2001 New Beetle 2.0L Gas Timing Belt

My wife has a 2001 New Beetle 2.0L gas engine and I'm wondering what the
timing belt recommendation is? The owners manual says "Check Timing belt for
each maintenance starting at 60K miles through 100K, but never says Replace.

The car has 75K gentle miles on it, and I'm looking at buying her either a
new Accord, Malibu or Camry this coming August. ...in about 8k more miles
from now.

Is this car a "non-interference" engine, and that's why the "check" as
opposed to "replace"?

In >,
Steve L > wrote:

> My wife has a 2001 New Beetle 2.0L gas engine and I'm wondering what the
> timing belt recommendation is? The owners manual says "Check Timing belt for
> each maintenance starting at 60K miles through 100K, but never says Replace.

That is really peculiar - but I can confirm the statement. In contrast,
for the 1.8L turbocharged engine, the timing belt and tensioner
are scheduled to be replaced at 100,000 miles.

On the manual TDI, it was 60,000 miles.

I assumed the 2.0L engine was just a bored out version of the 1.8L engine.
If this is correct, then it is an interference design.

AC
--
Email: echo 36434455860060025978157675027927670979097959886449 930P | dc

On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:20:22 -0500, "Steve L" >
wrote:

>My wife has a 2001 New Beetle 2.0L gas engine and I'm wondering what the
>timing belt recommendation is? The owners manual says "Check Timing belt for
>each maintenance starting at 60K miles through 100K, but never says Replace.
>
>The car has 75K gentle miles on it, and I'm looking at buying her either a
>new Accord, Malibu or Camry this coming August. ...in about 8k more miles
>from now.
>
>Is this car a "non-interference" engine, and that's why the "check" as
>opposed to "replace"?

I'd say that manual was clear. Check every service starting at 60 K
miles, if wear or damage is noted replace. If not replace prior to
100K then replace it. Repeat as necessary!

BTW, define 'gentle miles'... <bg>

"Steve L" > wrote in message
...
> My wife has a 2001 New Beetle 2.0L gas engine and I'm wondering what the
> timing belt recommendation is? The owners manual says "Check Timing belt
> for each maintenance starting at 60K miles through 100K, but never says
> Replace.
>
> The car has 75K gentle miles on it, and I'm looking at buying her either a
> new Accord, Malibu or Camry this coming August. ...in about 8k more miles
> from now.
>
> Is this car a "non-interference" engine, and that's why the "check" as
> opposed to "replace"?

No damage should occur if the timing belt breaks on your AZG/AEG engine!
;-)
I have seen some belts last over 140K miles, but some water pumps not last
past 65K miles. The water pump could damage the belt since it is driven by
that belt.
SO if one goes bad change all! ;-)

That engine will get better when it has over 100K miles on it and it is
properly maintained! ;-)

JMHO
--
later,
(One out of many daves)

"PeterD" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:20:22 -0500, "Steve L" >
> wrote:
>
>>My wife has a 2001 New Beetle 2.0L gas engine and I'm wondering what the
>>timing belt recommendation is? The owners manual says "Check Timing belt
>>for
>>each maintenance starting at 60K miles through 100K, but never says
>>Replace.
>>
>>The car has 75K gentle miles on it, and I'm looking at buying her either a
>>new Accord, Malibu or Camry this coming August. ...in about 8k more miles
>>from now.
>>
>>Is this car a "non-interference" engine, and that's why the "check" as
>>opposed to "replace"?
>
> I'd say that manual was clear. Check every service starting at 60 K
> miles, if wear or damage is noted replace. If not replace prior to
> 100K then replace it. Repeat as necessary!
>
> BTW, define 'gentle miles'... <bg>

Well, in the manual, it clearly states for the TDI engine to "Change" at 40K
miles.

But then for the gas engine it gives this vague answer. So, what, bring it
to a garage or dealer and how do they check this? Is it hard to get at to
even look at? Forgive me if I say I haven't had the best luck with my local
VW dealer these days. They told me 60K was "replace". So they're answer is
"yes, you need one." If that's the case I guess I better start shopping.

> I have seen some belts last over 140K miles, but some water pumps not last
> past 65K miles. The water pump could damage the belt since it is driven
> by
> that belt.
> SO if one goes bad change all! ;-)

Yeah? ...the brittle plastic impeller syndrome on those???
I did a TB job on an 01 golf 1,8T and "upgraded" the waterpump to one with
steel impeller.
Just lightly tapping the old one on concrete shattered it like nothing. But
the "upgrade" water pump (meyle) left it overheating because the impeller
was never attached to the shaft properly and slipping. So he ended up with
a VW replacement and I ate doing the job over again, after the endless
agravation of bleeding the system and trying to determine what was going on
with it!

My experience with timing belts is that they don't so much "wear out" with
mileage, but deteriorate with time and mileage. And that deterioration
definitely gets accelerated by any oil leaking on it. I also imagine
extreme hard running (opposite the "gentle miles"?? ; ) ) maybe adds to it
by hotter temps? Mainly, especially city driving... some people who like to
drive aggressively (never me, <bg>) may be turning 2 to 3 times the rpms, so
really it does total more trips around for the timing belt and must raise
the belt temp as well. Not that it wears the teeth down, but heat and
flexing breaks it down. Personally, I tend to keep the date of last
replacement in mind for "gentle" mileage or low mileage vehicles. LOL, 2001
doesn't seem old but that's going to be 9 years.
If it is non-interference, it's WAY less risk involved to go without
changing it. I'd even run an interference engine way beyond mileage if I
could inspect the whole belt, which is no easy thing to do. So it's safer
to just replace it. But on your non-interference engine, if you can just
access part of it to get an idea of it's overall condition... or just
change it every 10 years, 200k miles like I do on my Camry : ) LOL.

