Cam Belt Query

[marshian70]

Hi All
Been looking through some of the older posts on this but appreciate your opinions. Our 2010 Cali has its fifth birthday shortly so will be due for cam belt replacement.
Main dealer is £500 including water pump.
Question is - how hard is the job? Should I trust to main dealer or save a few £££ at an Indy?
Thanks

 

[Hotel California]

Hi , don't have any knowlege of the UK dealers , but i would give my "baby" to a mecanic who just fixes cars...it would for sure be a Vw approved , and one who has experience with the Cali model!
At the end it's all about your money and your expectations but a cambelt is no quick oil change.

 

[calikev]

It was due last year your a year late. Independent garages are fine but you may find if you have a problem later on vw will not want to know
I paid £385 inc vat from main dealer

 

[motacyclist]

Hi Ross I had discussion with dealer over this during service and in view of the 27k mileage he suggested leave it until next service. I don't think he quoted as much as that but you never know if they include VAT; but I think you get a decent warranty with the VW franchise - did someone mention 2 years?

 

[Martin]

I paid same as Kev on a 180 and included water pump ... Shop around a few more main dealers as I was quoted various prices.

 

[marshian70]

Hi Ross I had discussion with dealer over this during service and in view of the 27k mileage he suggested leave it until next service. I don't think he quoted as much as that but you never know if they include VAT; but I think you get a decent warranty with the VW franchise - did someone mention 2 years?

Cheers Colin

 

[marshian70]

It was due last year your a year late. Independent garages are fine but you may find if you have a problem later on vw will not want to know
I paid £385 inc vat from main dealer

VW advised it was 5 years on the facelift versions?

 

[calikev]

I went through this last year its 5 years for cars I rang vw direct and they confirmed by my chassis number it was 4 years I got onto my local dealer for mis imforming me and got £50 knocked off.

 

[Martin]

Four years, best thing to do is call VWCS as they will confirm this. I spent a whole day last October with calls going back and forth.

 

[WelshGas]

VW fixed price charge for Cambelt & Waterpump , parts/labour/VAT and 2 year warranty is £450. That is from website

 

[Ewan]

Be advised that there's a supply issue with water pumps across the UK at present for some reason. My Cali was due to get both cambelt and water pump replaced a fortnight ago but they couldn't do it (pity they didn't have the foresight to tell me in advance...). I just had the service done. They're going to let me know when they can get the parts. £450 is what they've quoted me.

 

[marshian70]

Thanks all
Seems the consensus is 4 years is the correct interval BUT, mine has only done 28k miles and it seems very odd that what is the same engine has different intervals with cars to vans.
Seems not many people trusting this to anyone other than main dealer

 

[WelshGas]

It is a compound belt, ie: rubber compound, and it hardens with time, not just MILAGE/engine heat. At some point bang = Big Bill.

 

[AlanC]

4 years or 140k miles, which ever is the sooner is the official line.

Our 2010 has been booking into Breeze Southampton on their January deal for over 3 weeks now, but as has been said, it can't be done because there is not a water pump to be found in the UK!

 

[sue.h]

Yes we checked and the 4years was the tipping point for us as we have very low mileage. We had to wait 3 weeks for the water pump on back order, but just got the job finished yesterday. So it looks like water pumps back in stock

 

[AlanC]

That is good to hear Sue.

Breeze Southampton still didn't have any water pumps in stock on Monday. They thought there were many thousands coming over in a container soon.

May be sooner than they thought. Will need to call them again. Thanks for the heads up.

Alan

 

[sue.h]

We got ours done at hadwins vw, near grange, cumbria

Hope you get sorted soon.

Just a thought. Has to be done every 4 years but only guaranteed for 2 mmmmmm..... Probably best not ponder that one !

 

[Aidy P]

My van was in VW York yesterday for insurance claim work. Frustratingly I asked them when I booked it in if there was anything else due and they said no as I’d prefer one trip. At the end of the visit I was informed that I needed the following as it was due in March...

Price for cambelt and waterpump £570 inc vat.
Price for Haldex £69.40 in vat

Anyone else received recent quotes for this work?
The van is 4 years old with circa 35k miles. Has anyone actually had a cam belt or water pump fail?

 

[WelshGas]

My van was in VW York yesterday for insurance claim work. Frustratingly I asked them when I booked it in if there was anything else due and they said no as I’d prefer one trip. At the end of the visit I was informed that I needed the following as it was due in March...

Price for cambelt and waterpump £570 inc vat.
Price for Haldex £69.40 in vat

Anyone else received recent quotes for this work?
The van is 4 years old with circa 35k miles. Has anyone actually had a cam belt or water pump fail?

Quotes seem about right. That's what I paid 2 yrs, or so, ago. Haldex is a timed service rather than milage as is the cambelts in the UK. 4 yrs or 80,000 miles. I fulfilled both criteria.
There is enough written on the Forum regarding cambelts etc. Search and you will find all the information. Depends what you believe and if you are a gambling man.

 

[Alan Andrews]

Check out the VIP discounts at some VW van centres. 10% is worth getting back in your pocket.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

£475 + VAT + SMG Cowfold for cambelt & wpump (earlier this year).

+ SMG Cowfold no longer honour 10% discount advertised on the front page this site +

 

[Alan Andrews]

£580 incl VAT for Cambelt and Waterpump now.

10% discount is honoured by Swansway group (Liverpool, Birmingham)

 

[headsuk]

Just had our cambelt & water pump done recently at VW Manchester £570 Inc. Also they recommended a brake fluid flush when the van goes back for its MOT in January.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[clarinetbcn]

Cambelt needs replacing after 40k miles???

Just had my 2015 T5 Cali serviced (40k) and they said that VW recommend the cam belt is replaced after 100,000 miles or four years?? That seems mad? Any advice?

vwcaliforniaclub.com

The 4 year business is a UK cash cow by VWUK, a company that represents VWAG in the UK. Scroll down at the link and you’ll see that forum members in Germany and Belgium have official service schedules with cam belt change at 210,000km, no time limit. I’m in Spain, here it’s also 210,000km, but with a time limit of 10 years. All of these service schedules include a cam belt inspection at every service. VWUK says a lot of different things depending on which dealer you talk to, but they have all apparently been given free reign to increase profits by skipping the inspections and making everyone change at 4 years.

 

[clarinetbcn]

Cam belt and water pump,

Should I get this changed? Cali is 5 years old and done 16,000 miles

vwcaliforniaclub.com