thesaint sfc Posted 1 June, 2014 Share Posted 1 June, 2014 Hi Guys, I have a VW Golf GT 1.4 which has done just over 90k. It's an English car and I live in Switzerland so getting it serviced and checked is difficult at the best of times. Anyway, a couple of months ago the engine light came on, and not being very car savvy I assumed that it would probably need to cambelt changed. I phoned my local garage and they said that the car has a chain rather than a belt so it shouldn't need changing. They took a look at the car and advised me that the belt had actually stretched and a problem with this belt in this car at this mileage was quite common unfortunately. They charged me about £1,500 to get it fixed. I spoke with VW in the UK and they were about £200-300 cheaper but being in Switzerland you get used to paying inflated prices for less of a service. Once the job was done the car drove fine and I was pleased to get it back. A couple of weeks later a friend pointed out that I had a pretty bad oil leak. I took the car back to the garage and they apologised and admitted that the fault was theirs and they needed to replace something. They explained the whole engine had been pretty much taken out of the car so it was quite a big job. They fixed it and there was no charge for me. Anyway, we're about a month after this happened now and yesterday when I was driving along I suddenly heard a noise which I can only compare to having a flat tyre - it sounded like something was stuck in my tire and every time the wheel went round when it hit the road there was a bang. I got out of the car and there was no flat tyre but it was apparent that the noise was coming from the engine. I opened the engine and nearly got hit in the fact by a piece of string which was spinning around in the engine! I stopped the engine and could see that the belt which they had replaced had become unalligned and started to thread itself. The threaded part of the belt was what was spinning around. The belt was also starting to split and looked like it could soon snap. I abandoned the car and started my very long trek home. The garage has been shut since but opens tomorrow so I'll certainly be speaking with them! Just wondered if anyone could give me some input on here? Do you think there is something more fundamentally wrong with the car which has caused this or do you think it is an error in the way the belt/chain (doesn't look like a chain to me!) was fitted? Please see a picture attached. Any ideas at all would be appreciated! Is it time for me to sell the car or do you think if this job is done properly the car should see me through a few more years? Absolutely love driving it so would be sad to have to get rid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 Are you sure that's the timing belt? I thought that was sort of inside the casing. That looks like the "fan" belt that drives the auxiliary components. You say 90k. is that miles or kilometres? I had a 1.4 Polo and had the timing belt done at 90,000Km which is around 60,000 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 2 June, 2014 Author Share Posted 2 June, 2014 Ah OK - well if it's the fan belt that brings a whole other mystery into the story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swannymere Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 Fairly sure your car has a belt and no chain, on some cars the cambelt runs the water pump, alternator, A/C etc. Might be worth joining a VW forum as they'll be more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swannymere Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 VW Forum - volkswagenforum.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 (edited) ................ Edited 2 June, 2014 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 (edited) Are you sure that's the timing belt? I thought that was sort of inside the casing. That looks like the "fan" belt that drives the auxiliary components. You say 90k. is that miles or kilometres? I had a 1.4 Polo and had the timing belt done at 90,000Km which is around 60,000 miles. 90000 km is about standard for distribution belts on most VWs, and you're right it is inside the casing on the side of the motor. 90000 km is pretty early compared to most manufacturers actually, some even go up to about 200000 km, 240000 km if you trust Ford, most don't and get it done at 200K Km. 1500 £ is a lot as well, mostly it's about 850 euros for the job lot, belt, pulleys, water pump practically everywhere in "Old Europe" might be even cheaper in Greece and Bulgaria. Edited 2 June, 2014 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted 2 June, 2014 Share Posted 2 June, 2014 Sounds about right. It was about 3 years ago and set me back about R7,000 at the time, about £600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted 3 June, 2014 Share Posted 3 June, 2014 Multi V belt that drives the alternator, not a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 10 June, 2014 Author Share Posted 10 June, 2014 Yeah it cost me £70 in the end to get repaired. A lot of worry about nothing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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