cam belt replacement

[markgrff17]

hi everyone

just wondering what the replacement intervals are for my 1999 1.8t cam belt. it covered 112000 so is coming up for its second belt?


cheers............. mark

[towcestervag]

officially 4yrs 80k

[cinman2003]

Is that a DIY job or an (expensive) garage one?

[towcestervag]

depends how competant you are!

[cinman2003]

Fair 'nuff - I'll rephrase that then - does the engine have to come out or the front of the car have to come off? If the answer's yes to either of these - then it's likely to be a "garage" job from my perspective. Otherwise me and my Halfords Professional socket set are up for it :D

[towcestervag]

front of car comes apart into what they call service posistion

[slackboy]

Cost is about £300-350 depending on where you take it. Its important to get a genuine VW cambelt kit (includes belt, tensioners and rollers) installed rather than just having the cambelt itself replaced.

The kit costs about £120 and the rest is labour.

While the cambelt is being done you should also get the water pump replaced (about £35 exchange) as there is virutally no extra labour involved and they can fail causing a fair amount of damage.

I know you're not near birmingham but this site is a good source of info about cambelt replacement and the costs involved: http://www.wizard-works.com/

[muddy]

Water pump advice is 100%

At 120,000 to 130,000 an original pump will be very much on borrowed time - and may well show evidence of slight leakage through the drain hole in the form of dried-out/crystalized coolant.

And cinman2003 you're right, it is a brilliant car. But expect to have (at this mileage):-

1/ duff thermostat (see other post re 90 degrees)
2/ Intermittent or failed temp sender (but can be just poor contacts)
3/ Failed heater fan (brushes) - see other posts
4/ Failed aircon fan (if you have A/C. Brushes again)
5/ Various rattles from worn joints and bushes in the front suspension.
All these are DIY fixable.

But still an excellent, quiet and economical car.

[snapdragon]

Forum Advertiser - you have to pay extra for waterpump etc...

http://www.stafford-audi.co.uk/dealerships/stafford-audi/service-and-parts/cambelt-level-1.aspx