Skoda Octavia vRS woes

[siddartha]

52k on the odo and a premature water pump failure. i mean how often do water pumps fail?
the water pump supposedly has a plastic impellor which breaks , but why should it break?
a metal impellor corroding and then breaking is understandable.

anyway since a lot of things are going to to opened up in order to change the water pump assembly . i was advised to change the timing belt and timing belt adjuster pulley ( which is a scheduled service routine at 60k kms), ajmat also advised the same, in order to get another opinion i called pete and he too suggested i go with changing the timing belt and pulley.

i do understand its preventive maintenance, i did take a look at the timing belt , it shows no signs of wear, the service advisor said it has become hard and may give way anytime. and they say it needs to be changed every 60k to 90k kms.

at what kms do other manufaturers recommend change of timing belt.
my maruti van did 1.5 lac kms when the timing belt was changed.
my honda city (99 model) has done 56k kms, an i am not even thinking abt the timing belt,
my m1000 (94 model) 120k kms timing belt?not changed.does it even have one?

anyway , fine!,whatever!! lets change the timing belt , but why the timing adjustment pulley? , why cant they change the belt and "adjust" the adjuster pulley so that the new belt gets the correct tension, isnt that why its called " adjsuter" then?

monetary damage:(approx figures )

waterpump - 7k
timing belt - 3k
timing belt pulley - 4k
labour+consumables+coolant etc - 3 to 4 k.

plus regular service, oil+ filter change, fuel filter change , new rear brake pads, throttle body+ injectors clean up , alignment+balancing+rotation.
blah blah blah , another 12-13k

total - 30k (approx)

[vid6639]

For the Lancer I believe timing belt change is at 1L kms. The only belt changed till now in my lancer was the AC belt.

[ImmortalZ]

You pay for Skoda. Quite literally.

[aaggoswami]

Its Skoda and they are bound to charge more. Whatever logical and technically correct arguments you give, they wont listen. The cost of spares are high, clearly.
In our M800, we have changed the belt only once under so called preventive maintenance. No other issues.

I think the prices are quite steep may be because some parts being imported, but water pump failure is not something that happens so fast.
There is no other option except paying more money for keeping the car on the road.

I wonder what is quality of Skoda parts. Try to extract from where they are getting parts. I remember that in ACI there was alternator failure case. The owner of car figured it out to be Bosch ( IIRC ) make and asked if he could get the alternator himself, and would the dealership install. He was ready to take responsibility in written also, but the dealer refused.
The price difference between dealer's price and price from Bosch was more than around 15K IIRC.

So sometimes Skoda dealers are cheating customers.

[cooldude1988765]

I think it is time to find a private garage/service station/tuner. There is a lot of difference in prices between A/S/S and the actual market rate for exactly the same part.

[vikram_d]

For the Swift-P, 1 lakh kms is the prescribed timing belt change. I don't see the logic of replacing the timing belt pulley. It's not like it would have worn out or anything.

[1self]

Guys!

Generally the timing belt, with its tension adjustment bearing pulley is changed together. My Elantra petrol has done hardly 19000 km, but it has been 4 yrs, so the A.S.S. guys suggested that i change the above & i did. Better to be safe than sorry...due to the heat cycles the belt goes through...it might look ok but the rot starts inside. Most of the engines we have now-a-days are of the interference type...so if your timing belt goes...boss you are looking at major engine failure & consequent costs.

For the Elantra it belt changing period is 60000 km or 4 yrs, whichever is earlier. Total cost is 8000 bucks.

[siddartha]

even though the service schedule says "inspect" timing belt at 90k kms and then every 30k kms, and replace at 180k kms.
the service advisors at both vinayak and tafe say " its better if you change it".
they supposedly have found cases of timing belts snapping at 60k - 90k in " many " cars.
they repeatedly say , if it breaks you can sure of atleast 1lac worth of engine work at the minimum.

the following is what the skoda auto spare parts web page says

"Did you know that the service life of an engine depends on the service life of belts and tension rollers? "


"If there is unexpected snapping, extension or other damage to a timing belt or tension roller, there could be uncontrolled movement by pistons and valves and they could clash. The consequence could be irreparable damage to engine parts whose repair would then be very expensive."

"Tension rollers have to meet a number of demanding parameters:

• Minimum extension of the belt during long-term stress;
• Maintenance-free operation;
• Error-free operation through the service life."


also, what is "interference type engine"

[ImmortalZ]

When your timing belt snaps, the camshafts stop moving. Thus the valves are stuck in whatever position they are at that moment. In an interference engine, the pistons come right up and slam into the valves in such a condition.

This causes quite a bit of (irreparable) damage as you can imagine.

Good reads :

Interference Engines and Timing Belts

Auto Repair Blog - Interference engines and what you need to know.

[1self]

Originally Posted by siddartha

also, what is "interference type engine"

Interference type engine is when the valves & piston occupy the same space at different times...hence the importance of timing belts...their timing makes sure that the piston & valves stay away from each other. if the belt snaps, the piston will hit the valves & MAJOR CATASTROPHE!!

[diven_b]

Originally Posted by siddartha

....
monetary damage:(approx figures )

waterpump - 7k
.....

The water pump in my Vrs gave way at 48000 k's.The plastic impeller broke,however i got an aftermarket water pump for Rs 2500.Its been 3 months now and it running fine.7 k as you mentioned is way too much.

[ImmortalZ]

Oh by the way siddhartha, contact normally_crazy. He has a vRS and has imported parts for it when the dealership asked for insane sums. He may be able to guide you to a cheaper solution for your problems, provided you find someone to install these things for you.

Shouldn't be a problem in Bangalore though.

[iraghava]

Siddhatha - So what I feared has come true, it is indeed the Water Pump. As for the Timing Belt conundrum, I too would suggest you replace it. Remember I told you about the case of my friend's RS's belt snapping? The estimate from Skoda to repair that was 1.5L. Better safe then sorry my friend!

[ajmat]

waterpump - 7k
timing belt - 3k
timing belt pulley - 4k
labour+consumables+coolant etc - 3 to 4 k.

I recommend skoda doing it considering it is a precision job

plus regular service, oil+ filter change, fuel filter change ,

Again, let them do it

new rear brake pads, throttle body+ injectors clean up , alignment+balancing+rotation.

Brake pads are no big deal - get EBC pads proably cheaper than the normal stock..and I have the tool required to push the cylinder back

TB - worth it - it has been the bane of my life!

alignment - go to a specialist

VW used to recooment timing belt changes at 60000 miles but now advise at 40000 due to hgh frequency of breakages

Why so early for a skoda ?

The heat of the engine, the torque thrust of the turbo reduces the life

[harry10]

My indigo's meter shows 96k in 2.5 years and no timing belt change as yet. Seems the famous Skoda is at problem again