'00 Passat V6 - timing belt at 80k miles?

About to take my '00 Passat wagon (GLX V6) in for the big 80k service.
The maint. schedule says "timing belt - check condition" at 80k and
"timing belt - replace" at 105k. Dealer "suggests replacing early",
sight unseen.

The car's only major repair to date has been a radiator replacement.
I expect to own the car at 105k miles but probably not at 160k miles.
105k miles is about 1.5 years from now at current driving rate, which
is two more Maine winters.

Any opinions about now vs. later?

--Josh

Go with what VW says, not the dealer... Timing belt is expensive (plus the
tensioner, and probably the water pump while they are down there) and if
it's still good, and meant to last until 105K, why waste your money (get to
check it tho, for sure).... I wish my TDI could go that long, I have to
change every 60K KMs.

Perhaps there is good reason to have your belt changed early that the dealer
knows about, but I would think even 105K Miles is a very conservative number
as VW doesn't want engines breaking due to snapped belts.


> wrote in message
...
> About to take my '00 Passat wagon (GLX V6) in for the big 80k service.
> The maint. schedule says "timing belt - check condition" at 80k and
> "timing belt - replace" at 105k. Dealer "suggests replacing early",
> sight unseen.
>
> The car's only major repair to date has been a radiator replacement.
> I expect to own the car at 105k miles but probably not at 160k miles.
> 105k miles is about 1.5 years from now at current driving rate, which
> is two more Maine winters.
>
> Any opinions about now vs. later?
>
> --Josh

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 14:14:00 -0500, wrote:

>About to take my '00 Passat wagon (GLX V6) in for the big 80k service.
>The maint. schedule says "timing belt - check condition" at 80k and
>"timing belt - replace" at 105k. Dealer "suggests replacing early",
>sight unseen.
>
>The car's only major repair to date has been a radiator replacement.
>I expect to own the car at 105k miles but probably not at 160k miles.
>105k miles is about 1.5 years from now at current driving rate, which
>is two more Maine winters.
>
>Any opinions about now vs. later?

I had this same choice with my Accord. The manual stated 90K for the
change but the dealer recommended 90K OR 6 years whichever came first.
The reason behind this was the factory assumed 15K per year as an
average usage; hence, 90K/15K = 6. The dealer had seen NO failures
before 6 years but had seen failures before 90K miles.

I had mine changed at 6 years and the belt looked brand new. No
advice, just a data point.

Jack

1-If you are the first owner and it breaks before 10years/100,000 miles then
it's FREE!
2- Then figure you will be without the VW to drive for a week, maybe longer
3-Open your hood and look for a small red tag just above the radiator. My 99
GLX Passat has one and it states to replace the t-belt at 75,000miles. I
know later cars the tag was missing.
4- So it's a gamble on what you want to do. Do it now and pay today's
pricing or wait and see what happens.
5-But if it doesn't break by 99,999.9 miles better get it done or figure
$1500+ for repairs when it does break.
6-I would do the t-belt, tension rollers, waterpump all the same time.

I never could figure why VW states 105,000miles when the early cars had a
sticker stating 75,000miles?


> wrote in message
...
> About to take my '00 Passat wagon (GLX V6) in for the big 80k service.
> The maint. schedule says "timing belt - check condition" at 80k and
> "timing belt - replace" at 105k. Dealer "suggests replacing early",
> sight unseen.
>
> The car's only major repair to date has been a radiator replacement.
> I expect to own the car at 105k miles but probably not at 160k miles.
> 105k miles is about 1.5 years from now at current driving rate, which
> is two more Maine winters.
>
> Any opinions about now vs. later?
>
> --Josh

Woodchuck wrote:
>
> 1-If you are the first owner and it breaks before 10years/100,000 miles then
> it's FREE!
> 2- Then figure you will be without the VW to drive for a week, maybe longer
> 3-Open your hood and look for a small red tag just above the radiator. My 99
> GLX Passat has one and it states to replace the t-belt at 75,000miles. I
> know later cars the tag was missing.
> 4- So it's a gamble on what you want to do. Do it now and pay today's
> pricing or wait and see what happens.
> 5-But if it doesn't break by 99,999.9 miles better get it done or figure
> $1500+ for repairs when it does break.
> 6-I would do the t-belt, tension rollers, waterpump all the same time.
>
> I never could figure why VW states 105,000miles when the early cars had a
> sticker stating 75,000miles?
>

Apparently either the belts are better or the tensioners are better in a
way that makes the belts last longer. The "official" timing belt life
has gotten longer on TDI's too. The suggested interval on my '04 TDI is
100K miles, while for older ones it is something like 60K.