I have a T5 transporter. 4 years old and 41 000 miles. Had it from new.

Have it booked in for a major service and MOT next week (£400). Seemingly the cam belt should be done (another £350) as recommended is 4 years OR 140000 miles.

Is it a mildly stupid idea to wait a year to do the belt or a REALLY stupid idea?

Wife says wait.

Is the wife going to pay for a new engine if it fails.

I’d imagine its 4yrs OR 140,000 miles, whichever comes first…

Do it. I had a £2500 bill for a failed cambelt.

Damage can be catastrophic if it fails. Your call really. I would do it but I have had a number of Alfa Romeo’s and never had an issue probably because I have done every suggested maintenance item on or ahead of schedule. As an Alfa owner (or any other vehicle really) you do whats recommended.

Check what the recommendations are for cambelt replacement in a German VW manual. VW UK have recommendations of about half what the rest of the world says, and most other countries don’t have a time limit, only mileage – yours likely has a Continental Lifetime belt on it which should last much longer than 4 years.

Have a read here and make up your own mind-

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/236920-cambelt-change-interval/

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/322269-timing-belt-change-interval-octavia-16-tdi-cr/

What I’d tell others to do – Get it done.
What I’d likely do myself – Leave it and get it done in a year.

My old Megane had a 70,000 service interval on the cam belt and that got done at 90,000. I’m not really to be trusted on car maintenance.

Do it. Mate bought a Lotus Esprit many years ago, 32,000 miles old. Cambelt went in the second month. He was very lucky – no valve/piston contact so only £2500 bill in 1988.

It’s relatively cheap insurance against one reason for a borked engine. We got our Doblo’s done as soon as we bought it. It was a cheap car but we still keep on top of stuff.

Looking after a car isn’t very sexy- you can’t post photos of it on facebook or instagram so there’s not much return on your investment other than having a car that’ll work when you want it to of course-

“Put the car in for a cam belt and oil and filter today! #maintenance #21mmspanner #live2shred #MTBvanlife #othervaccuousbollocks etc…”

Do it. I bought a Golf which needed it doing. I thought “nah, I’ll do it in a couple of months, it’ll be fine”.

Two weeks later the belt snapped, necessitating a full engine rebuild.

Not worth the risk IME.

I’m not good on car maintenance either but I always get cam belts done at the specified intervals.

Looking after a car isn’t very sexy- you can’t post photos of it on facebook or instagram so there’s not much return on your investment other than having a car that’ll work when you want it to of course

Seconded – if you’re shy about spending money on the maintenance why buy the premium brand. Who are you fooling if you can’t afford to run it? I buy cheap vans and pay really good mechanics because I want to drive them, not look at them. Until recently we used to take a 12 year old renault clio or an independent Rolls Royce specialist 🙂

You’re not saving £350, you’re just putting it off a year. Interest on that £350 is less than a tenner. New engine would be >£5k. Get it done.

I, too, have a 2013 T5.1 Transporter – currently with 41k on the clock.

There seems to be ambiguity about the T5.1 TDI cambelt interval – I’ve read it’s 4 and 5 years, regardless of mileage. This includes conflicting accounts from VW van service agents.

However, the owner’s handbook specifies only the 140k mileage interval and says nothing about age, other than to check the cambelt every 2 years if used in a high dust environment.

So, despite warnings of doom, I am going to replace at 5 years.

I will come back here and share any tales of woe and hat-eating should the worst occur…

Depends on the specific engine model and the manufacturers proper advice.
I think its a good idea to check the advice carefully as some manufacturers
issue an interval at the start of an engines production life and then adjust it later if they see problems. VW seem keen on their 4 year rule in the UK whichever engine design – so its good advice to get the German interval for your engine.
Ford/Volvo go up to 10 years for some engines , some engines now have internal belts that need changing.
Some have inherent design mistakes make earlier versions of engines more prone to problems – plastic idler pulleys that some manufacturers fitted – then changed to metal (GM) and others.
There are disaster engines for cam belts – but they tend to be well known Alfa for example .
I would not be worried by a VW at 4 years with no history of issues and a low mileage so no risk of tensioner or idler pulley bearing failure.
Actually I would be more worried about a problem post cam belt change due to new component failure or installation mistake. Good example being some tensioner stud failures after cam belt changes.
Research is king.

THe problem about the time element of it is you don’t know how old it was before it was fitted. It could have sat on a shelf for two years before being fitted. Best not to risk it. £350 is nothing in the grand scheme of things especially considering he cost of the consequences of failure.

DIY

Our family run the “Cambelt Roulette Renault Scenic, a 52 plate 1.6 which cost us £100.

Shpuld have been done at 75000 miles, it’s now at 147,000!

We just decided that we’d run it until it broke and get another, it still hasn’t broken we’re still running it. We do service it and look after it generally but cba to do the belt.

Our family run the “Cambelt Roulette Renault Scenic

How much for a bet on middle lane of a busy motorway on first day of your holiday, meaning the ferry is missed…?

Ford/Volvo go up to 10 years for some engines , some engines now have internal belts that need changing.

We got our 10-year-old Volvo at 100,000 miles – 10,000 over the recommended mileage. Did the belt right away, apparently it was “very floppy” – that’s a technical term!

Can you afford to have it fail?

I DIY it but would only recommend that if you have cover and a supply of time.

Especially on something young with probably unseized bolts

Cheers all.

I’ll get it done early next year. This month I also have insurance and tax to pay.

Same engine (2.0 tdi) in a car (which is how is used) is 5 years, so I think the risk is acceptable.

How much for a bet on middle lane of a busy motorway on first day of your holiday, meaning the ferry is missed…?

