Timing belt question

[dwar5345]

Hi all,

We're looking at buying a 2019 85TSI Comfortline Polo that appears to be in pretty good condition. It's in Sydney, Australia, where my girlfriend's living until I can join her later this year. A lot of the reason I'm trying to avoid waiting until then is it's blue, got an R-Line bodykit, and is a manual, which is a rare combination out there (the market for manual cars there is almost non-existent nowadays).

The problem is (fortunately her dad went with her to give it a proper inspection) it will soon need four new tyres, and in two months' time a year's registration (which costs around £500, and unfortunately is just a road tax of sorts that's unavoidable). I'm obviously fine with buying new tyres, because it's done 38,000m, and I typically believe in buying the best ones you can get. But as it's six years old, it will also, depending on who you believe, be due a new timing belt. That's not her dad saying that; that's simply what seems to be accepted knowledge and the service history showing it hasn't yet had one.

Can anyone tell me how accurate or otherwise that might be? 'Cause the costs are suddenly starting to add up if it is. I'm in London and attempting to sell a 2016 R-Line that I bought when it had done 900 miles and that has made it to 28,000 without requiring a new one, partly because of advice on this forum that says that the five-year interval quoted by VW UK is challenged elsewhere in the world. But I can't see a similar thread for the newer shape. Excuse me if I've simply missed it.

Thank you

[OomStu_ZA]

Hi Dwar5345

According to Google:
The timing belt on a Volkswagen Polo 1.0L TSI (EA211 engine) does not have a strict, mandatory replacement mileage in newer official factory guidelines, but independent mechanics strongly recommend changing it every 90,000 km to 120,000 km or every 5 to 6 years, whichever comes first. In Sydney, Australia, you can expect to pay between $650 and $1,200 AUD to replace the timing belt on a Volkswagen Polo 1.0L 85TSI at a trusted independent European specialist. If you take the car to an official Volkswagen Dealership in Sydney (such as those in Five Dock, Sutherland, or the North Shore), the cost will likely be significantly higher, ranging from $1,500 to $2,200+ AUD. This is due to high inner-city dealer labour rates (often exceeding $200–$250 per hour) and premium pricing on genuine parts.

Since mechanics advise replacement every 5 - 6 years (and its now 7 years old - 2019) it may well be worth replacing even though the milage still looks good for at least 40 000kms (24000Miles). That said, you can always get a second opinion and have someone inspect the belt before purchase or even speak with the seller and find out if they willing to replace it as part of the sale.

[RUM4MO]

Another way of looking at this is, if that used car is going to be owned and used by her for maybe the next 4 years, why not just get this work done now and so that should stop any of you worrying about exactly when to get this work done going forward.

These new cambelts are manufactured to be a lot stronger/durable than the ones used on the older typically port injection petrol engines, and also don't carry the load or task of driving the water pump - but there is still a tensioner-pulley in there, and it might not have been beefed up to survive these longer time/distance service times.

My wife has had an older Polo 1.4 16V ie a 2002 model, and I made sure that I played safe with it getting its "belts and associated bits" replaced every 4 > 5 years. With her current car, a 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, I got the cambelt replaced at just past the 10 years/55,000miles point - it just made sense to do that at that point in time, originally I was suggesting to others that I'd get that job done at the 7.5 years old point in its life - but ended up leaving it a bit longer.

Maybe my point here is, we have owned that car from new, and tend to keep cars for roughly 12 > 13 years - so with that in mind, I was always going to be paying for a cambelt change - so why not do it at a "safe" time/distance point in that car's life, and stop worrying about "I wish I had changed it" as time went on - just my take on this topic.

[dwar5345]

Thanks, both.

I recognise the cautious thing to do is just to replace it and I'm probably leaning towards that but I'm also loathe to throw away what could be a good two or three years of life in it, or however many thousand miles. Not least because it seems to have been established that VW UK were just cynically money grabbing when they recommended that the lifetime belt spoken about in Germany and elsewhere in Europe needed to be replaced every five years when VW Germany were saying 15, etc.

From what I can tell, the Google AI response could well be a legacy of previous guidance along those lines. I'm also confused about what the previous model Polo would have a lifetime belt (15 years) but the newer one is six or seven, but would be the first to admit I don't know enough about car engines so maybe that makes more sense to others than It does to me?

I've also seen it speculated that changing the timing belt prematurely can risk problems with water pumps. Can anyone advise?

Similarly, I've seen it speculated that the timing belt (even lifetime ones) may well be fine but the tensioners aren't worth relying on because of what they can risk doing to the timing belt?

...is the engine in the 2019 85TSI Polo – a 1.0 turbo – the same as the one in my previous model, 2017 Polo?

[RUM4MO]

Your 2017 VW Polo 1.0TSI will be an EA211 engine, this car you are talking about will also be an EA211 engine, obviously designs and production standard builds evolve continuously, but they are basically the same engine.

Seeing as you have mentioned the water pump, on all these engines from this EA211 family, the water pump resides at the other end of the engine and has its own drive belt - so replacing the cam belt does not affect the water pump belt.