[nishad.hameed]

I bought a 2005 vRS from Kolkata and decided to drive down to Bangalore.

Since it was clocked around 79K on the odo, I decided to visit the dealership for a basic service. The service advisor at JIA auto politely introduced himself and strait away said the cost of service will 11.5K including the oil and oil filter change. When I informed about an unusual sound comes out while shifting the gears, he simply said it is because of some misplaced part which is causing vibration and hence the sound! he was not even ready to test drive the vehicle!!

I learned that the guy is wrongly placed, based on my seller's advise, I decided to check the things outside.

the vRS has been treated with an oil and oil filter change, topped up the break fluid, got all the breaks checked at outside JIA motors. we were shocked see that pure water was filled instead of the coolant by JIA on the earlier service. got it replaced and decided to start my trip on the next day morning targeting the first day at Bhuvaneswar.

Started at 5:30 AM from Kolkata. Since I could hit Bhuvaneswar at 12:58, I decided to rework the first day target to Vizag. started at 3PM from Bhuvaneshwar after a lunch break and quick car wash, the navigator gave the ETA as 11PM.

managed to exit Orissa AP boarder by 6PM, i could reach a place called narasannapetta by 7:15 PM. The navigator said 125 KM to reach Vizag. Here comes the problem, car went off automatically, i managed to park the car to a a truck by-lane on my left.

I had to tow the car to vizag. The Mahavir Skoda helped to with a platform truck, costed 7.5K for towing 140 KMs and managed to reach Vizag by 2 AM, 14/11/2011.

Mahavir found the problem as timing belt failure. I have been shocked with an initial estimate of 1.10 lakhs

need advice on the attached estimate from Mahavir, Vizag. I'm left with two options now.

1. complete the job here in Mahavir Vizag, which may take 15 days. I must fly back once the job is done to drive the pending distance.

2. can ship the car to Bangalore/ Kerala dealerships and complete the job there. The shipping wouldn't cost anything less than 30K! But both the above dealerships are filled with vehicles where the Vizag dealership is almost free with average 10 services vehicles per day.

[ajmat]

I would get it done then run it in

At such a high milege, changing the belt before anything else is a no brainer

[MileCruncher]

You'll need to get the belt any which ways. Looks like the broken belt has taken toll on the valves as well. I would agree with Ajmat and get it done at Vizag. Mahaveer is also the Hyderabad dealer and he is supposed to be pretty good.

This is one reason why I keep telling people to change the timing belt every 60K or 4 years whichever earlier.

Cheers

[octane1002]

Sad to hear that.But I am really surprised that the vRS picked up by you did not have a timing belt change earlier, especially considering the high mileage already clocked on the car.

The reason why I say this is that the recommended change interval is somewhere around the 60k mark.I too have a mid 06 RS here in kolkata and I can tell you that Jia Auto is no good at diagnosing any preventive maintenance required on the cars they service, unless you specifically pin-point what is is that you would want done.The service advisor there(AFAIK a stout chap named Sayan) is a very cordial person but thats about it.Its a different story altogether as far as knowlege goes.


Also would like to ask did you try to crank the engine once the car went off?If you did it might have led to significant damage to the engine internals.Did the car not have any other symptoms before this timing belt failure apart from the gear-shift related issues?(sounds at idling, etc.??)

As far as getting the repairs done is concerned, getting the belt replaced at Mahavir would be a more practical option, especially since you say that the vehicle servicing number per day there is significantly low that the bangy/chennai service outlets along with the expenses involved in shipping it.On another note the estimate provided to you by the guys is pretty much accurate and i daresay on the lower side.I know of a friend who spent close to 1.35L rebuilding the engine after the TB failed on his 70k done Octavia.

OT, but is the RS in question a certain red one?

[nishad.hameed]

I complete agree with you guys. it was the biggest mistake that I didn't change the belt right there in Kolkata. But the dealership felt worst and they were neither ready to investigate the issues. !

meanwhile what's the normal interval for replacing the belt for vRS?

