Service and Cam belt

[Perfectos]

I took our four year old, 12,920 mile Beach in for a major service and MOT today. The only advisory was that they (the dealer service department) recommended a cam belt and water pump change "due to time". The quoted cost? £859 incl VAT.

I queried why they had made this recommendation when VW have recently removed the four yearly CB and WP replacement requirement? (I believe the only VW requirement now is that they are changed every 140,000 miles). I was told that this was because they had recently had a VW Caddy in with a snapped cam belt and VW wouldn't pay out because it was just outside of warranty.

I then pointed out that I had the Factory Extended Warranty until this time next year, after which I intend to take out the VW "All in" 24 month service/recovery/warranty package. This will effectively extend the vw warranty to seven years. So even if the cam belt gives out it should be covered as long as I don't exceed 140,000 miles. That's not likely since my annual mileage in this vehicle has been only 3250 miles pa over the last four years.

However, I think I will be inclined to have this work done just before the seven year warranty period comes to an end. My thoughts are that it would be a complete waste of money before then. Even then I won't be paying that price.

Hi Borris,

I agree with you, it’s a total waste of time & resources.

The practice of chucking perfectly good parts in the bin should be illegal, it’s certainly not environmentally friendly.

I had my cam belt & water pump changed before the new advise came out.
It was before my 5 year Extended warranty ran out (Not at four years as suggested by VW )
my old T5.1 Combi had cam belt changed at 90k mikes / 7 years - within VW Manufacturer recommendation at that time

I had my T6 Cali belt “inspected “ after an alternator failure at three years old.
I asked the dealer to replace the cam belt at the same time as doing the alternator change, i specifically asked if this could be done at the time of thd warranty work and that the dealer charge me for the parts & additional Labour ? (Which I thought was the most sensible approach and reduced any risk to myself )

In answer :
“No we will only inspect it and replace it if it’s Damaged”
The dealer flat blank refused to change the belt, even if I paid for the belt and additional Labour, despite knowing they would be asking for it to be changed less than one year later !
Why do you think that may have been ?

I had the belt & water pump changed via an indie VW specialist, local to me, it was carried out just before the 5 yr factory warranty ran out,
having the indie do the work saved me a fortune vs Main stealer. (I posted on it at the time) There was no issue with electronic service records etc as the indie updated all that so the record of cam belt chsnge was logged on VW system.

I asked for the parts to be kept and returned to me !
On inspection The belt looked Brand new , no signs of wear, cracking etc whatsoever.
The water pump was the same it looked like it had just come out of the Box.

Both items are in my garage in the packing the replacement items as were supplied to the Indie.
I bet I could sell them on Ebay as new old stock parts and no one would be any wiser !

It’s been well Documented that VWCV In The U.K. have been ripping off their customers for years With this made up false maintenance schedule pertains uniquely to the U.K.

i think your aware that @Loz got in writing a statement from Gates, the Belt manufacturer that their belts supplied on New VW‘s were good for 7 years & 140k . VWCV persisted with their unique set of Rules applied for the U.K. only for years after that came to light despite Loz trying to get a cohe answer from VWCV as to why their policy did not match the rest of tge World. The above can be found on this site by Searching to tgd posts or indeed on the T6 forum where Loz continued to spread the love.

My advise : Keep your hard earned money In your pockets and only have work done as required to maintain warranty’s. (As you suggest)

VW cost me best part of £600 because of their Unique U.K. service schedule only to find out a few months later, it was not required ! (Dealer wanted £1000! )

Service Interval

I changed both Timing Belt and Waterpump (incl. stud, antifreeze, etc.) after 6 yrs with VW independent for £500 all in using genuine parts. Not sure why anyone would pay some of the above prices at dealers for what is a straight forward job.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Loz post regarding Gates Belt recommendations

post #103

Cam Belt Query

"may present" "a business decision may have been taken" "may well be preferable " "would probably be minimal " This is what denial looks like. Would you replace perfectly good brake pads to avoid scoring the discs, especially if only one importer (UK) recommended it, even though the European...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

further disused:

Routine cam belt replacement interval?

Sorry to resurrect this dull subject but could someone direct me to where the recommended intervals are stated for the toothed belt replacement? I can’t find it in either the manual or on the VW website. My 2017 beach has done nearly 40k miles and I’d rather not shell out yet, but it has a year...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Borris]

Hi Borris,

I agree with you, it’s a total waste of time & resources.

The practice of chucking perfectly good parts in the bin should be illegal, it’s certainly not environmentally friendly.

