1.9 TDI Cambelt - definitive time to change

cheshire cat

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Dec 28, 2002
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cheshire
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i love these cambelt threads when people who no nothing about engines or pd cambelt loads (as it gets a lot of load when it compresses the fuel in the injectors ) also did you know the bottom pulley is oval on most pd to allow more of the belt to be in contact with the pulley at injector firing point and at vw were i work and do a hell of a lot of belt and engines £300-400 is a lot cheaper than a smashed engine. because some ones not listening it been 60k or 4years for a long time at vw and there the the same engine as yours but hey don't listen and don't cry when it all goes tits up

I guess you've done hundreds, are you saying there's no more strain on a PD than a petrol engine , I ve never seen an oval pully but some do have teeth missing (on purpose) VW training doesn't negate everyone else's experience however silver you may be:)
 

s10mph

VAG car nut
Mar 1, 2008
243
0
Thundersley
Cam belt renewal times are always a contentious issue, When the Golf mk4 and Leon were released the advertising blurb harped on about saving on servicing costs, longer cam belt life (80000 miles) & Long life servicing were the main items discussed. I guess a few years down the line they had a brilliant idea for making more money on customers servicing costs. 2 examples of my own come mind . 1. Reducing cam belt life to 60000miles. and resetting your service indicator to yearly servicing routine, this was done to my Mk4Golf TDI. 2. 20 odd years ago i had Benz 200, at the time M. Benz were advertising their cars as "A Car For Life" , after 3 or 4 years my gearbox went into meltdown and the Benz service manager said perhaps it's time to buy a new model.
Another gripe of mine is why use rubber cam belts? Whats wrong with the chain driven cams? as inToyota, BMW, Jaguar and early lotus engines their owners don't have the anxiety about their cam belts snapping. Enough winging for now. Bernie.
 

strugers1

Guest
well mine is on48k and my fan belt thing tensioner has gone so shall i get cam belt,water pump and fan belt tensioner all done at the same time??and that will be around 400 pound from a stealer fitted??
 

asthpsw

Full Member
Apr 23, 2004
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Southampton
I've done a search (hence I've come up with this old post). Seems to be a debate as to whether 60,000 or 80,000 (I though do find it hard to understand why a PD has a longer mileage change interval than a Non-PD) Anyway my question is related to "Time" (years) Interval for a Non-PD 2001 1.9TDI. I can not find anything written down from Seat......one dealer says 4 Years, the other says "not specified". Apparently on the basis that the fact that a "non-PD" hasn't the stresses related to the PD Pump &/or 4 Valves per cylinder so the TIME interval. So what is the official Seat / VW Time interval for a npn-PD ?
 

TornadoRed

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Aug 22, 2004
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Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Anyway my question is related to "Time" (years) Interval for a Non-PD 2001 1.9TDI. I can not find anything written down from Seat......one dealer says 4 Years, the other says "not specified". Apparently on the basis that the fact that a "non-PD" hasn't the stresses related to the PD Pump &/or 4 Valves per cylinder so the TIME interval. So what is the official Seat / VW Time interval for a npn-PD ?

Up until around 2001, the cambelts were made with a rubber compound, and the time in use was a factor that determined when to replace. But since then I think all TDIs have a belt made with Kevlar, and they really don't degrade over time, or they degrade very slowly. So how long should they last? Just a guess, but maybe 8-10 years? Certainly not 4 years.

Practically speaking, you should hit the miles limit long before the time limit.
 

asthpsw

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Apr 23, 2004
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Southampton
Thanks for that, as my car is a 2001 I wonder going along with what you are saying that it was fitted with the old type belt hence "4 years" however I changed it in 2006 (ie 4 years ago !) but I'd assume that the new belt would be of the Kevlar construction ?................hence the quote "time not specified"
Paul
 

TornadoRed

Full Member
Aug 22, 2004
184
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Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Thanks for that, as my car is a 2001 I wonder going along with what you are saying that it was fitted with the old type belt hence "4 years" however I changed it in 2006 (ie 4 years ago !) but I'd assume that the new belt would be of the Kevlar construction ?................hence the quote "time not specified"
Paul

I know that the old-style belts were smooth and shiny, while the newer-style belts had a rough finish. They are easy to tell apart visually. I know that in the US, some dealerships continued to install the old belts that they had in inventory... which was really a dirty trick to play on their customers.
 

asthpsw

Full Member
Apr 23, 2004
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Southampton
I agree dirty trick, although here I got it done by a business that I've been using for about 30 years, however nothing to say that his supplier didn't have the older type around.

Anyone else had a problem with cam belt breaking on a non-PD in 4+ years ?....(unless of course excessive mileage done in those 4 & bit years)
 

techie

Skoda Techie
Mar 22, 2003
5,438
5
Worcs
PD engines don't have 4 valves per cylinder either, only 2 making them a 1.9 8v. To the best of my knowledge, anyway. Assuming the second "no time period" dealer told you about the 4v/cylinder thing then I would regard their opinion as utter bollocks and go with the 4 years the first dealer gave you.


2.0 BKD, BKP, BMN engines are all 16v PD engines.
 
Jun 1, 2009
423
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west lothian
PD engines don't have 4 valves per cylinder either, only 2 making them a 1.9 8v. To the best of my knowledge, anyway. Assuming the second "no time period" dealer told you about the 4v/cylinder thing then I would regard their opinion as utter bollocks and go with the 4 years the first dealer gave you.

2ltr 140 pd has 16 valves!
 

el_toledo_150

Toledo TDI Owner
Mar 15, 2008
12
0
Derby
Had mines done at 48000 miles and 4.5 years on my TDI 150 15 months ago.

Done 20000 miles since so got either 40000 miles or 45 months to the next one - it aint cheap :(

But it's money well spent.

I was advised to get my water pump done at the same time as it has to be removed to get to the belt and the removal of the pump can cause it wear and tear.
 

Owen Snell

Guest
Had mines done at 48000 miles and 4.5 years on my TDI 150 15 months ago.

Done 20000 miles since so got either 40000 miles or 45 months to the next one - it aint cheap :(

But it's money well spent.

I was advised to get my water pump done at the same time as it has to be removed to get to the belt and the removal of the pump can cause it wear and tear.

I saw a stack of old water pumps that independent garages had kept to show customers why they needed to change the water pump with the belt. The impeller blades are plastic and a lot of pumps had broken or damaged blades, reducing water flow. You can imagine that after another 60k miles the pump wouldn't be doing much pumping, leading to overheating and potentially expensive problems.
 

andi leon frtdi

Active Member
Mar 8, 2009
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portsmouth
my dad and mate both said 60,000 or 4 years which ever comes first and have the pump done at the same time plus change the engine mount bolts to.

my leon fr+ pd150 had only done 28,000 when replaced.
 

el_toledo_150

Toledo TDI Owner
Mar 15, 2008
12
0
Derby
I saw a stack of old water pumps that independent garages had kept to show customers why they needed to change the water pump with the belt. The impeller blades are plastic and a lot of pumps had broken or damaged blades, reducing water flow. You can imagine that after another 60k miles the pump wouldn't be doing much pumping, leading to overheating and potentially expensive problems.

Owen Snell thanks for clarifying that. Sounds like there's no option but to change pump.