for the new parts.
Anyhow, what I found was that the belt itself appeared pristine with no signs of wear or cracking at all. The tensioner, large roller and one of the small rollers all appeared to be fine with no discernable rotation roughness, shaft play or friction.
One of the small rollers however had discernable shaft play (or wobble). Not a whole lot but enough to be felt when the shaft was wiggled. The water pump shaft had no wobble or roughness but more rotational friction than the new pump.
I don't really know how all that shakes out as to whether or not the overhaul was required at the time I did it but the wobble in the small roller and tightness in the water pump kinda makes me feel it was past its time(??).
I also suppose that when I sell the car a couple or so years from now, the new belt will increase the resale value somewhat and I won't have to worry about the thing cratering (at least from a broken belt mechanism) so I guess it's all good in the end. YMMV.
My 02 Golf has around 475,000 kms and is getting a bit on the tattered side although it still runs well. My timing belt came due about a year ago and, since I was going to replace the car with an electric vehicle in the not too distant future, I decided to forego spending the about $1K it would cost to have the belt replaced and hope nothing happened until I sold the car. As it turned out, the elect vehicle I was planning on, the VW ID3, will apparently not be available in North America for while, if at all, so I decided to keep the 02 another few years or so and spring for the belt replacement.
At that point I was about 30,000 Km over the recommended limit. I just had it done and asked the mechanic to keep the old parts as I was very curious as to what kind of shape they would be in. My observations are a bit subjective as I have no real basis of comparison except for the new parts.
Anyhow, what I found was that the belt itself appeared pristine with no signs of wear or cracking at all. The tensioner, large roller and one of the small rollers all appeared to be fine with no discernable rotation roughness, shaft play or friction.
One of the small rollers however had discernable shaft play (or wobble). Not a whole lot but enough to be felt when the shaft was wiggled. The water pump shaft had no wobble or roughness but more rotational friction than the new pump.
I don't really know how all that shakes out as to whether or not the overhaul was required at the time I did it but the wobble in the small roller and tightness in the water pump kinda makes me feel it was past its time(??).
I also suppose that when I sell the car a couple or so years from now, the new belt will increase the resale value somewhat and I won't have to worry about the thing cratering (at least from a broken belt mechanism) so I guess it's all good in the end. YMMV.