Timing Belt

[Sunny43.5]

You are probably right about rubber getting brittle but the same thing with heat can cause the rubber to gradually disintegrate as the compounds in the rubber belts would be affected by heat .

[jets]

When we had the Polo, the local recommendation from VW was 4 years. The belt I took off looked almost like new although I know a visual check may only show when it's just about to break. I thought at the time it was a wast of time & money. Since that time VW Aust. must have agreed that 7 years is more realistic. So my conclusion is that the heat we experience in Aust. has less effect on life on belt life compared with icy conditions.

[Johnny]

You can take some parts of VW,s servicing schedules with a pinch of salt as they were written in Europe and because they do not test here in Australia the real world is very different to the testing done at the factory or on road in Europe . You only have to look back at the Tiptronic auto VW fitted to the first series T5 they believed the auto fluid never needed to be changed . I proved that theory was totally wrong as the fluid inside ours was black as night and had formed a lovely sludge on the inside of the sump which cause the auto self detonate . If you doubt my word take a look at the new T6 what sort of engineer who SHOULD have come to Australia for testing was allowed to put the drink holders in the top of the dash right next to the windscreen . Might be fine for coffee in Europe but your cold can of drink will be nicely heated to hot within a matter of minutes .

Have you ever seen the actual test areas for VW in Europe? Because I have, BMW, Audi and VW test in Norway during winter where -30° can be expected on a very special test circuit. After the winter tests, the cars are then tested in the Arizona desert where temperatures of +50° can be expected and again on a special test circuit. So I'm thinking that with all due respect, a lot of your comments could also be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Sunny43.5]

No I do not agree as most passenger cars would do the testing as stated but vans I doubt VW would place as much importance with them , and if you need proof ask VW why in 2010 they after selling cars here for well over 50 years they suddenly declared Australia a "Hot Climate Country" The early T5 auto was sold as never needing to be serviced then they put a filter inside to become blocked with fluid which is being gradually cooked by the heat inside and then multiple driving conditions . NO fluid could expect to be in pristine condition after years of use . Are you going to tell me they drove the vans in Arizona for five years of driving . NO they can only collect data from at most a few weeks of testing which not in their wildest dreams can be used as a comparison to the "REAL WORLD" driving conditions .

Sorry mate I have been the victim of the arrogance of VW not at least trying to make their cars suitable for Australian conditions . We had another issue with the same problem of no local input , VW placed a diesel fuel cooler on the outside of the under floor coverings directly behind the passengers side front wheel . Now in Europe and if those vans were tested in the US they would have been Left hand drive so that fuel cooler would never have been exposed to rocks being thrown up when the passengers side wheel is off the bitumen like ours do , and again we suffered financially from this lack of testing for Australia . I like how you emphasize Special Test Circuit sounds like our roads would have shed a different light if they had done testing here . I have worked in the auto industry for all of my working life and have seen multiple times the ignorance of engineers who just foisted cars into our climate and road conditions without local testing . In my previous business I had a visit from a team of six Japanese Engineers from Mazda in Japan , we had been doing serious modifications on then the Mazda MX6 coupe as it was developing massive creaks and groans from the body work . The Japanese admitted they did not test for our roads and needed to see what we were doing to fix the problem . If you go back even further when Thiess were the Australian importers for Toyota some of the first vehicles they bought in were Landcruisers for the Thiess mines . Within 6 months the Japanese took all of them back to fix as they were literally falling to pieces , and you think VW even today still have vehicles that are suitable for our climate then no I will still say take their advice with a pinch of salt .

[Transporter]

It looks like you can't win Sunny, since not even Holden, local Ford and Mitsubishi didn't test their products very well, otherwise they wouldn't have so many problems they had. Not even paint on them was suitable to our climate, dashboards that were cracking from the heat, and electrical components failing all due to the heat.

[Johnny]

I guess it comes back to economics, you've got to look at the size of the market in Austarlia compared to Europe or the US or even Asia. VW or any of the big European manufacturers is not going to spend the amount of money required for extensive testing in every country. You're implying that the Australian roads are the worst in the world, you should see some of the roads in Czechoslovakia where the Skoda is manufactured, or the heat and roads in Spain where the Seat is built. VW is now building a test circuit in China as China has become a major market for not only VW but also BMW and Mercedes. Each of the big three have built large plants in China and India. I have driven in Australia for more than 30 years, and unless your going off road in which case you need a good AWD, not the family car. Most roads in Australia are pretty good. I might add that I have now driven in Europe for the last 18 years and seen the best and worst roads possible. I've experienced -30° as well as 45+ heat. I don't think Australia can claim the best or worst conditions.

[stevan]

thanks for the replies, had the belt kit and coolant changed for $1000 so I was pretty happy.Peace of mind