pugboy Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Car went in for its service today. Mechanic reckons the cambelt looked warn. I took this with a pinch of salt as I thought it would have been done at 80k. I've checked the service history and it was actually done at 64k. The car is now on 110k. What do we think people? Should I have it done or wait until the next service (120k or about 9 months time)? Also what sort of price have you guys paid for a cambelt change? How many hours labour is it? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulkbear Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 How old is the cam belt, if it is older than 4 years i would recommend it was changed, if not i would leave it to 120k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollox Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Hey Mulk, Can you explain the difference between the Cam belt (which has its own cambelt tensioner?) and the cam chain tensioner on the 1.8T please? One's at the front and the other's on the back of the engine isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulkbear Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 The cam belt is the main belt on a 1.8T engine it has it's own tensioner and the belt plus tensioner is mounted at the front of the engine. It controls the timing of the main cam shaft and the crank shaft plus it runs the water pump. The timing chain on the 1.8t engine controls the timing of the main cam shaft and the second cam shaft. The cam chain is tensioned by a oil pressure controlled tensioner. The cam chain and tensioner are mounted under the cam cover at the rear of the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugboy Posted May 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 The cambelt was done in 2003 so not even 3 years old yet. I was thinking about leaving it until the 120k service myself. The only thing that concerned me was them saying it looked worn. Although this garage has always done ok by me and not done work they didn't think 100% needed to be done I am suspicious of them saying it looked worn. To be fair it doesn't say its been done in the service book though(I have a seperate receipt from the lease company for it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verity Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 I booked my x reg Passat with the stealers 2 weeks ago for its 60m service and they replaced the cam belt and tensioner along with the discs and brakes. Also a headlamp needed replacing. Parts cost £300 and the labour £900 and with the vat it cost £1,107. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugboy Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 1100 quid for a service is extreme on a run of the mill motor! The worrying thing is that my car is due new front discs/pads, cambelt and new front tyres on the next service. Ouch. I go to a VAG specialist which saves me about £20 an hour labour over the dealer. Still expensive though. The difference in running costs between our old car (306 Dturbo) and the Passat is huge. Even the wife has noticed. We've dropped 15mpg and the service costs have gone through the roof as I used to service the 306 myself. I reckon within a year of owning the Passat it will have cost more than what the 306 cost to run for 3 years. The price you pay for a newer, comfier motor... The thing is that once I have replaced the cambelt, front brakes and tyres the only thing I will have to worry about (touch wood) is a normal service next year. I guess that makes the Passat a long term purchase for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonder_lander Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 Pugboy who do you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tappers Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 [ QUOTE ] The price you pay for a newer, comfier motor... [/ QUOTE ] I know what you mean hear pugboy, I had a R reg Mondeo TD before my passat admittedly as a company car but when it went 2 years ago it had 181K and I am sure it was not in the garage as much. I have spent about 3.5K on the PAssat in 2 years and 60,000miles. But definately comfier motoring and you have to pay for that obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteNova Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 i might let the stealer do the belt on mine... anything else i'll do myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpongpo Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 [ QUOTE ] I booked my x reg Passat with the stealers 2 weeks ago for its 60m service and they replaced the cam belt and tensioner along with the discs and brakes. Also a headlamp needed replacing. Parts cost £300 and the labour £900 and with the vat it cost £1,107. [/ QUOTE ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 £3.k yikes! maybe im the lucky one as i have only had to replace the window regulator and grease the rear brakes! i do the servicing myself and cambelt pads discs have all been previously replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugboy Posted May 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Pugboy who do you use? [/ QUOTE ] I use Volkstop (Seymor and Milner?) in Penkridge. Its about 10 miles away, but they will collect the car so no hassle. They seem decent and honest enough. Labour rate is £40 an hour I think. Think the dealer is at least £60ph these days. I dont like paying a garage to service the car when I can do it myself, but I dont have much time with working and also my ankle is broken so cant do anything like that at the moment. I must admit I am non to impressed with the general running costs of the Passat. Its not, because its high mileage either, because I would be encountering all these bills if the car had done half the mileage anyway. I certainly wouldn't pay top dollar for one. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is still worth easily what I paid for it last summer so at least I am beating depreciation. If I had bought the car from a dealer then I would be seriously fed up at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonder_lander Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 I use W H Jervis in Stoke, I'm based in Stone but they quite happily collect and return my car each visit! Had a 80k service and cambelt recently and a MAF sensor replaced.....seemed to do a good job and labour is around 37ph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topgazza Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 As margins on cars shrink service costs go up....and this is encouraged by the manufacturers of course. I paid £15000 at a dealer for my new B5.5 Passat Highline Estate 1.9TDCi in Jan, £1000 under the cheapest internet price I could find. Even 9 month old ones were dearer than that so I'm happy with my price but I agree that high service costs on quite simple items are a drag and a problem. Trouble is I still love the cars...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugboy Posted May 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Yeah I'm told the dealers dont make much on new cars these days so I guess they rely on the servicing and warranty work. Ofcourse that would make you think they would give you good aftercare service, but most surveys show they dont. I've learnt to make price the deciding factor in my car choice and not get carried away on getting the exact model I want. Every car I have paid the going rate for I have been disapointed with. Its more true than ever when its something boring like a Passat for the wife (no offence). Anyway thats enough waffle as we are going way off topic now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topgazza Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 None taken I agree but its a workhorse for me. A role my previous, a C-Max, would never have coped with. Thing with the cambelt is that as its just a costly thing to fail it would be great to change it more often. Or at least spot on mileage required. I have always found the indies make that much, much less of a pain. From memory my local one charged me something like £125 for parts and labour, the stealer wanted £450 although that kindly included a complimentary ofer/mandatory bunch of other work that wasn't actually required but they insisted on doing whilst they were there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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