Timing belt cover .

[Sunny43.5]

Has anyone purchased the robustness kit thats supposed to stop the drive belt getting dragged into the timing belt if it fails ? . I am having our timing belt and drive belt done in a weeks time and would like to prevent what just happened to my mates T5.1 the other day . His was in a workshop having a new mechtronics unit fitted last week , after completing the work it was parked up at the workshop over night . Next morning they were moving cars around and they left my mates van idling for a few minutes , when one of the staff came back to move it he found the engine had stopped running , after trying to restart they pushed it back inside and put it up on the hoist and found the drive belt wrapped around the lower toothed gear where it had then caused the timing belt to jump several teeth . Sad news now is the engine has no compression so it seems that one or more of the valves have been damaged . Personally I think this is a design fault and VW should have fitted one to all those models as a recall , damaging an engine due to a secondary belt getting dragged into an open area is a huge issue as on top of the $4k mechtronics replacement he is now facing a similar bill for the head to be removed and repaired .

[Lucas_R]

Definitely looks like it would be a wise choice to get the robustness kit parts fitted while in the area.

Robustness kit

2010 T5 Transporter Engine needs Rebuild

[Transporter]

Personally I think this is a design fault.

What design fault?
Why the VW should be responsible for someone not checking the condition of the accessories belt that gradually disintegrates and get fed in the timing belt area?
It's clearly lack of maintenance on side of mechanic and the driver too. The belts in a good condition don't break that easy. It's a good practice to replace accessories belts when they done 100,000km or when they show cracks.

I think what VW done with the robustness kit is actually a favour. Meaning.... they know that there are some vehicles that don't get a good care, so they've redesigned the cover to compensate.

It happens more to Amaroks, when the factory bumper bar is replaced with the bull bar and some (if not all) bull bars allow more dirt enter the engine bay, especially when used in off road conditions.
Again, sloppy maintenance is most likely the cause of the engine damage.

[Sunny43.5]

What design fault?
Why the VW should be responsible for someone not checking the condition of the accessories belt that gradually disintegrates and get fed in the timing belt area?
It's clearly lack of maintenance on side of mechanic and the driver too. The belts in a good condition don't break that easy. It's a good practice to replace accessories belts when they done 100,000km or when they show cracks.

I think what VW done with the robustness kit is actually a favour. Meaning.... they know that there are some vehicles that don't get a good care, so they've redesigned the cover to compensate.

It happens more to Amaroks, when the factory bumper bar is replaced with the bull bar and some (if not all) bull bars allow more dirt enter the engine bay, especially when used in off road conditions.
Again, sloppy maintenance is most likely the cause of the engine damage.

Sorry but I don,t buy that comment about VW not being responsible , VW have a reputation of ignoring faults with their products DSG problems abound all over the world due to design fault , DMF fail because of design faults ,DPF failure due to design fault . The biggy from my perspective was selling the first T5,s with a transmission that was "sealed for life " what fool thought a transmission fluid would remain in perfect viscosity when subject to normal everyday driving in Australia,s climate and why would they leave filter INSIDE the box where it is left to get clogged causing catastrophic failure with a 12K repair bill it,s called a design fault !! Check the DSG and lo and behold where is that filter now ?

[Transporter]

It doesn’t change the facts why someone suffered the engine damage. If the belt was replaced on time during routine maintenance your mate wouldn’t have to spend money on expensive repair.

[Sunny43.5]

Follow up today , I had our van serviced for its 105000km service . It is only on 95000 kays so ten thousand early , it was very alarming to see the drive belt was only a few thousand kays from self destruction badly worn and threads of belting apparent . Now for those who say it should have been checked at the service schedules which was at 90000 km it seems the belt has deteriorated very rapidly since then and would not have made it to the 105000 service time . So I wonder if Qlds hot summers are contributing to premature failures of these belts like in my mates one . Thank goodness I got spooked by my mates vans engine being lunched by that same belt or I would be screaming blue bloody murder right now , I made sure they fitted the robustness kit along with both belts waterpump etc . They also replaced an engine mount which was cracked along with front lower control arm bush so I can have peace of mind for some time to come , all up with everything done it came in at $2500 that included the robustness kit bushes and engine mount belts and water pump fluids etc .

[Umai Naa!!]

TDIs of the two most recent generations, seem to be quite hard on the accessories belt. That's on passenger cars, too.

I throw it in with a timing belt job. For the sake of $50 or whatever, it's better to be safe than sorry.

[Sunny43.5]

Makes you wonder Umai why wouldn,t VW fit the robustness kit to these vans as some sort of either recall or awareness campaign . Seems there are others whose TDI,s could be easily damaged by the belt failing between servicing as like I said ours was serviced and inspected only about 5 thousand kays ago and it was fine but now between services it could have easily failed leaving us with a huge repair bill . The kit was only $87 retail so to a big deal for anyone even if VW did not do recall . The sooner VW Australia start allowing petrol versions in our vans to be sold here the sooner we can do away with all the issues diesels seem to be saddled with DPF EGR and the belt issue , and maybe others I can,t remember .

[Kiels3927]

It's a wonder we still buy the bloody things, isn't it?

[Umai Naa!!]

I'm buying something French next!