Yes that plastic impeller crap! I have seen one WP seize up too and it took
out the belt.

WOW I will have to test all of the metal impeller pumps before installation
now and I think I use Meyle or maybe Graf?. Thanks for the tip and sorry
you had to do the job twice on that 1.8t engine.
Well at least you know that it is done right now and it was not you after
all! ;-)


"In2hoppn" > wrote in message
news:15KdnVlkCvM92ovWnZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d@metrocastcab levision.com...
>
>
>> I have seen some belts last over 140K miles, but some water pumps not
>> last
>> past 65K miles. The water pump could damage the belt since it is driven
>> by
>> that belt.
>> SO if one goes bad change all! ;-)
>
> Yeah? ...the brittle plastic impeller syndrome on those???
> I did a TB job on an 01 golf 1,8T and "upgraded" the waterpump to one with
> steel impeller.
> Just lightly tapping the old one on concrete shattered it like nothing.
> But the "upgrade" water pump (meyle) left it overheating because the
> impeller was never attached to the shaft properly and slipping. So he
> ended up with a VW replacement and I ate doing the job over again, after
> the endless agravation of bleeding the system and trying to determine what
> was going on with it!
>
> My experience with timing belts is that they don't so much "wear out" with
> mileage, but deteriorate with time and mileage. And that deterioration
> definitely gets accelerated by any oil leaking on it. I also imagine
> extreme hard running (opposite the "gentle miles"?? ; ) ) maybe adds to it
> by hotter temps? Mainly, especially city driving... some people who like
> to drive aggressively (never me, <bg>) may be turning 2 to 3 times the
> rpms, so really it does total more trips around for the timing belt and
> must raise the belt temp as well. Not that it wears the teeth down, but
> heat and flexing breaks it down. Personally, I tend to keep the date of
> last replacement in mind for "gentle" mileage or low mileage vehicles.
> LOL, 2001 doesn't seem old but that's going to be 9 years.
> If it is non-interference, it's WAY less risk involved to go without
> changing it. I'd even run an interference engine way beyond mileage if I
> could inspect the whole belt, which is no easy thing to do. So it's safer
> to just replace it. But on your non-interference engine, if you can just
> access part of it to get an idea of it's overall condition... or just
> change it every 10 years, 200k miles like I do on my Camry : ) LOL.

"dave AKA vwdoc1" > wrote in message
...
> Yes that plastic impeller crap! I have seen one WP seize up too and it
> took out the belt.
>
> WOW I will have to test all of the metal impeller pumps before
> installation now and I think I use Meyle or maybe Graf?. Thanks for the
> tip and sorry you had to do the job twice on that 1.8t engine.
> Well at least you know that it is done right now and it was not you after
> all! ;-)
>
>
> "In2hoppn" > wrote in message
> news:15KdnVlkCvM92ovWnZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d@metrocastcab levision.com...
>>
>>
>>> I have seen some belts last over 140K miles, but some water pumps not
>>> last
>>> past 65K miles. The water pump could damage the belt since it is driven
>>> by
>>> that belt.
>>> SO if one goes bad change all! ;-)
>>
>> Yeah? ...the brittle plastic impeller syndrome on those???
>> I did a TB job on an 01 golf 1,8T and "upgraded" the waterpump to one
>> with steel impeller.
>> Just lightly tapping the old one on concrete shattered it like nothing.
>> But the "upgrade" water pump (meyle) left it overheating because the
>> impeller was never attached to the shaft properly and slipping. So he
>> ended up with a VW replacement and I ate doing the job over again, after
>> the endless agravation of bleeding the system and trying to determine
>> what was going on with it!
>>
>> My experience with timing belts is that they don't so much "wear out"
>> with mileage, but deteriorate with time and mileage. And that
>> deterioration definitely gets accelerated by any oil leaking on it. I
>> also imagine extreme hard running (opposite the "gentle miles"?? ; ) )
>> maybe adds to it by hotter temps? Mainly, especially city driving...
>> some people who like to drive aggressively (never me, <bg>) may be
>> turning 2 to 3 times the rpms, so really it does total more trips around
>> for the timing belt and must raise the belt temp as well. Not that it
>> wears the teeth down, but heat and flexing breaks it down. Personally,
>> I tend to keep the date of last replacement in mind for "gentle" mileage
>> or low mileage vehicles. LOL, 2001 doesn't seem old but that's going to
>> be 9 years.
>> If it is non-interference, it's WAY less risk involved to go without
>> changing it. I'd even run an interference engine way beyond mileage if I
>> could inspect the whole belt, which is no easy thing to do. So it's
>> safer to just replace it. But on your non-interference engine, if you
>> can just access part of it to get an idea of it's overall condition...
>> or just change it every 10 years, 200k miles like I do on my Camry : )
>> LOL.
>
>

As a follow-up on this, my local private mechanic searched his service
database and found documentation that says 2001-2003 2.L "Manufacturer
suggests replacement at 105K miles"

"Steve L" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> As a follow-up on this, my local private mechanic searched his service
> database and found documentation that says 2001-2003 2.L "Manufacturer
> suggests replacement at 105K miles"

lol
Yep JUST past the warranty period! ;-)