Timing belt advice - 2.0 TDi

[CaptainCaveMan]

Hi all, I know you get a lot of threads about timing belts, but I'm very torn about what to do here and I'm looking for some advice specific to the 2.0 TDI.

I have a 2006 Golf 2.0 TDI, it has only really mostly done short trips, after 10 years it's only done 76,000kms. If I'm honest it was probably the wrong car for me, and I should have gone with a petrol engine (and in a year or two I'll change to a petrol Golf).

The service manual seems to indicate that the timing belt should be done at 120,000kms "the manual reads Every 120,000 km - Toothed belt and guide roller for cam-shaft drive renewed (only for 4 cyl. diesel engines, not unit injector)". However, my mechanic has been suggesting for a while that we do it, just based on the age of the vehicle.

The car's probably worth about $6-$7k, it's about a $1500 job to do the timing belt & water pump. Obviously if the belt fails it would probably write off the car.

Is it overkill to get the timing belt done now? Or should I see if I can get another 7500-15000kms out of the car and deal with it in a year or two

[Umai Naa!!]

The correct interval is 105,000kms or 7 years. This is across the board, for all belt-driven VW engines.

It's up to you in the end how you want to go about it, but I'd probably inspect the belt for cracking, and the water pump for leaks, and go from there. Also worth ringing around.

[CaptainCaveMan]

Thanks for that - is it easy to inspect the belt? I have always had the impression that it's hard to access it.

[jaackyy]

Hey mate, I've got the exact same car as you, and probably drive it just as much. (~50kms a day). I was also hesitant to do my timing belt considering how old the car is etc. but my advice is just to do it. If the timing belt goes, you lose out on the entire value of the car basically, ie; around 6k as you stated.

Definitely ring around though, I paid $800 for mine from just my local mechanic. As the car for me was only purchased 2 years ago secondhand , I didn't really think taking it to any prestige/Euro specialist mechanic would make a huge difference to the car.

1 year on, and the car is driving perfectly fine, no issues here. So you can definitely get a better price. (I did my service at 120,000kms btw)
and yes, timing belt is a bitch to get to, which is what a large portion of the service cost is for.

edit: i only paid for the timing belt change, not the water pump

[AdamD]

I had the belt and pump changed in my 2.0 FSI (petrol) Mk5 as soon as I got it at 10 years old, even though it'd only done 42,000km at the time. Chances are the job's unnecessary, but the consequences should it fail just don't justify taking the risk in my opinion.

[wfdTamar]

I've done a 2008 Octavia TDI myself which is the same. It isn't that hard and parts were about $150 (can't remember if that included a water pump and it was about 3-4 years ago). If you plan to do it anyway eventually you might as well do it now as later (rather than try to sell it without having done it way past its due date).

If you go to a cheaper place I'd be checking what quality of parts they plan to use (though if you plan to sell it that may not not matter to you). There are OE quality parts (generally from somewhere in Europe) and generic quality (Taiwan etc).

[ozrcboy]

Probably too late to make a difference but get the water pump done at the same time. Only costs a little extra (about $150 IIRC) provided it is done as part of the belt change. The pumps aren't supposed to last forever and need to be replaced. If one fails between belt changes (because you didnt' change it at the last belt change for example) it will cost you as much as the belt change itself to replace just the water pump.

Not replacing the pump when doing the belt is false economy.

[Cheezel]

I know this is a while ago, but I recently purchased a 2007 TDI Jetta with 137,500 on the clock and timing belt changed at 105,000. We drove it to Queensland over the past two weeks, and got a low coolant warning, only to find that the water pump mustn't have been done with the TB, as it was leaking profusely. I had the pump and timing belt replaced while away as I couldn't even drive it to the mechanic, there was that much water leaking out it. $1000 on a 'new' car... Bummer.

[Umai Naa!!]

Yeah, had one of those about a year ago. Same story, they did the belt, just the belt. Charged the poor woman a significant amount of money for it. A few months later, the water pump packs it in.

They also managed to trash all the threads in the engine mount, which was fun...