Seat Leon 2018 FR 1.4 TSI Cambelt Question

[iEimis]

Hi everyone,

I am due a cambelt service in March for my 2018 Leon FR 1.4 TSI. The car has done 51k miles so far and will likely be around 52k miles. Mostly motorway with some rural driving too. I know these cambelts are actually rated far longer and the factory doesn't actually put a specific time interval, however, according to the dealership it's Seat UK who impose a 5 year interval and so to be on the safe side (and mainly for warranty purposes) I intend to replace it.

That being said my question is, I was always under the impression that it is best to service the water pump at the same time (which is an additional £100), however, speaking to the chap at the dealership (and me basically offering more money), he said no, from what I can see it's just the cambelt and water pump is not required. Is that right? Having read previous threads of pumps failing (perhaps on older models) I am a bit paranoid about saving £100 for something that may fail further down the line and cause far bigger issues.

Appreciate any advice.

Thank you.

 

[CalJames]

Water pump is on the other side of the engine, I've been told by a VAG specialist that it doesn't need to be changed unless it's broken/failing.

FWIW Mine is a 2014 with 74k and still on original belt which is in good condition, apparently.

 

[iEimis]

Water pump is on the other side of the engine, I've been told by a VAG specialist that it doesn't need to be changed unless it's broken/failing.

FWIW Mine is a 2014 with 74k and still on original belt which is in good condition, apparently.

Interesting, might just change the cambelt in that case. It is a pretty substantial expense, I suppose in most cases folks will be fine all the way up to 100k miles given these belts are made from exotic materials nowadays. But as I said given the warranty etc I'll likely go ahead with it as I intend to keep the car for a while.

 

[Lozzy15]

As CalJames commented, the pump is on the opposite side of the engine, so it doesn't need changing unless it fails. A good desgin decision if you ask me!

 

[Crossthreaded]

I went through this last year with my 2016 Ibiza. - 3 cylinder variation of the EA211 engine, so basically the same belt and water pump setup. I got my timing belt done at our local independent VAG specialist and asked him to keep the parts. All looked pretty good and idlers could be spun with no signs of roughness. However the belt seems to have a small imperfection on the smooth outside with a couple of small wispy threads just starting to delaminate. I'm glad I got it done. I was more concerned about the water pump drive belt than the pump itself but changing it requires the pump to be removed from the head so new seals etc would be needed and I don't think it's worth doing that. Anyway, they said they don't do them as a matter of course, better to wait until the pump needs changed. At this time mine seems to be fine with no bearing noises or obvious loss of coolant however I do notice the engine is taking longer to reach full operating temperature compared to when it was new. This may simply be because now it's run in there are less frictional forces or it may be early signs of thermostat failure, whatever, I'm keeping a wary eye on it.

Regarding the pump itself. I'm having a listen to it from time to time with my "listening stick" so have a good idea of what it normally sounds like. I should therefore be able to make an early intervention if/when it starts to fail. I'm also visually checking under the pump and top of bell housing/gearbox for signs of coolant leakage. This is easy to do so why not? and I do this more or less every week when I do my routine levels/tyre pressure checks. I've also realized there's not a lot involved in taking the plastic cover off the end of the head so I can inspect the belt and shine a light down between the end of the head and water pump housing so getting a good idea of belt condition and probably spotting any coolant leak early on. I'm planning to do this for the first time when the weather warms up again and I'll probably do it again when autumn comes around, thus checking it twice a year. Maybe a bit of an overkill but I've got the time and it'll give me peace of mind. I also check the coolant level in the expansion tank every week and it the pump were to start leaking I think I'd soon notice the level dropping, so that's a nice quick check for peace of mind. In fact I usually do a coolant level check half way through any really long road trip - like when we do our Devon pilgrimage every year, again just for peace of mind.