If Jimmy has been your man for servicing, check with him re the belt change. He has access to the latest servicing information. The belt will deteriorate with time as well as mileage.
It's funny because in the UK when 1.8Ts first came out the interval was something like 100000 miles and 4 years. I bought a 98 Passat with 120000 on that had just had the belt done at the end of the lease.
Lots of servicing is driven by lease intervals it seems.
You could just do the belt but it's false economy. (unless you are doing it yourself and prepared to maybe have to re-do the job later because the water pump impeller fell off) So the normal thing to do is the waterpump, tensioner etc as well as the belt.
There's no need to hunt down an upgraded belt IMO. I did see some blue Gates belts recently which are supposed to be "upgraded".
Seb made a comment on vwthunders thread, not recommending lightweight undamped pulleys and lightweight flywheels. He reckoned that the mismatching harmonics were bad for the engine and in an extreme case might break the crank.
A lot of stuff will fit the BJX motor but as it was never sold in the US, ECS don't specifically list things as suitable.
Gavin
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