Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Chat about your 2018+ AW/BZ model Polos here!
Andy Beats
Bling Bling Diamond Member
Posts: 2012
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:12 pm
Drives: Nissan Leaf 40KW (and Polo United)
Location: aberdeen

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by Andy Beats »

monkeyhanger wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:22 am I'm sure you're right, when EVs are being sold on the benefits of reduced running costs, including servicing, yet Nissan find a way to charge £150 (with a straight face) for a service where the only consumable is a cabin filter every other service.
They do indeed, although I was on free servicing with mine.
And they allegedly do a thorough battery check.
Of course, the more EVs come into play, the more independents will pop up to charge us less.
There's already quite a few in England, but not so much up here.....yet.

There is the story I head on an EV forum of one Leaf owner who left his dashcam going and the car was literally untouched until someone hoovered it.
But that sort of dodgy practice can equally happen with ICE cars, I'm sure we've all heard of unchanged oil filters etc.
monkeyhanger
Bling Bling Diamond Member
Posts: 2643
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:58 pm
Drives: Audi A4 Avant Quattro 40 TDI, Polo GTI+
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by monkeyhanger »

Andy Beats wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:28 pm
monkeyhanger wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:22 am I'm sure you're right, when EVs are being sold on the benefits of reduced running costs, including servicing, yet Nissan find a way to charge £150 (with a straight face) for a service where the only consumable is a cabin filter every other service.
They do indeed, although I was on free servicing with mine.
And they allegedly do a thorough battery check.
Of course, the more EVs come into play, the more independents will pop up to charge us less.
There's already quite a few in England, but not so much up here.....yet.

There is the story I head on an EV forum of one Leaf owner who left his dashcam going and the car was literally untouched until someone hoovered it.
But that sort of dodgy practice can equally happen with ICE cars, I'm sure we've all heard of unchanged oil filters etc.
My local VW and Audi dealerships insist that dashcams are switched off when you take your car in "for privacy reasons", but moreso to stop them being caught in the act pulling stunts like that or taking your car out for a joyride on their lunch break).
RUM4MO
Bling Bling Diamond Member
Posts: 5859
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:12 pm
Drives: B8 S4 & 6R/6C1 1.2TSI 110
Location: Mid Lothian

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by RUM4MO »

There was a tale about a Jaguar I-Pace, I think, the lower battery protection cover had ended up being dented during maybe even lifting the car up off the ground, tyre changing for instance, cost for the resealing around the battery just under £11K, total cost of repair including replacing any of the metal panels and possible traction battery damage came to just on half the price of a replacement I-Pace, so lots of scope get keep the money coming in.
Johntheo1
Bronze Member
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:52 am
Drives: 2018 MK10 AW1
Location: Cork

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by Johntheo1 »

Andy Beats wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 2:51 pm I had the same question about our daughter's Seat Mii, which is basically a VW UP.
It's 8 years old, 58000 miles and not had the belt done.
That was making my eye twitch, so I went onto a forum and a specialist said to leave it alone and if the belt failed he would "supply and fit a new engine for free" for me :D
It's maybe time for us all to stop listening to old fashioned beliefs on the life of parts and believing the manufacturers.
The VW belts could certainly last a long time, I had a 1980 Golf 1.1 (petrol) Formel E for 21 years and I changed the belt after 15 years on its second water pump change, these engines were non interference so no worries if the belt did slip/break, there was no spring load tensioners then, the water pump which was driven by the belt was mounted eccentrically and you just used this to tension the belt, the belt was properly tensioned when you could just twist the belt 90 deg on its longest length. I think most belt failures in those days were as a result of water pump bearing failure.
Andy Beats
Bling Bling Diamond Member
Posts: 2012
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:12 pm
Drives: Nissan Leaf 40KW (and Polo United)
Location: aberdeen

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by Andy Beats »

RUM4MO wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:34 pm There was a tale about a Jaguar I-Pace, I think, the lower battery protection cover had ended up being dented during maybe even lifting the car up off the ground, tyre changing for instance, cost for the resealing around the battery just under £11K, total cost of repair including replacing any of the metal panels and possible traction battery damage came to just on half the price of a replacement I-Pace, so lots of scope get keep the money coming in.
That's a pretty extreme example.
No denying that for routine stuff, there's less scope for them to make money though.
They'll undoubtedly use the scare factor, just as they do with ICE (and which unfortunately still works)
stevereeves
Silver Member
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:07 pm
Drives: Atlantic Blue '21 Mk8 Golf 1.5 6sp Style
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: Question about time belt (toothed belt)

Post by stevereeves »

Toothed belts, and camchains for that matter - more later, tend not to break but obviously they can and with potentially devastating engine damage. It's worth having the actual belt checked at 50,000 miles or more, and maybe or even replaced along with water pump at, say 70,000+ miles for peace of mind. At one time I think VW were recomending a cambelt & water pump change at 40,000 miles / 5 years for about £500, those figure may be wrong but it was certainly low miles for such thngs. But here's the rub; while cambelts themelves are ralatively cheap, likely less than £100 & water pumps similar price or cheaper, they can can be a complete an utter faff to replace, the major cost being in labour changes. It can be done by 'home mechanics', I did it once inc water pump and only once, but like a I said a total palava, maybe 1/2 to a full day - it took me & my uncle almost a full day to save some money, though we made mistakes and did things in the wrong order + a gasket was missing from the 'kit', but you live and learn. One tip, obviously the camshat & crankshaft stil need to be in the correct place relative to one another; when removing on old belt slice it lengthwise all along it's length, i.e. making it half its width, remove the outer 'cut' bit and slide the new belt onto the pulleys, pump, etc then cut and remove the rest of the old belt, sliding the new belt fully home. Of course this will likely only work if not also removing the water pump and depending on access to pulleys, etc, as on some cars an engine mount needs removing.

So, camchains then. Like cam belts they can break but tend to be be more resiliant, being made from metal and run in an oil bath within the engine. On holiday in Scotland once, in the hotel carpark was a Mercedes of some model belonging to an English guy, it was parked next to my Golf, a German guy walked up and we naturally talked (German) cars, as you do. Turned out the German actually worked for Mercedess and emplored the English guy to have his camchain checked asap as that particular model was known for early camchain failure + destroyed engine, less than 60,000miles. Even though the car was 5 or so years old it would still be done under warranty FOC but the English wouldn't have it and they argued for a while until eventually the German said "you MUST get it checked or it could be very bad and very expensive for you". So, yeh camblets and camchains CAN break & water pumps fail, they tend not to but a good idea to check anyway for peace of mind....
Post Reply