No charge. Adds to the excitement.

Example
From Autodata in 2009 :

Ford 1.6TDCI

07/05 -> 10 years or 150k
08/05 -> 10 years or 125k

So it was revised down – I do not know what the today advice is for that engine/age/distance.

Every engine is different – I think Alfa were advising 40k miles 3yr for the early twinsparks but specialists advised 30k as plenty snapped before 40k .
Expensive consumable with the labour to change it every 3 years.

Actually I would be more worried about a problem post cam belt change due to new component failure or installation mistake.

Garage covers the owner in that scenario surely.. old belt failure 100% owners problem.

As others have said, get it done.

My previous car was a Fiesta with a 10 year/100k interval on it. Booked in to have it changed at 97k/7 years and the mechanic showed it me after he had removed it. It was rather cracked and was only really holding together by the middle section only!

ive removed some shockers.

my iveco has a 240000mile change limit

i removed at 97k but 12 years old …. cracked to **** with threading at the sides and not looking clever at all.

Our family run the “Cambelt Roulette Renault Scenic

I do this with a Diesel 206

75 k change now on 163k

The time tends to be we guarantee the belt will not fail in this time [ sigma 6 rules apply I assume?? so some will]

that is not the same as “the average lifetime of a belt is” which will be considerably larger if it said 140 k or 4 years i think i would look at changing at 60-70k in your case.
YMMV and may care or if the vehicle was expensive

Can anyone explain how a belt “ages” to the extent it is more likely to fail and if so by which method ,for common failure, it has increased its risk?

When I had my 4yr T5.1 cam belt changed they also did the water pump which I’d read has a similar life and is readily replaced when they have cam belt access. £320 inc VAT at an independent using genuine parts. Look into this.

Mine went on my old astra after 45k miles, the interval was 80k, but they subsequently reduced it to 40k, i clearly wasnt the only one. Got vauxhall to pay a big chunk of the rebuild. But aside from that when it went i was half way around a roundabout, that is normally pretty hectic at rush hour, i reckon i was lucky to be going in late that morning, as sudden total loss of power on the great daux could have been a big old shunt.

I am risk averse though.

I had to scrap a low mileage FIAT when the cambelt went.

The reason there is both a mileage and a time limit is to catch the extreme cases. Engines that spend their life on the motorway,and rack up massive miles in short timescales, and the opposite, engines which idle through traffic all their lives, and rack up lots of running hours, but with a low total number of miles covered.

Cam belts are not damaged by sitting on the shelf (as long as they are not in direct sun light (unpackaged). They are damaged by being cyclically loaded (stretched / contracted) by the cam spike torque loads and crank Torsional Vibration.

The manufacturers work with the belt manufacturers and come up with a realistic life, based on typical useage. Then that life has a safety factor applied.

If you drive in very hot climates, at high loads and low rpm (highest TV) then you could expect your belt to age more than that of someone who sits at 3krpm on the motorway in a 15degC ambient.

If you’re worried about your belt, look at it! Lots of engine have a removable plastic upper cover, that can be simply removed to show the belt and cam pullies. If the belt shows signs of wear (cracking, deformation, deformed teeth, or the belt area is heavily covered by black rubber particles (off the belt) then you probably want to change it ASAP. However, if it looks perfect, then there is a very low risk of failure and you could leave it. Be aware however that a lot of “belt” failures are often failures of the belt tensioner or idler pulley (seizing / coming undone etc) so you’d want to try to look at those parts too. Certainly if with the engine running the belt sounds excessively “whiny” then i’d change it, and the idlers ASAP!

Just bought a 5.1 on a 60 plate (6.5 years old) and as far as I am aware it is still on original belt at 53K miles. I have just bought the full kit with idlers and pump to do it ASAP..

The cost of cam belt changes makes me laugh.

400 quid or so seems to be the going rate at a garage for my last 4 cars

Seems to be about 100-150 quid for the parts for the good stuff

250-300 quid for a days work is good money by anyone’s standards.

Do it my self now was shocked at how easy it was if your methodical.

Depends if your mileage has involved a lot of engine starts or fewer long distance journeys.
If lots of short journeys/engine starts then I’d change it now.

Nothing worse than figuring out why the cam isn’t turning and pulling the belt off with the belt teeth remaining in the crank pulley. Ask me how I know……luckily only 2 bent valves. Vw Polo.

Another cambelt roulette player here – though given the interval for my engine is 125k/10 years and it did most of the current 150k in the first 3 years of life I’ve always assumed that was up and down the motorway (I’ve owned it a few years now and not found anything to contradict that assumption, it’s very tight for the mileage), hence much less stressful on the belt than average use given how much will have been in 6th. I guess I should get it done on the age interval which it will hit next year.

i guess it depends how much you like the car.

i keep mine in good nick as although old i want it to be dependable. Having been sat at the side of the m8 because my mate cheaped out and didnt bother doing the cambelt on his vectra was no fun.

missed the race and didnt get home for 18hrs.

equally i did the big bus cambelt as a replacement engines nudging 1500 quid for an unknown. 2500 for a warrentied unit.

PSA/FYI. I Just discovered the Citroen 3+ years old fixed service deals (seems to be for Pug as well)

ie cambelt was due – £295 at main citreon dealer via the 3+ years links etc

Its a good idea to change the waterpump at the same time as cambelt on VAG cars.

Had mine done on the 2013 T% yesterday, 49000 and 4 years. Dealer told me they can’t advise beyond VW’s 4years or 125000 miles. I had one go on an Astra and it made a right mess. And at £350 get it done, mine was £418 on an offer. Was quoted £530+VAT without offer.