I had my cam belt & water pump changed before the new advise came out.
It was before my 5 year Extended warranty ran out (Not at four years as suggested by VW )
my old T5.1 Combi had cam belt changed at 90k mikes / 7 years - within VW Manufacturer recommendation at that time

I had my T6 Cali belt “inspected “ after an alternator failure at three years old.
I asked the dealer to replace the cam belt at the same time as doing the alternator change, i specifically asked if this could be done at the time of thd warranty work and that the dealer charge me for the parts & additional Labour ? (Which I thought was the most sensible approach and reduced any risk to myself )

In answer :
“No we will only inspect it and replace it if it’s Damaged”
The dealer flat blank refused to change the belt, even if I paid for the belt and additional Labour, despite knowing they would be asking for it to be changed less than one year later !
Why do you think that may have been ?

I had the belt & water pump changed via an indie VW specialist, local to me, it was carried out just before the 5 yr factory warranty ran out,
having the indie do the work saved me a fortune vs Main stealer. (I posted on it at the time) There was no issue with electronic service records etc as the indie updated all that so the record of cam belt chsnge was logged on VW system.

I asked for the parts to be kept and returned to me !
On inspection The belt looked Brand new , no signs of wear, cracking etc whatsoever.
The water pump was the same it looked like it had just come out of the Box.

Both items are in my garage in the packing the replacement items as were supplied to the Indie.
I bet I could sell them on Ebay as new old stock parts and no one would be any wiser !

It’s been well Documented that VWCV In The U.K. have been ripping off their customers for years With this made up false maintenance schedule pertains uniquely to the U.K.

i think your aware that @Loz got in writing a statement from Gates, the Belt manufacturer that their belts supplied on New VW‘s were good for 7 years & 140k . VWCV persisted with their unique set of Rules applied for the U.K. only for years after that came to light despite Loz trying to get a cohe answer from VWCV as to why their policy did not match the rest of tge World. The above can be found on this site by Searching to tgd posts or indeed on the T6 forum where Loz continued to spread the love.

My advise : Keep your hard earned money In your pockets and only have work done as required to maintain warranty’s. (As you suggest)

VW cost me best part of £600 because of their Unique U.K. service schedule only to find out a few months later, it was not required ! (Dealer wanted £1000! )

Service Interval

I changed both Timing Belt and Waterpump (incl. stud, antifreeze, etc.) after 6 yrs with VW independent for £500 all in using genuine parts. Not sure why anyone would pay some of the above prices at dealers for what is a straight forward job.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Loz post regarding Gates Belt recommendations

post #103

Cam Belt Query

"may present" "a business decision may have been taken" "may well be preferable " "would probably be minimal " This is what denial looks like. Would you replace perfectly good brake pads to avoid scoring the discs, especially if only one importer (UK) recommended it, even though the European...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

further disused:

Routine cam belt replacement interval?

Sorry to resurrect this dull subject but could someone direct me to where the recommended intervals are stated for the toothed belt replacement? I can’t find it in either the manual or on the VW website. My 2017 beach has done nearly 40k miles and I’d rather not shell out yet, but it has a year...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Thanks for a very comprehensive answer which makes total sense.

I think I'll have it inspected this time next year when it goes in for its service. Unless I decide not to go for the " VW All in service package", I'll probably leave it longer before I have it changed, but no longer than the seven years that that package would afford me. If I don't take up the VW package, I'll ask around for a quote next year when it will be nearly five years old. I doubt if the service department at my VW Commercial dealership will get the work at the prices they are asking.

For what it's worth, I suspect that VW's decision to drop the 4 year time related policy has hit UK VW dealership service departments hard. At £859 incl VAT, replacing CBs and WPs on every vehicle at four years must have been one of their biggest routine servicing earners. Could the price quoted now be that high to make up for the lost revenue? There must still be some customers that remain unaware of VWs new policy and have the recommended work done. I was merely told that the work was advised and only after I queried it was it confirmed that it wasn't VW policy but purely their (the service department's) advice. This was supported by the tale of the Caddy engine failure to reinforce why they were making that recommendation.

Frankly, it all sounded rather desperate and a little bit scammy to me.

 

[WelshGas]

Personally I think 7 yrs or 80,000 miles is a reasonable compromise.
I had mine done last at 4yrs AND 80,000 miles and , since the change in recommendation, if I still have the California then next change will be at 160,000 miles or 11 yrs old whichever comes first.