When to change a timing belt on Octavia vRS TDi

**Umai Naa!!** · 16-04-2012, 10:15 AM

On closer inpection, it appears your service department has provided you with an out-dated service check sheet.

On the bottom left corner, it's dated at 2008. The sheets have been revised at least 3 times since then. So yeah, the timing belt intervals are 105,000klms or 7 years, whichever occurs first.

**woofy** · 16-04-2012, 01:07 PM

I'm still none the wiser, I've emailed them, I've called them adn they tell me different things each time. When I ask about the inspection, they don't know, but then again its usually an Indian call centre. I don't know if VAG Australia have a technical division but Mazda and Hyundai do so weird.

**wfdTamar** · 16-04-2012, 04:02 PM

Oh well, that's good as I'm at 68,000/3.75 years and wasn't looking forward to doing it so soon (only had the car a couple of months).

**Umai Naa!!** · 16-04-2012, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by woofy

I'm still none the wiser, I've emailed them, I've called them adn they tell me different things each time. When I ask about the inspection, they don't know, but then again its usually an Indian call centre. I don't know if VAG Australia have a technical division but Mazda and Hyundai do so weird.

As stated, an inspection is just an inspection of the belt. If your dealership is telling you that peeling a plastic cover back (1min job, tops) is justification to go ahead and spend another 3 hours replacing the timing belt, they're being quite greedy. This is coming from a VW technician!

VAG does have a technical department, but this is for the dealerships only. You could call Customer Assist, but they're just phone answerers. They're not much help, but they're good at buck-passing and finger-pointing!

**Diesel_vert** · 16-04-2012, 06:15 PM

For TDI PD diesel engines:

In Europe, the belt change interval is 120 000 km or 150 000 km depending on the engine code and build date.
I don't what the change interval is for Australia, but I'm sure there have been plenty of discussions on this.

For TDI CR diesel engines:

In Europe, the belt change interval is 180 000 km or 210 000 km depending on the engine code and build date.
However, for countries with a high level of dust, the change interval is 120 000 km.
Australia is classified as a country with high levels of dust.

What I don't understand is why it's specified at 105 000 km, instead of more expected 120 000 km, as per the above recommendations in the workshop manual.
Maybe it's to spread out the cost of service, since the 120 000 km service may include gearbox oil change as well...
Perhaps an insider can enlighten us?

**Umai Naa!!** · 16-04-2012, 06:37 PM

I wish I knew. It's been 105,000klms for as long as I've been dealing with them.

But as you've suggested, I'd say it was changed to the 105, as it's only an oil/filter service, in order to spread the costs out.

**woofy** · 16-04-2012, 09:25 PM

I'll ring the dealer and confirm. Yeah I got the phone answers, but years ago I found Mazda actually have someone who calls you back and answers the questions, same with Hyundai. If you email the Q to either you hear back usually the same day as well.

Funny how Skoda can't even do that at the best of times, I had an awful time getting info out of them in the early days when there was just one dealer in Melb nowhere near me and the only post here was the one saying SKoda was coming, in the end I got all my answers from Skoda CZ who respond very quickly.

**Diesel_vert** · 17-04-2012, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by woofy

I'll ring the dealer and confirm. Yeah I got the phone answers, but years ago I found Mazda actually have someone who calls you back and answers the questions, same with Hyundai. If you email the Q to either you hear back usually the same day as well.

Funny how Skoda can't even do that at the best of times, I had an awful time getting info out of them in the early days when there was just one dealer in Melb nowhere near me and the only post here was the one saying SKoda was coming, in the end I got all my answers from Skoda CZ who respond very quickly.

For the record, the belt change interval for the 2.0 l 147 kW petrol is 180 000 km for Europe.

Certain markets specify a shorter interval half that of the European market i.e. 90 000 km.

No mention of a 105 000 km interval, but seems to be a popular figure that pops up here. Again, I reckon it's a bit of an odd interval, but whatever - at least it's 15 000 km more than 90 000 km.

**Umai Naa!!** · 17-04-2012, 07:15 AM

Of course it's a popular figure. It's the correct figure for our market. It's on the Australian Service Check-sheets for VW, Audi and Skoda, and those check-sheets override everything else, as they're specific to our market.