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Looks like the broken belt has taken toll on the valves as well. This is one reason why I keep telling people to change the timing belt every 60K or 4 years whichever earlier.

Cheers

I agree to that .Its always better to stick to manufacturer recommended service intervals and replacements .

Dunno about Skoda ,but MUL does have a timing belt check at every 20 k kms ( or I dunno if only Surakhsaa does it )

I do ensure that we replace the timing belt every 60k kms (though this time i changed it after 80k kms based on Surakhshaa advice)

Timing belt failure can always lead to massive engine damage .

[nishad.hameed]

Originally Posted by octane1002

Also would like to ask did you try to crank the engine once the car went off?If you did it might have led to significant damage to the engine internals.Did the car not have any other symptoms before this timing belt failure?What sounds at about idling?

it didn't give any symbols. I have tried to crank the engine just once immediately after the stop. even I suspected the same and didn't try to crank any more.

but I heard if it is the timing belt, the engine should sound bad while cranking again. but there was no wrong sound came in. just a sound of a radiator fan!

the estimate was given without opening the cylinder head. the detailed analysis is happening today so that i should have a comprehensive report on the things to be done.

[ajmat]

skoda says 80-90k intervals. They thought I was crazy when I insisted on changing it at 40k - what the hell, I wanted peace of mind

[octane1002]

Originally Posted by ajmat

skoda says 80-90k intervals. They thought I was crazy when I insisted on changing it at 40k - what the hell, I wanted peace of mind

80-90k interval is wayy too high.The last time I was at Jia, the advisor looked at my Odo which was at 31xxx kms., and remarked that 60k is the recommended interval.Anyways, reminds me that I'll get the TB change done just for peace of mind next time, although I know its too early.On another note i was quoted an estimate of 30k for the TB/Alternator belt change along with all the pulleys and sealants.Is that an accurate figure?Ive heard people here getting quotes as low as 10-12k for the change.Or am I missing something here??

[libranof1987]

Oh boy, that does not sound pleasant; a repair estimate of upwards 1 lakh already.

Originally Posted by nishad.hameed

meanwhile what's the normal interval for replacing the belt for vRS?

60k is what is recommended for most Maruti vehicles.

But the service manual for my Corsa recommended it at 30k (finally got it done at 38k); so I'm not sure if German cars need it to be replaced early.

Btw, any idea if the timing belt was ever replaced?

[nishad.hameed]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Oh boy, that does not sound pleasant; a repair estimate of upwards 1 lakh already.



Btw, any idea if the timing belt was ever replaced?

i guess no. Me being the third hand on this car, the second user haven't used it much. He bought the car by late 2010 and hardly clocked 4K on the odo!

[.anshuman]

Majority of the timing belt failures happen with second hand and mostly third hand cars because of clocked ODO, when the periodic change of belt is due the new owner has no idea about it, because the ODO claims much lower mileage than the actual kms the car has done.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Timing belt failure can always lead to massive engine damage .

Only on interference engines not on free wheeling ones link Interference engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by ajmat

skoda says 80-90k intervals. They thought I was crazy when I insisted on changing it at 40k - what the hell, I wanted peace of mind

My Matiz had an interval of every 80 k kms, when I asked a mechanic to change at 50k he said these belts last well upto 1 lakh km

[octane1002]

Originally Posted by nishad.hameed

the estimate was given without opening the cylinder head. the detailed analysis is happening today so that i should have a comprehensive report on the things to be done.

Just an observation, from the repair estimate attached by you I can see parts such as intake valves/exhaust valves/cylinder head gasket listed there.I might be wrong here, but I guess they have already provided the estimate based on costs that would be incurrred to repair damage to the engine internals too.In that case the fresh estimate would'nt shoot up by much if at all the initial estimate does change.

Also I do not see other essentials to be changed considering the high mileage of your RS, i.e., alternator belt/water pump etc., or is that all included under the TB repair kit itself?

[coolclouds]

Did you check that the ODO on your car is genuine?
(I replaced TB on my lancer at 100K service)