Worried about my Passat

[Rick_J]

I am looking for some advice; I have a 1998 Passat 1.9 Tdi estate, which has done 176,000 miles at 114,000 it had a new cam belt and full service. I problem I have now is I am out of work and money is very tight so need to make the right choice, I know it needs a new cam belt, but I have been told it should have new water pump and timing belt pulleys and tensions at a cost £285 + vat, and not a VW agent this sound like a lot of money to me but it maybe right. Can anyone tell me what the best to do is and if the price sounds right.

Rick J

[nezvos]

Rick, I just had my 2001 1.9 TDI estate replaced at 120,000, at a cost of £180 + vat at local garage. The reason for suggesting the water pump etc is that if it fails and seizes it could cause the belt to go and if he has reccomended that you change it is out of his warranty etc. Is the £285 + inc service?

Tensioner etc normally comes in a kit that garages buy.

Don't know if pump really needs replacing but plenty on guys on here will...good luck.

Nez

[passing]

related to your question but unfortunately not answering it. I too am consdering replacing my cam belt on age rather than mileage.
Hence I will leave the pump for now. The kit I enquired about includes tensioner, idler and damper. I am wondering if I need to replace the idelr and damper as at 35k miles and 7 years I guess they are not worn and they cost another £40.

[CherryB]

:burnout: Has it had a water pump replaced at any stage in its life? Depends if it has metal impellers or plastic ones. Plastic ones are the ones that fail. Obviously a metal impellered one could fail but less likely. With the idler, it boils down to how the bearings and plastic roller are. If the bearings fail, as the roller, it'll just chuck your nice new belt off and kill your engine.......... expensive. hope this helps.

[CherryB]

Have a look in GSF's catalogue (link on home page) water pumps running around the £25 mark and tensioners about the same.